Dearomatized white spirit inhalation exposure causes long-lasting neurophysiological changes in rats

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lund, S. P.; Simonsen, L.; Hass, Ulla

1996-01-01

Dearomatized white spirit inhalation exposure causes long-lasting neurophysioloical changes in rats. NEUROTOXICOL TERATOL 18(1), 67-76, 1996. -Exposure for 6 h per day, 5 days per week, during a period of 6 months to the organic solvent dearomatized white spirit (0, 400, and 800 ppm) was studied ...

Changing without change?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Farné Fratini, Chiara; Frantzeskaki, Niki; Elle, Morten

2013-01-01

In the last decade, due to climate change impacts, increasing urban development, increased stress on natural resource and gradual aging of the technical infrastructure on place, the Danish urban water sector has realized the need to invest more generously on the optimization of technical performa......In the last decade, due to climate change impacts, increasing urban development, increased stress on natural resource and gradual aging of the technical infrastructure on place, the Danish urban water sector has realized the need to invest more generously on the optimization of technical...... performances and the innovation of management approaches in favor of non-structural measure and more integrated perspectives. On one hand, municipal plans have put an increasing attention on terms like urban livability, resilience and sustainability mostly resulting on an increasing focus on the need to create...... green and blue recreational spaces in the city-scape. On the other hand, in a context of economic downturn, national strategies aim at promoting the eco-innovation of the water sectors to support the Danish water industry competitiveness in the international market and create new jobs nationally...

Climatic Change, Wars and Dynastic Cycles in China Over the Last Millennium

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, D.D.; Jim, C.Y.; Lin, G.C.S.; Wang, J.J.; Lee, H.F. [Department of Geography, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong (China); He, Yuan-Qing [CAREERI, Chinese Academy of Science, Lanzhou, Gansu, 730000 (China)

2006-06-15

In recent years, the phenomenon of global warming and its implications for the future of the human race have been intensively studied. In contrast, few quantitative studies have been attempted on the notable effects of past climatic changes upon human societies. This study explored the relationship between climatic change and war in China by comparing high-resolution paleo-climatic reconstructions with known war incidences in China in the last millennium. War frequencies showed a cyclic pattern that closely followed the global paleo-temperature changes. Strong and significant correlations were found between climatic change, war occurrence, harvest level, population size and dynastic transition. During cold phases, China suffered more often from frequent wars, population decline and dynastic changes. The quantitative analyses suggested that the reduction of thermal energy input during a cold phase would lower the land carrying capacity in the traditional agrarian society, and the population size, with significant accretions accrued in the previous warm phase, could not be sustained by the shrinking resource base. The stressed human-nature relationship generated a 'push force', leading to more frequent wars between states, regions and tribes, which could lead to the collapse of dynasties and collapses of human population size. War frequencies varied according to geographical locations (North, Central and South China) due to spatial variations in the physical environment and hence differential response to climatic change. Moreover, war occurrences demonstrated an obvious time lag after an episode of temperature fall, and the three geographical regions experienced different length of time lags. This research also shows that human population increases and collapses were correlated with the climatic phases and the social instabilities that were induced by climate changes during the last millennium. The findings proposed a new interpretation of human

Creating a Learning Community for Solutions to Climate Change

Science.gov (United States)

Bloom, A. J.; Benedict, B. A.; Blockstein, D. E.; Hassenzahl, D. M.; Hunter, A.; Jorgensen, A. D.; Pfirman, S. L.

2011-12-01

The rapidly evolving and interdisciplinary nature of climate change presents a challenge to colleges and universities as they seek to educate undergraduate students. To address this challenge, the National Council for Science and the Environment (NCSE) with NSF funding is creating a nationwide cyber-enabled learning community called CAMEL (Climate, Adaptation, and Mitigation e-Learning). CAMEL engages experts in science, policy and decision-making, education, and assessment in the production of a virtual toolbox of curricular resources designed for teaching climate change causes, consequences, and solutions. CAMEL is: ? Developing cyberinfrastructure that supports and promotes the creation of materials and community; ? Generating materials for the Encyclopedia of Earth, a site averaging 50,000 views per day; ? Ensuring that materials developed and shared are founded on the best available scientific information and follow the most appropriate educational practices; ? Assisting faculty at institutions of higher education across the United States as they create, improve, test, and share resources for teaching students not only how to diagnose climate change problems, but also to identify and effect solutions; ? Evaluating the determinants of successful community building using cybermedia. The community and resultant content range from general education to upper division courses for students in a variety of majors. At the center of the community are the 160 colleges and universities represented in NCSE's Council of Environmental Deans and Directors. Members of this group represent recognized expertise in virtually all areas of this project. A team with substantial experience with evaluating innovative initiatives in STEM education is administering the evaluation component.

Simulation Modelling and Strategic Change: Creating the Sustainable Enterprise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Dawson

2010-01-01

Full Text Available This paper highlights the benefits of using discrete event simulation models for developing change management frameworks which facilitate productivity and environmental improvements in order to create a sustainable enterprise. There is an increasing need for organisations to be more socially and environmentally responsible, however these objectives cannot be realised in isolation of the strategic, operations and business objectives of the enterprise. Discrete Event Simulation models facilitate a multidimensional approach to enterprise modelling which can integrate operations and strategic considerations with environmental and social issues. Moreover these models can provide a dynamic roadmap for implementing a change strategy for realising the optimal conditions for operational and environmental performance. It is important to note that the nature of change is itself dynamic and that simulation models are capable of characterising the dynamics of the change process. The paper argues that incorporating social and environmental challenges into a strategic business model for an enterprise can result in improved profits and long term viability and that a multidimensional simulation approach can support decision making throughout the change process to more effectively achieve these goals.

Surface changes in the North Atlantic meridional overturning circulation during the last millennium

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wanamaker, A.D.; Butler, P.G.; Scourse, J.D.

2012-01-01

of decadal-to-centennial scale changes in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength in regulating the climate of the last millennium. Here we use the time-constrained high-resolution local radiocarbon reservoir age offset derived from an absolutely dated annually resolved shell chronology spanning...

Hydrological and climate changes in southeast Siberia over the last 33 kyr

Science.gov (United States)

Katsuta, Nagayoshi; Ikeda, Hisashi; Shibata, Kenji; Saito-Kokubu, Yoko; Murakami, Takuma; Tani, Yukinori; Takano, Masao; Nakamura, Toshio; Tanaka, Atsushi; Naito, Sayuri; Ochiai, Shinya; Shichi, Koji; Kawakami, Shin-ichi; Kawai, Takayoshi

2018-05-01

Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimate changes in intracontinental Siberia were reconstructed by continuous, high-resolution records (biogenic silica, U, total organic carbon and N, total S, and grain size) from a sediment core retrieved from the Buguldeika Saddle, Lake Baikal, dating back to the last 33 cal. ka BP. The Holocene climate was wet relative to the last glacial period. The climate became gradually warm and wet from the early to middle Holocene, followed by a shift at ca. 6.5 cal. ka BP toward warm and dry, possibly because of evapotranspiration. This suggests that the climate system transition from the glacial to interglacial state occurred at that time. In the last glacial, the deposition of carbonate mud from the Primorsky Range was associated with Heinrich events (H3 and H1) and the Selenga River inflow during the Last Glacial Maximum was caused by meltwater of mountain glaciers in the Khamar-Daban Range. The anoxic bottom-water during the Allerød-Younger Dryas was probably a result of weakened ventilation associated with reduced Selenga River inflow and microbial decomposition of organic matters originating from moderate input of nutrients from the Primorsky Range. The rapid decline in precipitation during the early Holocene may have been a response to the 8.2 ka cooling event.

Built to last? The sustainability of health system improvements, interventions and change strategies: a study protocol for a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Braithwaite, Jeffrey; Testa, Luke; Lamprell, Gina; Herkes, Jessica; Ludlow, Kristiana; McPherson, Elise; Campbell, Margie; Holt, Joanna

2017-11-12

The sustainability of healthcare interventions and change programmes is of increasing importance to researchers and healthcare stakeholders interested in creating sustainable health systems to cope with mounting stressors. The aim of this protocol is to extend earlier work and describe a systematic review to identify, synthesise and draw meaning from studies published within the last 5 years that measure the sustainability of interventions, improvement efforts and change strategies in the health system. The protocol outlines a method by which to execute a rigorous systematic review. The design includes applying primary and secondary data collection techniques, consisting of a comprehensive database search complemented by contact with experts, and searching secondary databases and reference lists, using snowballing techniques. The review and analysis process will occur via an abstract review followed by a full-text screening process. The inclusion criteria include English-language, peer-reviewed, primary, empirical research articles published after 2011 in scholarly journals, for which the full text is available. No restrictions on location will be applied. The review that results from this protocol will synthesise and compare characteristics of the included studies. Ultimately, it is intended that this will help make it easier to identify and design sustainable interventions, improvement efforts and change strategies. As no primary data were collected, ethical approval was not required. Results will be disseminated in conference presentations, peer-reviewed publications and among policymaker bodies interested in creating sustainable health systems. © 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.

The last interglacial climate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Rasmus A.; Langen, Peter L.; Vinther, Bo M.

2017-01-01

The last interglacial climate was influenced by substantial changes in the annual insolation cycle that led to a warmer climate state with pronounced high northern latitude warming. We analyze the impact of the insolation changes 125,000 years before present using an equilibrium snapshot simulation...... with the EC-Earth coupled climate model at high spatial resolution. Using additional atmosphere-only simulations, we separate the direct impact from the changed insolation from the secondary contribution from changed sea surface conditions. These simulations are forced with a combination of last interglacial...

Climate change threats to population health and well-being: the imperative of protective solutions that will last

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tord Kjellstrom

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Background: The observational evidence of the impacts of climate conditions on human health is accumulating. A variety of direct, indirect, and systemically mediated health effects have been identified. Excessive daily heat exposures create direct effects, such as heat stroke (and possibly death, reduce work productivity, and interfere with daily household activities. Extreme weather events, including storms, floods, and droughts, create direct injury risks and follow-on outbreaks of infectious diseases, lack of nutrition, and mental stress. Climate change will increase these direct health effects. Indirect effects include malnutrition and under-nutrition due to failing local agriculture, spread of vector-borne diseases and other infectious diseases, and mental health and other problems caused by forced migration from affected homes and workplaces. Examples of systemically mediated impacts on population health include famine, conflicts, and the consequences of large-scale adverse economic effects due to reduced human and environmental productivity. This article highlights links between climate change and non-communicable health problems, a major concern for global health beyond 2015. Discussion: Detailed regional analysis of climate conditions clearly shows increasing temperatures in many parts of the world. Climate modelling indicates that by the year 2100 the global average temperature may have increased by 34°C unless fundamental reductions in current global trends for greenhouse gas emissions are achieved. Given other unforeseeable environmental, social, demographic, and geopolitical changes that may occur in a plus-4-degree world, that scenario may comprise a largely uninhabitable world for millions of people and great social and military tensions. Conclusion: It is imperative that we identify actions and strategies that are effective in reducing these increasingly likely threats to health and well-being. The fundamental preventive

Localized cutaneous sporotrichosis lasting for 10 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rathi S

2003-05-01

Full Text Available A case of localized cutaneous sporotrichosis lasting for 10 years is being reported. The fixed cutaneous variety creates diagnostic difficulty by mimicking other conditions, chiefly lupus vulgaris.

Was millennial scale climate change during the Last Glacial triggered by explosive volcanism?

Science.gov (United States)

Baldini, James U L; Brown, Richard J; McElwaine, Jim N

2015-11-30

The mechanisms responsible for millennial scale climate change within glacial time intervals are equivocal. Here we show that all eight known radiometrically-dated Tambora-sized or larger NH eruptions over the interval 30 to 80 ka BP are associated with abrupt Greenland cooling (>95% confidence). Additionally, previous research reported a strong statistical correlation between the timing of Southern Hemisphere volcanism and Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events (>99% confidence), but did not identify a causative mechanism. Volcanic aerosol-induced asymmetrical hemispheric cooling over the last few hundred years restructured atmospheric circulation in a similar fashion as that associated with Last Glacial millennial-scale shifts (albeit on a smaller scale). We hypothesise that following both recent and Last Glacial NH eruptions, volcanogenic sulphate injections into the stratosphere cooled the NH preferentially, inducing a hemispheric temperature asymmetry that shifted atmospheric circulation cells southward. This resulted in Greenland cooling, Antarctic warming, and a southward shifted ITCZ. However, during the Last Glacial, the initial eruption-induced climate response was prolonged by NH glacier and sea ice expansion, increased NH albedo, AMOC weakening, more NH cooling, and a consequent positive feedback. Conversely, preferential SH cooling following large SH eruptions shifted atmospheric circulation to the north, resulting in the characteristic features of DO events.

Vegetation Change in Interior Alaska Over the Last Four Decades

Science.gov (United States)

Huhman, H.; Dewitz, J.; Cristobal, J.; Prakash, A.

2017-12-01

The Arctic has become a generally warmer place over the past decades leading to earlier snowmelt, permafrost degradation and changing plant communities. One area in particular, vegetation change, is responding relatively rapidly to climate change, impacting the surrounding environment with changes to forest fire regime, forest type, forest resiliency, habitat availability for subsistence flora and fauna, hydrology, among others. To quantify changes in vegetation in the interior Alaska boreal forest over the last four decades, this study uses the National Land Cover Database (NLCD) decision-tree based classification methods, using both C5 and ERDAS Imagine software, to classify Landsat Surface Reflectance Images into the following NLCD-consistent vegetation classes: planted, herbaceous, shrubland, and forest (deciduous, evergreen and mixed). The results of this process are a total of four vegetation cover maps, that are freely accessible to the public, one for each decade in the 1980's, 1990's, 2000's, and a current map for 2017. These maps focus on Fairbanks, Alaska and the surrounding area covering approximately 36,140 square miles. The maps are validated with over 4,000 ground truth points collected through organizations such as the Landfire Project and the Long Term Ecological Research Network, as well as vegetation and soil spectra collected from the study area concurrent with the Landsat satellite over-passes with a Spectral Evolution PSR+ 3500 spectro-radiometer (0.35 - 2.5 μm). We anticipate these maps to be viewed by a wide user-community and may aid in preparing the residents of Alaska for changes in their subsistence food sources and will contribute to the scientific community in understanding the variety of changes that can occur in response to changing vegetation.

Tennessee and Florida: Continuity and Change in Long-Lasting State Performance Funding Systems for Higher Education. CCRC Brief. Number 43

Science.gov (United States)

Dougherty, Kevin J.; Natow, Rebecca S.

2010-01-01

This study analyzes changes over time in long-lasting state performance funding systems for higher education. It addresses two research questions: First, in what ways have long-lasting systems changed over time in funding levels, indicators used to allocate funds, and measures used for those indicators? Second, what political actors, actions, and…

Design to Thrive Creating Social Networks and Online Communities that Last

CERN Document Server

Howard, Tharon W

2010-01-01

Social networks and online communities are reshaping the way people communicate, both in their personal and professional lives. What makes some succeed and others fail? What draws a user in? What makes them join? What keeps them coming back? Entrepreneurs and businesses are turning to user experience practitioners to figure this out. Though they are well-equipped to evaluate and create a variety of interfaces, social networks require a different set of design principles and ways of thinking about the user in order to be successful. .. .. Design to Thrive presents tried and tested design method

Ecosystem sentinels for climate change? Evidence of wetland cover changes over the last 30 years in the tropical Andes.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Olivier Dangles

Full Text Available While the impacts of climate change on individual species and communities have been well documented there is little evidence on climate-mediated changes for entire ecosystems. Pristine alpine environments can provide unique insights into natural, physical and ecological response to climate change yet broad scale and long-term studies on these potential 'ecosystem sentinels' are scarce. We addressed this issue by examining cover changes of 1689 high-elevation wetlands (temporarily or perennial water-saturated grounds in the Bolivian Cordillera Real, a region that has experienced significant warming and glacier melting over the last 30 years. We combined high spatial resolution satellite images from PLEIADES with the long-term images archive from LANDSAT to 1 examine environmental factors (e.g., glacier cover, wetland and watershed size that affected wetland cover changes, and 2 identify wetlands' features that affect their vulnerability (using habitat drying as a proxy in the face of climate change. Over the (1984-2011 period, our data showed an increasing trend in the mean wetland total area and number, mainly related to the appearance of wet grassland patches during the wetter years. Wetland cover also showed high inter-annual variability and their area for a given year was positively correlated to precipitation intensities in the three months prior to the image date. Also, round wetlands located in highly glacierized catchments were less prone to drying, while relatively small wetlands with irregularly shaped contours suffered the highest rates of drying over the last three decades. High Andean wetlands can therefore be considered as ecosystem sentinels for climate change, as they seem sensitive to glacier melting. Beyond the specific focus of this study, our work illustrates how satellite-based monitoring of ecosystem sentinels can help filling the lack of information on the ecological consequences of current and changing climate conditions

Deciphering the spatio-temporal complexity of climate change of the last deglaciation: a model analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. M. Roche

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Understanding the sequence of events occuring during the last major glacial to interglacial transition (21 ka BP to 9 ka BP is a challenging task that has the potential to unveil the mechanisms behind large scale climate changes. Though many studies have focused on the understanding of the complex sequence of rapid climatic change that accompanied or interrupted the deglaciation, few have analysed it in a more theoretical framework with simple forcings. In the following, we address when and where the first significant temperature anomalies appeared when using slow varying forcing of the last deglaciation. We used here coupled transient simulations of the last deglaciation, including ocean, atmosphere and vegetation components to analyse the spatial timing of the deglaciation. To keep the analysis in a simple framework, we did not include freshwater forcings that potentially cause rapid climate shifts during that time period. We aimed to disentangle the direct and subsequent response of the climate system to slow forcing and moreover, the location where those changes are more clearly expressed. In a data – modelling comparison perspective, this could help understand the physically plausible phasing between known forcings and recorded climatic changes. Our analysis of climate variability could also help to distinguish deglacial warming signals from internal climate variability. We thus are able to better pinpoint the onset of local deglaciation, as defined by the first significant local warming and further show that there is a large regional variability associated with it, even with the set of slow forcings used here. In our model, the first significant hemispheric warming occurred simultaneously in the North and in the South and is a direct response to the obliquity forcing.

Rapid realist review of the evidence: achieving lasting change when mental health rehabilitation staff undertake recovery-oriented training.

Science.gov (United States)

Gee, Melanie; Bhanbhro, Sadiq; Cook, Sarah; Killaspy, Helen

2017-08-01

The aim of this study was to identify the factors contributing to lasting change in practice following a recovery-based training intervention for inpatient mental health rehabilitation staff. Staff training may help nurses and other staff groups in inpatient mental health rehabilitative settings to increase their recovery-oriented practice. There are no published reviews on the effectiveness of such training and few long-term evaluations. This review informed a realist evaluation of a specific intervention (GetREAL). Rapid realist review methodology was used to generate and prioritize programme theories. ASSIA, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Medline, PsycINFO, Scopus, Web of Science and grey literature searches were performed in September 2014-March 2015 with no date restrictions. Stakeholders suggested further documents. GetREAL project documentation was consulted. Programme theory development took place iteratively with literature identification. Stakeholders validated and prioritized emerging programme theories and the prioritized theories were refined using literature case studies. Fifty-one relevant documents fed into 49 programme theories articulating seven mechanisms for lasting change. Prioritized mechanisms were: staff receptiveness to change; and staff feeling encouraged, motivated and supported by colleagues and management to change. Seven programme theories were prioritized and refined using data from four case studies. Lasting change can be facilitated by collaborative action planning, regular collaborative meetings, appointing a change agent, explicit management endorsement and prioritization and modifying organizational structures. Conversely, a challenging organizational climate, or a prevalence of 'change fatigue', may block change. Pre-intervention exploration may help identify any potential barriers to embedding recovery in the organizational culture. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fluvial style change during the last glacial-interglacial transition in the middle Tisza valley (Hungary)

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kasse, C.; Bohncke, S.J.P.; Vandenberghe, J.; Gabris, G.

2010-01-01

Sedimentary changes during the last ∼2500 years have been reconstructed from cored sedimentary records from the deltaic floodplain of the Lower Tagus Valley and the Tagus mudbelt on the continental shelf offshore Lisbon. We used a multi-proxy approach consisting of sedimentology, grainsize, pollen

We create our own reality

CERN Multimedia

2003-01-01

" Yes, we create our own reality. This is one of the most fundamental tenets of the ancient oriental religions, such as Buddhism. And during the last century, modern particle physics or quantum mechanics has discovered exactly the same thing" (1 page).

Enhancing the Capacity to Create Behavior Change: Extension Key Leaders' Opinions about Social Marketing and Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Warner, Laura A.

2014-01-01

Extension educators endeavor to create and measure outcomes beyond knowledge gain. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of social marketing as a method for creating behavior change within the University of Florida Extension system through key leader opinions. Additionally, the study sought to identify perceptions about…

Changes in the Global Hydrological Cycle: Lessons from Modeling Lake Levels at the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

Lowry, D. P.; Morrill, C.

2011-12-01

Geologic evidence shows that lake levels in currently arid regions were higher and lakes in currently wet regions were lower during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Current hypotheses used to explain these lake level changes include the thermodynamic hypothesis, in which decreased tropospheric water vapor coupled with patterns of convergence and divergence caused dry areas to become more wet and vice versa, the dynamic hypothesis, in which shifts in the jet stream and Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) altered precipitation patterns, and the evaporation hypothesis, in which lake expansions are attributed to reduced evaporation in a colder climate. This modeling study uses the output of four climate models participating in phase 2 of the Paleoclimate Modeling Intercomparison Project (PMIP2) as input into a lake energy-balance model, in order to test the accuracy of the models and understand the causes of lake level changes. We model five lakes which include the Great Basin lakes, USA; Lake Petén Itzá, Guatemala; Lake Caçó, northern Brazil; Lake Tauca (Titicaca), Bolivia and Peru; and Lake Cari-Laufquen, Argentina. These lakes create a transect through the drylands of North America through the tropics and to the drylands of South America. The models accurately recreate LGM conditions in 14 out of 20 simulations, with the Great Basin lakes being the most robust and Lake Caçó being the least robust, due to model biases in portraying the ITCZ over South America. An analysis of the atmospheric moisture budget from one of the climate models shows that thermodynamic processes contribute most significantly to precipitation changes over the Great Basin, while dynamic processes are most significant for the other lakes. Lake Cari-Laufquen shows a lake expansion that is most likely attributed to reduced evaporation rather than changes in regional precipitation, suggesting that lake levels alone may not be the best indicator of how much precipitation this region

Siple Dome ice reveals two modes of millennial CO2 change during the last ice age

Science.gov (United States)

Ahn, Jinho; Brook, Edward J.

2014-01-01

Reconstruction of atmospheric CO2 during times of past abrupt climate change may help us better understand climate-carbon cycle feedbacks. Previous ice core studies reveal simultaneous increases in atmospheric CO2 and Antarctic temperature during times when Greenland and the northern hemisphere experienced very long, cold stadial conditions during the last ice age. Whether this relationship extends to all of the numerous stadial events in the Greenland ice core record has not been clear. Here we present a high-resolution record of atmospheric CO2 from the Siple Dome ice core, Antarctica for part of the last ice age. We find that CO2 does not significantly change during the short Greenlandic stadial events, implying that the climate system perturbation that produced the short stadials was not strong enough to substantially alter the carbon cycle. PMID:24781344

Animal Agriculture in a Changing Climate Online Course: An Effective Tool for Creating Extension Competency

Science.gov (United States)

Whitefield, Elizabeth; Schmidt, David; Witt-Swanson, Lindsay; Smith, David; Pronto, Jennifer; Knox, Pam; Powers, Crystal

2016-01-01

There is a need to create competency among Extension professionals on the topic of climate change adaptation and mitigation in animal agriculture. The Animal Agriculture in a Changing Climate online course provides an easily accessible, user-friendly, free, and interactive experience for learning science-based information on a national and…

Exploring Self-Esteem in a Girls' Sports Program: Competencies and Connections Create Change

Science.gov (United States)

Markowitz, Ellen

2012-01-01

Self-esteem has been problematic for researchers because it is complex, stable, and hard to measure. When assessing the self-esteem of out-of-school time (OST) program participants, some researchers may think their instruments will not detect changes, either because the program does not last long enough to make a difference or because self-esteem…

Changes of climate regimes during the last millennium and the twenty-first century simulated by the Community Earth System Model

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Wei; Feng, Song; Liu, Chang; Chen, Jie; Chen, Jianhui; Chen, Fahu

2018-01-01

This study examines the shifts in terrestrial climate regimes using the Köppen-Trewartha (K-T) climate classification by analyzing the Community Earth System Model Last Millennium Ensemble (CESM-LME) simulations for the period 850-2005 and CESM Medium Ensemble (CESM-ME), CESM Large Ensemble (CESM-LE) and CESM with fixed aerosols Medium Ensemble (CESM-LE_FixA) simulations for the period 1920-2080. We compare K-T climate types from the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) (950-1250) with the Little Ice Age (LIA) (1550-1850), from present day (PD) (1971-2000) with the last millennium (LM) (850-1850), and from the future (2050-2080) with the LM in order to place anthropogenic changes in the context of changes due to natural forcings occurring during the last millennium. For CESM-LME, we focused on the simulations with all forcings, though the impacts of individual forcings (e.g., solar activities, volcanic eruptions, greenhouse gases, aerosols and land use changes) were also analyzed. We found that the climate types changed slightly between the MCA and the LIA due to weak changes in temperature and precipitation. The climate type changes in PD relative to the last millennium have been largely driven by greenhouse gas-induced warming, but anthropogenic aerosols have also played an important role on regional scales. At the end of the twenty-first century, the anthropogenic forcing has a much greater effect on climate types than the PD. Following the reduction of aerosol emissions, the impact of greenhouse gases will further promote global warming in the future. Compared to precipitation, changes in climate types are dominated by greenhouse gas-induced warming. The large shift in climate types by the end of this century suggests possible wide-spread redistribution of surface vegetation and a significant change in species distributions.

Changes in Prescribing Symptomatic and Preventive Medications in the Last Year of Life in Older Nursing Home Residents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Meer, Helene G.; Taxis, Katja; Pont, Lisa G.

2018-01-01

Background At the end of life goals of care change from disease prevention to symptomatic control, however little is known about the patterns of medication prescribing at this stage. Objectives To explore changes in prescribing of symptomatic and preventive medication in the last year of life in

Changes in biogenic and detrital fluxes across the last two glacial terminations at the Shatsky Rise

Science.gov (United States)

Bradtmiller, L. I.; Kinsley, C. W.; McGee, D.; Ford, H. L.; Perala-Dewey, J.; Zhang, Y.

2017-12-01

The Shatsky Rise is located within strong gradients in SST and biological productivity between the subtropical and subarctic Pacific gyres. The region is highly sensitive to changes in atmospheric and oceanic circulation on glacial-interglacial timescales, which affect the delivery of Fe-bearing dust and other major nutrients, respectively. Here we use a range of proxies in an attempt to determine the effects of changes in westerly winds and gyre boundaries on dust delivery and biological productivity. We present 230Th-normalized fluxes of opal, Corg, CaCO3, and detrital material at ODP Site 1208 over the last two glacial terminations, extending to 145ka. Opal, Corg, and carbonate are products of surface biological productivity, while most detrital material at this site arrives in the form of windborne East Asian dust. In addition, we calculate the concentration of authigenic U as an indicator of relative oxygenation of the sediment water interface. We observe elevated opal and dust fluxes during the last two glacial maxima, and a decrease in both components during deglaciations. Authigenic U shows distinct peaks at the onset of both terminations. The peak at the penultimate deglaciation is also associated with a large peak in opal flux, while the peak in authigenic U during the last termination does not appear to be associated with any large changes in biogenic fluxes. We compare our records with other data from the subtropical-subarctic transition zone, and suggest that our data are consistent with northward shift of the mean position of the westerly jet and subarctic front during deglaciations.

Creating a Third Culture

Science.gov (United States)

Weisbuch, Robert A.

2008-01-01

In this article, the author laments higher education's lack of concern towards the development of teaching in the public schools over the last half of the 20th century. Most of academe's work on the topic of teacher training has been done at the branches of state universities that needed to make money and create a niche. The author observes that…

Western Tropical Atlantic Hydrologic change during the last 130,000 years

Science.gov (United States)

McGrath, S. M.; Lavoie, N.; Oppo, D.

2016-12-01

Abrupt climate changes in the North Atlantic during the last 130,000 years are associated with hydrologic changes in the western tropical Atlantic Ocean. Previous studies on marine sediment cores from between 4°S and the equator have documented pulses of terrigenous sediment recording increased precipitation and weathering on the Brazilian Nordeste associated with Heinrich events. We worked on cores KNR197-3-11CDH (7°40'N, 53°49'W, water depth 550 m) and KNR 197-3-46CDH (7°50.1621'N, 53°39.8051'W, 947m water depth) located farther north along the South American continental slope, where sediment derives from the Amazon river basin and is transported by the North Brazilian Current. Preliminary stratigraphy based on magnetic susceptibility shows a possible correlation with the Greenland ice core δ18O stratigraphy. We use sediment elemental composition, determined by x-ray fluorescence (XRF) to evaluate variations in terrigenous sediment runoff and δ18O of the planktonic foraminifers Globierinoides ruber to evaluate variations in western tropical North Atlantic surface hydrography across North Atlantic abrupt climate events. Similarities and differences among our records and the records from the more southerly cores will help understand the mechanisms of hydrologic changes in the regions on abrupt climate time scales.

Taking action on overuse: Creating the culture for change.

Science.gov (United States)

Parchman, Michael L; Henrikson, Nora B; Blasi, Paula R; Buist, Diana S; Penfold, Robert; Austin, Brian; Ganos, Emily H

2017-12-01

Unnecessary care contributes to high costs and places patients at risk of harm. While most providers support reducing low-value care, changing established practice patterns is difficult and requires active engagement in sustained behavioral, organizational, and cultural change. Here we describe an action-planning framework to engage providers in reducing overused services. The framework is informed by a comprehensive review of social science theory and literature, published reports of successful and unsuccessful efforts to reduce low-value care, and interviews with innovators of value-based care initiatives in twenty-three health care organizations across the United States. A multi-stakeholder advisory committee provided feedback on the framework and guidance on optimizing it for use in practice. The framework describes four conditions necessary for change: prioritize addressing low-value care; build a culture of trust, innovation and improvement; establish shared language and purpose; and commit resources to measurements. These conditions foster productive sense-making conversations between providers, between providers and patients, and among members of the health care team about the potential for harm from overuse and reflection on current frequency of use. Through these conversations providers, patients and team members think together as a group, learn how to coordinate individual behaviors, and jointly develop possibilities for coordinated action around specific areas of overuse. Organizational efforts to engage providers in value-based care focused on creating conditions for productive sense-making conversations that lead to change. Organizations can use this framework to enhance and strengthen provider engagement efforts to do less of what potentially harms and more of what truly helps patients. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The last 1.2 Myr of the Cretaceous in the southwestern Tethys (Elles, Tunisia): orbital calibration, climate change and calcareous nannofossil palaeoecological changes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thibault, Nicolas Rudolph; Galbrun, Bruno; Gardin, Silvia

2014-01-01

An integrated study of magnetic mass susceptibility (MS), bulk stable isotopes and nannofossil paleoecological changes has been performed on the late Maastrichtian of the Elles section, central Tunisia, spanning the last 1.2 Myr of the Cretaceous. A cyclostratigraphic analysis of MS variations re...

Creating organizational cultures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mouton, Nicolaas T.O.; Just, Sine Nørholm; Gabrielsen, Jonas

2012-01-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to re-conceptualize the relations between rhetorical strategies and material practices in the processes whereby leaders create or change organizational cultures. Design/methodology/approach – The authors compare and contrast two broad perspectives on cultural...... insights. The authors propose an integrated perspective in which material practices and rhetorical strategies are seen as two analytical sides of the same ontological coin. This enables a fuller and more detailed explanation of how organizational cultures are created or changed. A brief illustration...

The variability and change of Italian climate in the last 160 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brunetti, M.; Nanni, T.; Maugeri, M.; Monti, F.

2006-01-01

The awareness of the importance of data quality and homogeneity issues in the correct detection of climate change has increased rapidly in the last few years. Most of the contributions have been addressed to upper air data, however errors and inhomogeneities also concern surface ones. At surface level it is often assumed that such inhomogeneities have random distribution and that, considering a sufficiently large number of series, average records with negligible bias can be obtained. This assumption is likely to be correct if global or hemispheric averages are considered, but it may not be correct at a regional scale. The aim of the work is a rigorous reconstruction of the Italian climate for the last centuries (the longest series start in the late 1700s), with particular attention to the identification of spurious non-climatic signals introduced by changing instruments and methods in the measurement procedures. A data set of 111 precipitation series, 48 minimum and maximum temperature series and 67 mean temperature series was set up, together with the information about the station history (metadata). The records were subjected to a detailed quality control and homogenisation procedure that was extensively supported by a large metadata availability. The series were grouped by means of Principal Component Analysis and regional average records were obtained and analysed for trends. Trend analysis was performed on seasonal and annual basis by means of the progressive Mann-Kendall statistics and the progressive analysis of the linear regression coefficients. A comparison between the homogenized and the original series and the preliminary results of the analysis are presented. Particular emphasis is given to stress the importance of data homogenisation in the correct detection of long-term trends

Climate change and nutrition: creating a climate for nutrition security.

Science.gov (United States)

Tirado, M C; Crahay, P; Mahy, L; Zanev, C; Neira, M; Msangi, S; Brown, R; Scaramella, C; Costa Coitinho, D; Müller, A

2013-12-01

), and policies and actions formulated by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Improved multi-sectoral coordination and political will is required to integrate nutrition-sensitive actions into climate-resilient sustainable development efforts in the UNFCCC work and in the post 2015 development agenda. Placing human rights at the center of strategies to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change and international solidarity is essential to advance sustainable development and to create a climate for nutrition security.

Leading change to create a healthy and satisfying work environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Sanders, Carolyn L; Krugman, Mary; Schloffman, Danielle H

2013-01-01

Nurse executives must take a leadership role in creating a healthy work environment for nurses and all disciplines. Engaging in partnerships and empowering clinical nurses to construct the solutions to barriers that may stand in the way of the goal of a satisfied and healthy workforce are important strategies toward success. This publication outlines many projects a 3-time Magnet-designated academic hospital has implemented, working with our shared leadership councils, to meet the standards for a healthy work environment. These initiatives, from the unit to the hospital level, included standardizing a culture change of uninterrupted meal breaks, the creation of intensive care unit Zen rooms, strategies to better manage increased patient volumes, best practices for facility design, enhancing physician-nurse relations, and a hospital wellness program. Data were benchmarked against national nurse and employee surveys to compare progress and report outcomes. Two important nursing organization structures that have contributed to the success of a healthy and satisfied nursing work environment include UEXCEL, a longstanding clinical nurse professional practice program, and the hospital's 11-year participation in the University HealthSystem Consortium/American Association of Colleges of Nursing National Post-Baccalaureate Nurse Residency Program. A highly engaged, well-educated, and committed nursing workforce, nurtured by a strong leadership team, has created a positive work environment characterized by low turnover and high retention.

Families in Bollywood cinema: changes and context.

Science.gov (United States)

Deakin, Nicholas; Bhugra, Dinesh

2012-04-01

With increasing and rapid urbanization and population changes in India, a growing number of people are migrating from rural areas to urban areas, which brings about major changes in support systems. As a result, the portrayal of families has also changed in Hindi cinema over the last 50 years. Recent family melodramas have focused on an idealized version of joint and extended families. In this paper we use some key Hindi films of the 1960s and of the last two decades to compare how films have changed and how, in view of changing audiences, they have created a version of the family which is far from real. Clinicians need to be aware of these changes while dealing with patients and their families (the latter may have unrealistic expectations of their own family members).

The Land-Use and Land-Cover Change Analysis in Beijing Huairou in Last Ten Years

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Q.; Liu, G.; Tu, J.; Wang, Z.

2018-04-01

With eCognition software, the sample-based object-oriented classification method is used. Remote sensing images in Huairou district of Beijing had been classified using remote sensing images of last ten years. According to the results of image processing, the land use types in Huairou district of Beijing were analyzed in the past ten years, and the changes of land use types in Huairou district were obtained, and the reasons for its occurrence were analyzed.

Creating Conditions for Policy Change in National Parks: Contrasting Cases in Yellowstone and Yosemite

Science.gov (United States)

Yochim, Michael J.; Lowry, William R.

2016-05-01

Public agencies face significant political obstacles when they try to change long-standing policies. This paper examines efforts by the U.S. National Park Service to change long-term policies in Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks. We argue that, to be successful, the agency and pro-change allies must expand the sphere of conflict to engage the support of the broader American public through positive framing, supportive science, compelling economic arguments, consistent goals, and the commitment of other institutional actors. We show that the agency is capable of creating these conditions, as in the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone, but we argue that this is not always the outcome, as in reducing automobile congestion in Yosemite Valley.

Shoreline changes during the last 2000 years on the Saurashtra coast of India: Study based on archaeological evidences

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Gaur, A.S.; Vora, K.H.; Sundaresh

. In this communication an attempt is made to study shoreline and sea-level changes during the last 2000 years on the basis of archaeological evidence. Archaeological excavations undertaken at Bet Dwarka (western most part of India) revealed an interesting cultural...

Relative sea-level changes and crustal movements in Britain and Ireland since the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

Shennan, Ian; Bradley, Sarah L.; Edwards, Robin

2018-05-01

The new sea-level database for Britain and Ireland contains >2100 data points from 86 regions and records relative sea-level (RSL) changes over the last 20 ka and across elevations ranging from ∼+40 to -55 m. It reveals radically different patterns of RSL as we move from regions near the centre of the Celtic ice sheet at the last glacial maximum to regions near and beyond the ice limits. Validated sea-level index points and limiting data show good agreement with the broad patterns of RSL change predicted by current glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) models. The index points show no consistent pattern of synchronous coastal advance and retreat across different regions, ∼100-500 km scale, indicating that within-estuary processes, rather than decimetre- and centennial-scale oscillations in sea level, produce major controls on the temporal pattern of horizontal shifts in coastal sedimentary environments. Comparisons between the database and GIA model predictions for multiple regions provide potentially powerful constraints on various characteristics of global GIA models, including the magnitude of MWP1A, the final deglaciation of the Laurentide ice sheet and the continued melting of Antarctica after 7 ka BP.

Long-term changes and spatio-temporal variability of the growing season temperature in Europe during the last Millennium

Science.gov (United States)

Guiot, Joel; Corona, Christophe

2010-05-01

A gridded reconstruction of April to September temperature was produced for Europe based on tree-rings, documentaries, pollen and ice cores. The majority of the proxy series have an annual resolution. For a better inference of long-term climate variations, they were completed by number of low resolution data (decadal or more), mostly on pollen and ice-core data. An original spectral analogue method was devised to deal with this heterogeneous dataset, and especially to preserve the long-term variations and the variability of the temperature series. It is the condition is to make pertinent the comparison of the recent climate changes to a broader context of 1400 years. The reconstruction of the April-September temperature was validated with a Jack-knife technique, and it was also compared with other spatially gridded temperature reconstructions, literature data, and glacier advance and retreat curves. We also attempted to relate the spatial distribution of European temperature anomalies to known solar and volcanic forcings. We found that (1) our results are sound back to A.D. 750; (2) conditions during the last decade have exceeded all those known during the last millennium; (3) before the 20th century, cold periods can partly be explained by low solar activity and/or high volcanic activity and that Medieval Warm Period (MWP) is consistent with a high solar activity; (4) during the 20th century, however only anthropogenic forcing can explain the exceptionally high temperature rise; (5) based on an analysis of the distribution of extreme temperatures, the maximum event of the Medieval Period (1.1°C higher than the 1960-1990 reference period) had a return period of more than 1000 years, but this recently fell to less than 26 years; (6) all decades before AD 1350 were warm on average but relatively heterogeneous, while the last decade was homogeneously warmer. These results support the fact that we are facing an unprecedented changing climate in Europe unlike any known

THE LAND-USE AND LAND-COVER CHANGE ANALYSIS IN BEIJING HUAIROU IN LAST TEN YEARS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Q. Zhao

2018-04-01

Full Text Available With eCognition software, the sample-based object-oriented classification method is used. Remote sensing images in Huairou district of Beijing had been classified using remote sensing images of last ten years. According to the results of image processing, the land use types in Huairou district of Beijing were analyzed in the past ten years, and the changes of land use types in Huairou district were obtained, and the reasons for its occurrence were analyzed.

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.

Intermittent Ethanol during Adolescence Leads to Lasting Behavioral Changes in Adulthood and Alters Gene Expression and Histone Methylation in the PFC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer T. Wolstenholme

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Adolescents primarily consume alcohol in binges, which can be particularly harmful to the developing frontal cortex and increase risk for an adult alcohol use disorder. We conducted a study investigating immediate and long lasting changes to the prefrontal cortex (PFC transcriptome to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying adult ethanol behavioral sensitivity following binge ethanol in adolescence. DBA/2J mice were orally dosed with 4 g/kg ethanol intermittently from day 29 to 42. Adolescent mice were tested for anxiety-like behavior and ethanol sensitivity using the loss of righting reflex task. As adults, mice were tested for cognitive changes using the novel object recognition task, ethanol-induced anxiolysis and ethanol sensitivity. Adolescent binge ethanol altered ethanol sensitivity in young mice and led to lasting memory deficits in the object recognition test and greater ethanol sensitivity in adulthood. Using genomic profiling of transcripts in the PFC, we found that binge ethanol reduced myelin-related gene expression and altered chromatin modifying genes involved in histone demethylation at H3K9 and H3K36. We hypothesize that ethanol’s actions on histone methylation may be a switch for future transcriptional changes that underlie the behavioral changes lasting into adulthood.

Creating agent-based energy transition management models that can uncover profitable pathways to climate change mitigation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoekstra, A.E.; Steinbuch, M.; Verbong, G.P.J.

2017-01-01

The energy domain is still dominated by equilibrium models that underestimate both the dangers and opportunities related to climate change. In reality, climate and energy systems contain tipping points, feedback loops, and exponential developments. This paper describes how to create realistic energy

Palaeoenvironmental change in tropical Australasia over the last 30,000 years - a synthesis by the OZ-INTIMATE group

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Reeves, J.M.; Bostock, H.C.; Ayliffe, L.K.; Barrows, T.T.; De Deckker, P; Devriendt, L.S.; Dunbar, G.B.; Drysdale, R.N.; Fitzsimmons, K.E.; Gagan, M.K.; Griffiths, M.L.; Haberle, S.G.; Jansen, J.D.; Krause, C.; Lewis, S.; McGregor, H.V.; Mooney, S.D.; Moss, P; Nanson, G.C.; Purcell, A; van der Kaars, S.

2013-01-01

The tropics are the major source of heat and moisture for the Australasian region. Determining the tropics' response over time to changes in climate forcing mechanisms, such as summer insolation, and the effects of relative sea level on exposed continental shelves during the Last Glacial period, is

Management challenges in creating value from business analytics

OpenAIRE

Vidgen, Richard; Shaw, S.; Grant, D.G.

2017-01-01

The popularity of big data and business analytics has increased tremendously in the last decade and a key challenge for organizations is in understanding how to leverage them to create business value. However, while the literature acknowledges the importance of these topics little work has addressed them from the organization’s point of view. This paper investigates the challenges faced by organizational managers seeking to become more data and information-driven in order to create value. Emp...

Vegetation and Climate Change during the Last Deglaciation in the Great Khingan Mountain, Northeastern China.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Jing; Liu, Qiang; Wang, Luo; Chu, Guo-qiang; Liu, Jia-qi

2016-01-01

The Great Khingan Mountain range, Northeast China, is located on the northern limit of modern East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) and thus highly sensitive to the extension of the EASM from glacial to interglacial modes. Here, we present a high-resolution pollen record covering the last glacial maximum and the early Holocene from a closed crater Lake Moon to reconstruct vegetation history during the glacial-interglacial transition and thus register the evolution of the EASM during the last deglaciation. The vegetation history has gone through distinct changes from subalpine meadow in the last glacial maximum to dry steppe dominated by Artemisia from 20.3 to 17.4 ka BP, subalpine meadow dominated by Cyperaceae and Artemisia between 17.4 and 14.4 ka BP, and forest steppe dominated by Betula and Artemisia after 14.4 ka BP. The pollen-based temperature index demonstrates a gradual warming trend started at around 20.3 ka BP with interruptions of several brief events. Two cold conditions occurred around at 17.2-16.6 ka BP and 12.8-11.8 ka BP, temporally correlating to the Henrich 1 and the Younger Dryas events respectively, 1and abrupt warming events occurred around at 14.4 ka BP and 11.8 ka BP, probably relevant to the beginning of the Bølling-Allerød stages and the Holocene. The pollen-based moisture proxy shows distinct drought condition during the last glacial maximum (20.3-18.0 ka BP) and the Younger Dryas. The climate history based on pollen record of Lake Moon suggests that the regional temperature variability was coherent with the classical climate in the North Atlantic, implying the dominance of the high latitude processes on the EASM evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to early Holocene. The local humidity variability was influenced by the EASM limitedly before the Bølling-Allerød warming, which is mainly controlled by the summer rainfall due to the EASM front covering the Northeast China after that.

Vegetation and Climate Change during the Last Deglaciation in the Great Khingan Mountain, Northeastern China.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jing Wu

Full Text Available The Great Khingan Mountain range, Northeast China, is located on the northern limit of modern East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM and thus highly sensitive to the extension of the EASM from glacial to interglacial modes. Here, we present a high-resolution pollen record covering the last glacial maximum and the early Holocene from a closed crater Lake Moon to reconstruct vegetation history during the glacial-interglacial transition and thus register the evolution of the EASM during the last deglaciation. The vegetation history has gone through distinct changes from subalpine meadow in the last glacial maximum to dry steppe dominated by Artemisia from 20.3 to 17.4 ka BP, subalpine meadow dominated by Cyperaceae and Artemisia between 17.4 and 14.4 ka BP, and forest steppe dominated by Betula and Artemisia after 14.4 ka BP. The pollen-based temperature index demonstrates a gradual warming trend started at around 20.3 ka BP with interruptions of several brief events. Two cold conditions occurred around at 17.2-16.6 ka BP and 12.8-11.8 ka BP, temporally correlating to the Henrich 1 and the Younger Dryas events respectively, 1and abrupt warming events occurred around at 14.4 ka BP and 11.8 ka BP, probably relevant to the beginning of the Bølling-Allerød stages and the Holocene. The pollen-based moisture proxy shows distinct drought condition during the last glacial maximum (20.3-18.0 ka BP and the Younger Dryas. The climate history based on pollen record of Lake Moon suggests that the regional temperature variability was coherent with the classical climate in the North Atlantic, implying the dominance of the high latitude processes on the EASM evolution from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM to early Holocene. The local humidity variability was influenced by the EASM limitedly before the Bølling-Allerød warming, which is mainly controlled by the summer rainfall due to the EASM front covering the Northeast China after that.

The Challenges of Creating Climate Change Education Cross-Sector Partnerships

Science.gov (United States)

Ledley, T. S.

2017-12-01

Communities will have to address the impacts of climate change on their environment whether it is for adaptation - to build resilience and establish preparedness, or for mitigation - to migrate to cleaner energy sources and reduce energy use. To effectively address these impacts community leaders and professionals will need to develop an understanding of and solutions to the problems that result from climate change. The effort will need to be conducted with a cross-sector approach as all members of a community (individuals and organizations/businesses/ groups) will be impacted. Students should be involved in this effort to help them develop the critical thinking and data analysis skills they will need in the future to make responsible decisions for themselves, their community, and professionally. However, engaging businesses, organizations, and government in a coherent aligned partnership that addresses short and long term local impacts of climate change as well as the longer-term goal of preparing the future climate ready workforce has multiple challenges. Each business, organization and government agency has it own mission and goals, and metrics of achieving them. In creating an effective cross-sector partnership it is essential to determine for each partner where their mission, services, products, and activities can benefit the partnership and where the partnership can help them improve their multiple bottom lines (financial, social, envionmental) and show the value of their participation to their boards and leadership. Cross-sector partnerships have begun to form in many communities, however, financing them is difficult and most do not include education, a critical leverage element, for either the future workforce or to support current decision makers. In this presentation we will examine community partnerships that are working to address local climate issues and explore the obstacles to integrating education in these cross-sector climate change partnerships

Maternal-pup interaction disturbances induce long-lasting changes in the newborn rat pulmonary vasculature.

Science.gov (United States)

Shifrin, Yulia; Sadeghi, Sina; Pan, Jingyi; Jain, Amish; Fajardo, Andres F; McNamara, Patrick J; Belik, Jaques

2015-11-15

The factors accounting for the pathological maintenance of a high pulmonary vascular (PV) resistance postnatally remain elusive, but neonatal stressors may play a role in this process. Cross-fostering in the immediate neonatal period is associated with adult-onset vascular and behavioral changes, likely triggered by early-in-life stressors. In hypothesizing that fostering newborn rats induces long-lasting PV changes, we evaluated them at 14 days of age during adulthood and compared the findings with animals raised by their biological mothers. Fostering resulted in reduced maternal-pup contact time when compared with control newborns. At 2 wk of age, fostered rats exhibited reduced pulmonary arterial endothelium-dependent relaxation secondary to downregulation of tissue endothelial nitric oxide synthase expression and tetrahydrobiopterin deficiency-induced uncoupling. These changes were associated with neonatal onset-increased ANG II receptor type 1 expression, PV remodeling, and right ventricular hypertrophy that persisted into adulthood. The pulmonary arteries of adult-fostered rats exhibited a higher contraction dose response to ANG II and thromboxane A2, the latter of which was abrogated by the oxidant scavenger Tempol. In conclusion, fostering-induced neonatal stress induces long-standing PV changes modulated via the renin-angiotensin system. Copyright © 2015 the American Physiological Society.

NDVI indicated characteristics of vegetation cover change in China's metropolises over the last three decades.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Jinyu; Wang, Xuhui; Chen, Anping; Ma, Yuecun; Cui, Mengdi; Piao, Shilong

2011-08-01

How urban vegetation was influenced by three decades of intensive urbanization in China is of great interest but rarely studied. In this paper, we used satellite derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and socioeconomic data to evaluate effects of urbanization on vegetation cover in China's 117 metropolises over the last three decades. Our results suggest that current urbanization has caused deterioration of urban vegetation across most cities in China, particularly in East China. At the national scale, average urban area NDVI (NDVI(u)) significantly decreased during the last three decades (P NDVI(u) did not show statistically significant trend before 1990 but decrease remarkably after 1990 (P NDVI(u) turning point. The year when NDVI(u) started to decline significantly for Central China and East China was 1987 and 1990, respectively, while NDVI(u) in West China remained relatively constant until 1998. NDVI(u) changes in the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, two regions which has been undergoing the most rapid urbanization in China, also show different characteristics. The Pearl River Delta experienced a rapid decline in NDVI(u) from the early 1980s to the mid-1990s; while in the Yangtze River Delta, NDVI(u) did not decline significantly until the early 1990s. Such different patterns of NDVI(u) changes are closely linked with policy-oriented difference in urbanization dynamics of these regions, which highlights the importance of implementing a sustainable urban development policy.

Changes in Eastern Equatorial Pacific Thermocline Structure across the Last Deglaciation: Evidence from the Carnegie Ridge

Science.gov (United States)

Glaubke, R.; Schmidt, M. W.; Warner, L.; Hertzberg, J. E.; Marcantonio, F.; Bianchi, T. S.

2017-12-01

The eastern equatorial Pacific (EEP) is an important climatological region given its influence in the modulation of the El Niño - Southern Oscillation (ENSO). The current climatic mean state of the EEP is characterized by cool sea surface temperatures (SST) and a strong, shallow thermocline. Nevertheless, there remains significant uncertainty about past changes in tropical Pacific climate and how ENSO variability relates to the millennial-scale climate events of the last deglaciation. Here, we will present 21 kyrs of Mg/Ca paleotemperature data from the surface-dwelling foraminifera Globigerinoides ruber and the thermocline-dwelling foraminifera Neogloboquadrina dutertrei collected from piston core MV1014-02-17JC (00° 10.83'S, 85° 52.00'W; 2846 m depth) on the Carnegie Ridge. Initial results reveal a 1.3°C warming of the surface ocean from the early-Holocene until 6 kyrs, a trend present in other EEP SST reconstructions (Pena et al., 2008; Timmerman et al., 2014; Lea et al., 2000). The surface ocean subsequently cools from 6 kyrs and reaches present-day temperatures by 3.5 kyrs. The subsurface reveals a nearly monotonic cooling of 1.8°C from 10.8 kyrs to the present day, which suggest a gradual shoaling of the thermocline across the Holocene. Furthermore, an increase in the vertical temperature gradient occurs from the late- to mid-Holocene, with the sharpest temperature difference centered at 6 kyrs, coincident with the mid-Holocene peak in SSTs. Taken together, these data suggest a gradual shoaling of the thermocline across the Holocene, with the variations in SST primarily governing the intensity of the vertical temperature gradient. Future work includes extending this record back to the last glacial maximum (LGM) to assess tropical Pacific mean state change across the abrupt climate events that characterized the last deglaciation.

Palaeolimnological evidence of vulnerability of Lake Neusiedl (Austria) toward climate related changes since the last "vanished-lake" stage.

Science.gov (United States)

Tolotti, Monica; Milan, Manuela; Boscaini, Adriano; Soja, Gerhard; Herzig, Alois

2013-04-01

The palaeolimnological reconstruction of secular evolution of Euroepan Lakes with key socio-economical relevance respect to large (climate change) and local scale (land use, tourism) environmental changes, represents one of the objectives of the project EuLakes (European Lakes Under Environmental Stressors, Supporting lake governance to mitigate the impact of climate change, Reg. N. 2CE243P3), launched in 2010 within the Central European Inititiative. The project consortium comprises lakes of different morphology and prevalent human uses, including the meso-eutrophic Lake Neusiedl, the largest Austrian lake (total area 315 km2), and the westernmost shallow (mean depth 1.2 m) steppe lake of the Euro-Asiatic continent. The volume of Lake Neusiedl can potentially change over the years, in relation with changing balance between atmospheric precipitation and lake water evapotranspiration. Changing water budget, together with high lake salinity and turbidity, have important implications over the lake ecosystem. This contribution illustrates results of the multi-proxi palaeolimnological reconstruction of ecologial changes occurred in Lake Neusiedl during the last ca. 140 years, i.e. since the end of the last "vanished-lake" stage (1865-1871). Geochemical and biological proxies anticipate the increase in lake productivity of ca. 10 years (1950s) respect to what reported in the literature. Diatom species composition indicate a biological lake recovery in the late 1980s, and suggest a second increment in lake productivity since the late 1990s, possibly in relation with the progressive increase in the nitrogen input from agriculture. Abundance of diatoms typical of brackish waters indicated no significant long-term change in lake salinity, while variations in species toleranting dessiccation confirm the vulnerability of Lake Neusiedl toward climate-driven changes in the lake water balance. This fragility is aggravated by the the semi-arid climate conditions of the catchemnt

The last LHC dipole magnet is lowered

CERN Multimedia

Claudia Marcelloni

2007-01-01

A ceremony is held as the last of 1746 superconducting magnets is lowered into the 27-km circumference tunnel that houses the LHC. The LHC project leader, Lyn Evans, changes a banner reading ‘first magnet for the LHC’ to ‘last magnet for the LHC’ in his native Welsh.

Lender of last resort in a monetary union

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gylfi Magnússon

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The theory of optimal currency areas was developed during the 1960’s and 1970’s. At that time the international financial system was very different from the current system, banking systems were smaller and the flow of funds across borders limited. Developments in the Eurozone in recent years have shown that when the theory was developed and the decision made to adopt the euro some of the drawbacks of a common currency were not foreseen and important issues were not addressed. This includes the role of a common central bank as a lender of last resort to national governments. In addition, few foresaw how many closely linked financial systems could create problems that are unsolvable without the cooperation of several governments. An adequate framework for dealing with such problems was thus not put in place. The possibility that macro-economic shocks could originate in the financial system was mainly ignored. During the current crisis it has been necessary to address all these issues. It took four years to find a politically viable solution. This involves the redefinition of the role of the European Central Bank, making it a lender of last resort to national governments. This policy change buys time to deal with many fundamental imbalances within the Eurozone but does not in and of itself solve the underlying problems. The delay in implementing this policy was however very costly.

"Change in Schools It's More Like Sort of Turning an Oil Tanker": Creating Readiness for Health Promoting Schools

Science.gov (United States)

Gardner, Belinda; Ollis, Debbie

2015-01-01

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to add to the evidence of best practice in the implementation of the Health Promoting Schools (HPS) framework by examining the process of creating readiness for change in a large international school in South-East Asia. Using a settings-based approach and guided by readiness for change theory the data…

Theatre for Change: An Analysis of Two Performances by Women in Mundemba Sub-Division.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanyi-Tang, Anne

2001-01-01

Contends that theatre has the power to induce oppressors to change their attitudes permanently towards the groups they oppress. Describes theatrical performances by women in Mundemba Sub-Division, Cameroon, which created lasting changes in men's attitudes. Concludes that theatre calls for sociocultural and economic changes and it has the power to…

Teacher Reform in Indonesia: Can Offshore Programs Create Lasting Pedagogical Shift?

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, William; Hyde, Mervyn; Whannel, Robert; O'Neill, Maureen

2018-01-01

Regional and national interest in reforming teaching in Indonesia has seen governments, NGOs and education specialists combine to drive pedagogical changes among school teachers there. Results of these programs have been indifferent at best. This paper reports on teacher reform programs in Provinsi Papua, one of the most marginal societies in…

Genomic Evidence of Widespread Admixture from Polar Bears into Brown Bears during the Last Ice Age.

Science.gov (United States)

Cahill, James A; Heintzman, Peter D; Harris, Kelley; Teasdale, Matthew D; Kapp, Joshua; Soares, Andre E R; Stirling, Ian; Bradley, Daniel; Edwards, Ceiridwen J; Graim, Kiley; Kisleika, Aliaksandr A; Malev, Alexander V; Monaghan, Nigel; Green, Richard E; Shapiro, Beth

2018-05-01

Recent genomic analyses have provided substantial evidence for past periods of gene flow from polar bears (Ursus maritimus) into Alaskan brown bears (Ursus arctos), with some analyses suggesting a link between climate change and genomic introgression. However, because it has mainly been possible to sample bears from the present day, the timing, frequency, and evolutionary significance of this admixture remains unknown. Here, we analyze genomic DNA from three additional and geographically distinct brown bear populations, including two that lived temporally close to the peak of the last ice age. We find evidence of admixture in all three populations, suggesting that admixture between these species has been common in their recent evolutionary history. In addition, analyses of ten fossil bears from the now-extinct Irish population indicate that admixture peaked during the last ice age, whereas brown bear and polar bear ranges overlapped. Following this peak, the proportion of polar bear ancestry in Irish brown bears declined rapidly until their extinction. Our results support a model in which ice age climate change created geographically widespread conditions conducive to admixture between polar bears and brown bears, as is again occurring today. We postulate that this model will be informative for many admixing species pairs impacted by climate change. Our results highlight the power of paleogenomics to reveal patterns of evolutionary change that are otherwise masked in contemporary data.

Environmental changes on freshwater fish communities in South America in the last five decades: a case study in northeast Argentina.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alejandra Volpedo

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Environmental changes together with other stressors, such as habitat destruction, may cause widespread extinctions, decrease in biodiversity and disrupt natural communities, resulting in novel species assemblages. South America has a large diversity of freshwater fishes with complex evolutionary histories, mainly due to the presence of a wide variety of aquatic environments. Argentina has experienced an increase in rainfall in the last five decades leading to important climatic and hydrological changes. These changes caused the displacement of the isohyets towards the west. This study reports changes in the composition of freshwater fishes in northeast Argentina during the last five decades, and investigated a causal relationship between the variation in fish assemblages and climate change. The changes in the distribution and composition of fish communities between 1962 and 2010 were analyzed in 22 stations. These stations were agrouped in relation to the ichthyogeographic provinces: Great Rivers province (GRp and Pampean province (Pp. The correlation between rainfall in relation to the number total species from each of the studied provinces showed a significant positive correlation in Pp and not correlation in GRp. The annual mean river discharge and the number of total species from each ecoregion showed a significant positive correlation in GRp, and not correlation in Pp. The results of this study strongly suggest that the rainfall variations and river discharges observed in northeast Argentina induced changes in the composition of fish assemblages that lead to the redistribution of fish species among ichthyogeographic provinces.

Vegetation change and pollen geochronology from the Atlantic Coast of the United States during the last Millennium

Science.gov (United States)

Christie, M.; Bernhardt, C. E.; Clear, J.; Corbett, D. R.; Horton, B.

2017-12-01

Vegetation changes related to anthropogenic and climatic change have been reconstructed at many locations. Synthesizing observations from multiple locations improves our understanding of the regionality of these impacts and drivers. Human alterations to the plant communities vary spatially in timing and impact. For example, deforestation occurred at different times, rates, and magnitudes along the Atlantic Coast of the United States, while of the introduction of non-native plants into ecosystems varies by region. Gradual climate shifts cause the appearance of migration in sensitive plants, so climate-related transitions can be traced from one location to another. Here, we combine new and published pollen data from Florida to Connecticut to produce a regional synthesis of vegetation changes for the last 1000 years. We have produced detailed reconstructions of vegetation changes in response to anthropogenic and climatic forcing. Our database contains pollen assemblages from more than 10 locations along the Atlantic coast of the United States, including new reconstructions from the Florida Keys, Delaware Estuary, and northern New Jersey. All pollen assemblages are placed in a geochronological framework with as fine as decadal resolution using composite chronologies of radiocarbon, pollution histories and cesium isotopes. Anthropogenic impacts, including deforestation from European settlement and the introduction of non-native plants, are observed in the pollen record and serve as useful markers of time. For example, the abrupt increase in Ambrosia pollen in the mid-Atlantic corresponds to 18th Century deforestation. Climate transitions that can be seen in the pollen record during the last millennium include the Medieval Climate Optimum, Little Ice Age, and human-induced warming following industrialization in the 20th century. Plant communities of the United States Atlantic Coast adapted to the evolving climate. For example, Picea and Tsuga are indicative of cooler

Climatic Change and the Future of the Human Environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotlyakov, Vladimir M.

1996-01-01

Evaluates the latest glaciological and oceanological data and demonstrates a strict correlation between global changes of temperature and gas composition of the atmosphere over the last climatic cycle. Concludes that global warming may not create an environmental crisis but will alter drastically the life people lead. (MJP)

A Sort-Last Rendering System over an Optical Backplane

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasuhiro Kirihata

2005-06-01

Full Text Available Sort-Last is a computer graphics technique for rendering extremely large data sets on clusters of computers. Sort-Last works by dividing the data set into even-sized chunks for parallel rendering and then composing the images to form the final result. Since sort-last rendering requires the movement of large amounts of image data among cluster nodes, the network interconnecting the nodes becomes a major bottleneck. In this paper, we describe a sort-last rendering system implemented on a cluster of computers whose nodes are connected by an all-optical switch. The rendering system introduces the notion of the Photonic Computing Engine, a computing system built dynamically by using the optical switch to create dedicated network connections among cluster nodes. The sort-last volume rendering algorithm was implemented on the Photonic Computing Engine, and its performance is evaluated. Prelimi- nary experiments show that performance is affected by the image composition time and average payload size. In an attempt to stabilize the performance of the system, we have designed a flow control mechanism that uses feedback messages to dynamically adjust the data flow rate within the computing engine.

Partnership for a Healthier America: Creating Change Through Private Sector Partnerships.

Science.gov (United States)

Simon, Caitlin; Kocot, S Lawrence; Dietz, William H

2017-06-01

This review provides background on the formation of the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), that was created in conjunction with the Let's Move! initiative, and an overview of its work to date. To encourage industry to offer and promote healthier options, PHA partners with the private sector. Principles that guide PHA partnerships include ensuring that partnerships represent meaningful change, partners sign a legally binding contract and progress is monitored and publicly reported. Since 2010, PHA has established private sector partnerships in an effort to transform the marketplace to ensure that every child has the chance to grow up at a healthy weight. Many agreements between PHA and its industry partners align with the White House Task Force Report on Childhood Obesity. The reach and impact of over 200 partnerships attest to the success of this initiative.

Climatic evolution during the last century

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schuurmans, C.J.E.; Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht

1991-01-01

An attempt is made to list the most important changes of the coupled climate system over the last 100 years. The most obvious of these is a small, global, though non-uniform, warming. Other concepts are discussed briefly: climate change under constant external forcing and due to external forcing, short term climate changes (less than 10 years), decadal variations, changes of the atmospheric circulation, changes in variability, recent climate in longer perspective, climatic jumps as a mode of variation, detection of the greenhouse warming

Information and analytical support of integrated reporting: evaluation of the stakeholders’ influence on the change of the created value

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu. V. Novozhilova

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Information and analytical support of integrated reporting needs constant improvement, depending on the growing needs of the stakeholders. The main objective of integrated reporting is to explain how the organization creates value over time. The stakeholders play a key role in the process of value creation. Firms accumulate stakeholders’ resources and transform them, thereby meeting the needs of the parties and achieving their own goals. Building relationships with their stakeholders, organization establishes impact leverage to create value. Thus, the created value depends on the successful interaction with stakeholders. Therefore, the article is devoted to problem of information and analytical support of integrated reporting to the evaluation of created value, which is influenced by the stakeholders. The article emphasizes that an integrated quantitative measurement of value change is a complex and unresolved currently task. Integrated evaluation - a systematic analytical study, in the course of which is given summarizing evaluation of the effectiveness company. Such assessment activity is important and has a multi-purpose orientation under market conditions. The annual reports of companies are practically no integrated indicators characterizing created value. The author believes that integrated reporting should become a platform for the realization of the possibility of an integrated assessment of the created value. The results of the study are the development the methods of computation the “integrated index overall impact by the stakeholders on the company’s created value” and its testing on the example of the annual reports of the organization, which discloses information on the level of international best practice. The methodology of the research bases on such methods as analysis, synthesis, abstraction, simulation, comprehensive approach to knowledge, logical methods of research. Private indicators for the computation the

Creating Innovative Frameworks to Spur Cultural Change at NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Samuel, Aamod; Lozano, Joel; Carte, Olivia; Robillos, Troy

2018-01-01

Changing the culture of an organization is a monumental task that often takes years and has no set formula. Steps can be taken, however, to spur cultural change by creating spaces and infrastructure to serve as the initial driving force. An innovation space and a bicycle sharing (bike share) program were implemented at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) (Edwards, California) with a vision toward connecting Center personnel, fostering collaboration and innovation, retaining newer employees, promoting flexibility, and improving the culture and workplace atmosphere. This paper discusses the steps taken, challenges faced, novel culture-change-focused design elements, lessons learned, acquired metrics, and how these initiated cultural change at AFRC. For both the innovation space and the bike share program, funding was negotiated and provided through the NASA Convergent Aeronautics Solutions (CAS) project, which was seeking to improve the innovation and collaboration capabilities at each of the four NASA aeronautics Centers. Key stakeholders across AFRC from upper management, facilities, safety, engineering, and procurement were identified early in the process and were consulted and included throughout execution to ensure that any encountered roadblocks could be easily navigated. Research was then conducted by attending conferences and visiting culture-changing organizations both inside and outside United States Government agencies. Distilling the research, identifying available space, and deciding on specific design elements for the space was conducted by a subset of individuals of diverse backgrounds to enable quick, effective decision-making. Decisions were made with the intent to increase usage and diversity of users of the space; care was taken to ensure a well-crafted atmosphere that would foster the desired culture change. The allocated physical space required major structural modifications, new

Potential analysis reveals changing number of climate states during the last 60 kyr

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. N. Livina

2010-02-01

Full Text Available We develop and apply a new statistical method of potential analysis for detecting the number of states of a geophysical system, from its recorded time series. Estimation of the degree of a polynomial potential allows us to derive the number of potential wells in a system. The method correctly detects changes in the number of wells in artificial data. In ice-core proxy records of Greenland paleotemperature, a reduction in the number of climate states from two to one is detected sometime prior to the last glacial maximum (LGM, 23–19 kyr BP. This result is also found in analysis of Greenland Ca data. The bifurcation can be interpreted as loss of stability of the warm interstadial state of the Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO events. The proposed method can be applied to a wide range of geophysical time series exhibiting bifurcations.

The last decades and matrimonial changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Trost, J

1992-01-01

This paper focuses on changes in fertility, marriage patterns, cohabitation, divorce, and separation in Western European countries over the past few decades. Major trends discussed include the decline in fertility and marriage rates and the increase in nonmarital cohabitation, divorce, and separation.

Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene climate evolution controlled by sea-level change, Leeuwin Current, and Australian Monsoon in the Northwestern Australia

Science.gov (United States)

Ishiwa, T.; Yokoyama, Y.; McHugh, C.; Reuning, L.; Gallagher, S. J.

2017-12-01

The transition from cold to warm conditions during the last deglaciation influenced climate variability in the Indian Ocean and Pacific as a result of submerge of continental shelf and variations in the Indonesian Throughflow and Australian Monsoon. The shallow continental shelf (Program Expedition 356 Indonesian Throughflow drilled in the northwestern Australian shallow continental shelf and recovered an interval from the Last Glacial Maximum to Holocene in Site U1461. Radiocarbon dating on macrofossils, foraminifera, and bulk organic matter provided a precise age-depth model, leading to high-resolved paleoclimate reconstruction. X-ray elemental analysis results are interpreted as an indicator of sedimentary environmental changes. The upper 20-m part of Site U1461 apparently records the climate transition from the LGM to Holocene in the northwestern Australia, which could be associated with sea-level change, Leeuwin Current activity, and the Australian Monsoon.

Antropometric parameters problem solving of shoe lasts by deforming membranes with medium weight

Science.gov (United States)

Albu, A. V.; Anghel Drugarin, C. V.; Barla, E. M.; Porav, V.

2018-01-01

The paper presents research results into getting a virtual model of shoe last and anthropometric parameters change. The most important change occurs in the fingers region. Alternatives CAD-CAM technology for next generation is based on DELCAM software for the CAM procedure and simulation of MATLAB software. This research has led to the virtual changes of the last, anthropometric parameter - the width of the fingers (ld) and shoe last length - (Lp) and images have been achieved with the representation in section of the shoe last changed from the original shoe lasts by FEM method (Finite element method) in MATLAB environment. The results are applied in the textile industry and in the elaboration of linings consumption or in the development of leather substitutes on fabric, knitted or woven material type.

Values drive value when creating sustainable service business : A study of a medium-sized values-driven company: Löfbergs Lila

OpenAIRE

Enquist, Bo-Jacob

2007-01-01

This Master thesis investigates how values can drive value when creating sustainable business.Concepts like Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Sustainable Development (SD) has in the last years become more and more accepted and therefore practiced in the business world. Due to alarms of the climate change, decreased biological diversity and alarming reports of child labour in the export industry, today’s society claims for more sustainable actions among global enterprises. Evidently, s...

Synchronicity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon variability and Northern Hemisphere climate change since the last deglaciation

OpenAIRE

T. Shinozaki; M. Uchida; K. Minoura; M. Kondo; S. F. Rella; Y. Shibata

2011-01-01

Understanding of the mechanism of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) is required for the prediction of climate change in East Asia in a scenario of modern global warming. In this study, we present high-resolution climate records from peat sediments in Northeast Japan to reconstruct the EASM variability based on peat bulk cellulose δ¹³C since the last deglaciation. We used a 8.8 m long peat sediment core collected from the Tashiro Bog, Northeast Japan. Based ...

Facilitating the Concept of Universal Design Among Design Students - Changes in Teaching in the Last Decade.

Science.gov (United States)

Vavik, Tom

2016-01-01

This short paper describes and reflects on how the teaching of the concept of Universal Design (UD) has developed in the last decade at the Institute of Design at the Oslo School of Architecture and Design (AHO). Four main changes are described. Firstly, the curriculum has evolved from teaching guidelines and principles to focusing on design processes. Secondly, an increased emphasis is put on cognitive accessibility. Thirdly, non-stigmatizing aesthetics expressions and solutions that communicate through different senses have become more important subjects. Fourthly the teaching of UD has moved from the second to the first year curriculum.

Abrupt changes of intermediate water properties on the northeastern slope of the Bering Sea during the last glacial and deglacial period

Science.gov (United States)

Rella, Stephan F.; Tada, Ryuji; Nagashima, Kana; Ikehara, Minoru; Itaki, Takuya; Ohkushi, Ken'ichi; Sakamoto, Tatsuhiko; Harada, Naomi; Uchida, Masao

2012-09-01

Millennial-scale variability in the behavior of North Pacific Intermediate Water during the last glacial and deglacial period, and its association with Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles and Heinrich events, are examined based on benthic foraminiferal oxygen and carbon isotopes (δ18Obf and δ13Cbf) and %CaCO3 using a sediment core recovered from the northeastern slope of the Bering Sea. A suite of positive δ18Obf excursions at intermediate depths of the Bering Sea, which seem at least in part associated with increases in the δ18Obf gradients between the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, suggest the Bering Sea as a proximate source of intermediate water during several severe stadial episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period. Absence of such δ18Obf gradients during periods of high surface productivity in the Bering and Okhotsk Seas, which we correlate to D-O interstadials, suggests a reduction in intermediate water production in the Bering Sea and subsequent introduction of nutrient-rich deep waters from the North Pacific into intermediate depths of the Bering Sea. We argue that a reorganization of atmospheric circulation in the high-latitude North Pacific during severe cold episodes in the last glacial and deglacial period created favorable conditions for brine rejection in the northeastern Bering Sea. The resulting salinity increase in the cold surface waters could have initiated intermediate (and deep) water formation that spread out to the North Pacific.

How to manage organisational change and create practice teams: experiences of a South African primary care health centre.

Science.gov (United States)

Mash, B J; Mayers, P; Conradie, H; Orayn, A; Kuiper, M; Marais, J

2008-07-01

In South Africa, first-contact primary care is delivered by nurses in small clinics and larger community health centres (CHC). CHCs also employ doctors, who often work in isolation from the nurses, with poor differentiation of roles and little effective teamwork or communication. Worcester CHC, a typical public sector CHC in rural South Africa, decided to explore how to create more successful practice teams of doctors and nurses. This paper is based on their experience of both unsuccessful and successful attempts to introduce practice teams and reports on their learning regarding organisational change. An emergent action research study design utilised a co-operative inquiry group. The first nine months of inquiry focused on understanding the initial unsuccessful attempt to create practice teams. This paper reports primarily on the subsequent nine months (four cycles of planning, action, observation and reflection) during which practice teams were re-introduced. The central question was how more effective practice teams of doctors and nurses could be created. The group utilised outcome mapping to assist with planning, monitoring and evaluation. Outcome mapping defined a vision, mission, boundary partners, outcome challenges, progress markers and strategies for the desired changes and supported quantitative monitoring of the process. Qualitative data were derived from the co-operative inquiry group (CIG) meetings and interviews with doctors, nurses, practice teams and patients. The CIG engaged effectively with 68% of the planned strategies, and more than 60% of the progress markers were achieved for clinical nurse practitioners, doctors, support staff and managers, but not for patients. Key themes that emerged from the inquiry group's reflection on their experience of the change process dealt with the amount of interaction, type of communication, team resilience, staff satisfaction, leadership style, reflective capacity, experimentation and evolution of new

How typical are the last 20,000 years of climatic and vegetation change in the tropical Andes?

Science.gov (United States)

Gosling, W. D.; Urrego, D. H.; Hanselman, J. A.; Valencia, B.; Bush, M. B.; Silman, M. R.

2006-12-01

A consensus of global circulation models highlights the southern tropical Andes as the biodiversity hotspot most likely to experience biome shift in the next century. The pace of the ongoing change finds its nearest parallel in that of the Younger Dryas at high latitudes. However, in the tropical Andes of Peru and Bolivia we find that there was no such rapid temperature change within the last 40,000 years. Rates of temperature change across the deglacial interval (which may begin as early as c. 22,000 cal. yr BP) are one to two orders of magnitude slower than those forecasted for the next century, and differed little from those of the full glacial. Indeed, the fastest rates of vegetation change are responses to Holocene drought and human activity, not Pleistocene/Holocene warming. Sedimentary data from long records on the Altiplano provide records of earlier interglacials (MIS 5e, 7 and 9), but do not have the chronological control to provide assessments of rate of change. Nevertheless, those records do provide evidence of marked similarities in the development of each interglacial, with some divergence seen at full interglacial conditions.

Created mangrove wetlands store belowground carbon and surface elevation change enables them to adjust to sea-level rise

Science.gov (United States)

Krauss, Ken W.; Cormier, Nicole; Osland, Michael J.; Kirwan, Matthew L.; Stagg, Camille L.; Nestlerode, Janet A.; Russell, Marc J.; From, Andrew; Spivak, Amanda C.; Dantin, Darrin D.; Harvey, James E.; Almario, Alejandro E.

2017-01-01

Mangrove wetlands provide ecosystem services for millions of people, most prominently by providing storm protection, food and fodder. Mangrove wetlands are also valuable ecosystems for promoting carbon (C) sequestration and storage. However, loss of mangrove wetlands and these ecosystem services are a global concern, prompting the restoration and creation of mangrove wetlands as a potential solution. Here, we investigate soil surface elevation change, and its components, in created mangrove wetlands over a 25 year developmental gradient. All created mangrove wetlands were exceeding current relative sea-level rise rates (2.6 mm yr−1), with surface elevation change of 4.2–11.0 mm yr−1 compared with 1.5–7.2 mm yr−1 for nearby reference mangroves. While mangrove wetlands store C persistently in roots/soils, storage capacity is most valuable if maintained with future sea-level rise. Through empirical modeling, we discovered that properly designed creation projects may not only yield enhanced C storage, but also can facilitate wetland persistence perennially under current rates of sea-level rise and, for most sites, for over a century with projected medium accelerations in sea-level rise (IPCC RCP 6.0). Only the fastest projected accelerations in sea-level rise (IPCC RCP 8.5) led to widespread submergence and potential loss of stored C for created mangrove wetlands before 2100.

Created mangrove wetlands store belowground carbon and surface elevation change enables them to adjust to sea-level rise.

Science.gov (United States)

Krauss, Ken W; Cormier, Nicole; Osland, Michael J; Kirwan, Matthew L; Stagg, Camille L; Nestlerode, Janet A; Russell, Marc J; From, Andrew S; Spivak, Amanda C; Dantin, Darrin D; Harvey, James E; Almario, Alejandro E

2017-04-21

Mangrove wetlands provide ecosystem services for millions of people, most prominently by providing storm protection, food and fodder. Mangrove wetlands are also valuable ecosystems for promoting carbon (C) sequestration and storage. However, loss of mangrove wetlands and these ecosystem services are a global concern, prompting the restoration and creation of mangrove wetlands as a potential solution. Here, we investigate soil surface elevation change, and its components, in created mangrove wetlands over a 25 year developmental gradient. All created mangrove wetlands were exceeding current relative sea-level rise rates (2.6 mm yr -1 ), with surface elevation change of 4.2-11.0 mm yr -1 compared with 1.5-7.2 mm yr -1 for nearby reference mangroves. While mangrove wetlands store C persistently in roots/soils, storage capacity is most valuable if maintained with future sea-level rise. Through empirical modeling, we discovered that properly designed creation projects may not only yield enhanced C storage, but also can facilitate wetland persistence perennially under current rates of sea-level rise and, for most sites, for over a century with projected medium accelerations in sea-level rise (IPCC RCP 6.0). Only the fastest projected accelerations in sea-level rise (IPCC RCP 8.5) led to widespread submergence and potential loss of stored C for created mangrove wetlands before 2100.

Climate change or urbanization? Impacts on a traditional coffee production system in East Africa over the last 80 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Jaramillo, Juliana; Setamou, Mamoudou; Muchugu, Eric; Chabi-Olaye, Adenirin; Jaramillo, Alvaro; Mukabana, Joseph; Maina, Johnson; Gathara, Simon; Borgemeister, Christian

2013-01-01

Global environmental changes (GEC) such as climate change (CC) and climate variability have serious impacts in the tropics, particularly in Africa. These are compounded by changes in land use/land cover, which in turn are driven mainly by economic and population growth, and urbanization. These factors create a feedback loop, which affects ecosystems and particularly ecosystem services, for example plant-insect interactions, and by consequence agricultural productivity. We studied effects of GEC at a local level, using a traditional coffee production area in greater Nairobi, Kenya. We chose coffee, the most valuable agricultural commodity worldwide, as it generates income for 100 million people, mainly in the developing world. Using the coffee berry borer, the most serious biotic threat to global coffee production, we show how environmental changes and different production systems (shaded and sun-grown coffee) can affect the crop. We combined detailed entomological assessments with historic climate records (from 1929-2011), and spatial and demographic data, to assess GEC's impact on coffee at a local scale. Additionally, we tested the utility of an adaptation strategy that is simple and easy to implement. Our results show that while interactions between CC and migration/urbanization, with its resultant landscape modifications, create a feedback loop whereby agroecosystems such as coffee are adversely affected, bio-diverse shaded coffee proved far more resilient and productive than coffee grown in monoculture, and was significantly less harmed by its insect pest. Thus, a relatively simple strategy such as shading coffee can tremendously improve resilience of agro-ecosystems, providing small-scale farmers in Africa with an easily implemented tool to safeguard their livelihoods in a changing climate.

Climate change or urbanization? Impacts on a traditional coffee production system in East Africa over the last 80 years.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juliana Jaramillo

Full Text Available Global environmental changes (GEC such as climate change (CC and climate variability have serious impacts in the tropics, particularly in Africa. These are compounded by changes in land use/land cover, which in turn are driven mainly by economic and population growth, and urbanization. These factors create a feedback loop, which affects ecosystems and particularly ecosystem services, for example plant-insect interactions, and by consequence agricultural productivity. We studied effects of GEC at a local level, using a traditional coffee production area in greater Nairobi, Kenya. We chose coffee, the most valuable agricultural commodity worldwide, as it generates income for 100 million people, mainly in the developing world. Using the coffee berry borer, the most serious biotic threat to global coffee production, we show how environmental changes and different production systems (shaded and sun-grown coffee can affect the crop. We combined detailed entomological assessments with historic climate records (from 1929-2011, and spatial and demographic data, to assess GEC's impact on coffee at a local scale. Additionally, we tested the utility of an adaptation strategy that is simple and easy to implement. Our results show that while interactions between CC and migration/urbanization, with its resultant landscape modifications, create a feedback loop whereby agroecosystems such as coffee are adversely affected, bio-diverse shaded coffee proved far more resilient and productive than coffee grown in monoculture, and was significantly less harmed by its insect pest. Thus, a relatively simple strategy such as shading coffee can tremendously improve resilience of agro-ecosystems, providing small-scale farmers in Africa with an easily implemented tool to safeguard their livelihoods in a changing climate.

Changes of vegetation vis-a-vis Climate since last several thousand ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IPSITA

... since last several thousand years at North-East India ... of agricultural practices showed the presence of cereal and other cultural pollen taxa. Later, a more humid ... research in southeast Asia, and also to trace the migratory route of flora.

Changes in Space Food over the Last 45 Years

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Scott M.; Lane, Helen W.; Kloeris, Vickie; Perchonok, Michele; Zwart, Sara

2006-01-01

The space food system has improved over the last 45 years. With the advances for a Moon base, there is a potential that foods in space will be more like home cooked foods. However, until that happens, there will continue to be dehydrated and thermostablized foods providing the bulk of the astronauts food. In order for the astronauts to have adequate macronutrients, a food system must be developed including raising plants and food preparation, both a major challenge given the limited water, volume, and power. The lunar kitchens will be very different, but good food is essential to maintain good health.

Temporal changes in infective endocarditis guidelines during the last 12 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Østergaard, Lauge; Valeur, Nana; Bundgaard, Henning

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a complex disease necessitating extensive clinical guidelines. The guidelines from the American Heart Association (AHA) and the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) have been markedly extended during the last 12 years. We examined the evidence base...

Job Quality and Gender Inequality: Key Changes in Québec over the Last Decade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luc Cloutier

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Using a new typology based on information available from the Labour Force Survey, the authors analyse how job quality evolved in Québec for both women and men over the last decade (1997-2007. Results show that family situation and educational attainment are two important factors in the determination of gender inequality in the labour market. The analysis emphasizes the very significant decline in gender differences with regard to job quality (from 23% to 35% according to groups, especially for persons without children and individuals who achieved higher education. The changes represent a definite progress in the status of women in general, although some indicators also reveal degradation with respect to job quality in some of the sub-groups.  

Job Quality and Gender Inequality: Key Changes in Québec over the Last Decade

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Using a new typology based on information available from the Labour Force Survey, the authors analyse how job quality evolved in Québec for both women and men over the last decade (1997-2007. Results show that family situation and educational attainment are two important factors in the determination of gender inequality in the labour market. The analysis emphasizes the very significant decline in gender differences with regard to job quality (from 23% to 35% according to groups, especially for persons without children and individuals who achieved higher education. The changes represent a definite progress in the status of women in general, although some indicators also reveal degradation with respect to job quality in some of the sub-groups.  

Oasis deposits in the southern margin of the Taklimakan Desert and abrupt environmental changes during the last 30 ka

Science.gov (United States)

Shu, P.; Li, B.; Wang, H.; Cheng, P.; An, Z.; Zhou, W.; Zhang, D. D.

2017-12-01

Taklimakan Desert, the largest arid landform in the Eurasia, is one of the most important dust sources in the world. Growing evidences shows that millennial-scale abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period in the region. However, records on millennial-scale climate and environmental changes remain poorly understood because dating eolian, lacustrine, and fluvial sediments and establishing the reliable environmental proxies from these records are always challenging. Here, we present 32 AMS 14C dates of bulk sediments, grain size, and Rb/Sr ratio parameters from the oasis sequence and dates of bulk loess and charcoal from the upstream source regions to examine the significance of oasis sediments on millennial-scale environmental changes in the Taklimakan Desert. We found that substantial reversal of radiocarbon dates on total organic carbon (TOC) was controlled by source region organic carbon input. Loess hills, alpine meadow north of the study region provided fluvial deposits along drainage system and deflation in the river valleys further provide eolain materials. We argue that early oasis deposits experienced deflation and re-deposition less severe than the younger oasis deposits. After refining radiocarbon age-depth relationships for an age model by Bacon package, proxy records show substantial abrupt fluctuations in climate and environments during the last glacial period, among which three wet intervals, two dry periods are identified. The wetter and warmer conditions during the Holocene facilitated human to occupy the oasis.

Correlation of fluvial sequences in the Mediterranean basin over the last 200 ka and their relationship to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Macklin, M. G.; Fuller, I. C.; Lewin, J.; Maas, G. S.; Passmore, D. G.; Rose, J.; Woodward, J. C.; Black, S.; Hamlin, R. H. B.; Rowan, J. S.

2002-08-01

This paper presents a new correlation of Late and Middle Pleistocene fluvial sedimentary sequences in Greek, Libyan and Spanish river basins and evaluates river response to climate change over the Last Interglacial-Glacial Cycle. Over the past 200,000 years there have been at least 13 major alluviation episodes in the Mediterranean, although the amplitude, frequency and possibly, duration of these events varied significantly across the region. Parts of Oxygen Isotope Stage (OIS) 5 appears to have been periods of pronounced landscape change in many Mediterranean catchments with major river aggradation occurring at ˜109-111 ka (during OIS 5d) and most notably at ˜88 ka (OIS 5b/5a boundary). Other parts of OIS 5 appear to have been periods of relative fluvial inactivity. OIS 2 and 3 were both characterised by an apparent increase in the number of alluviation events, and this record of river behaviour parallels many other palaeoenvironmental records in the region which also show more frequent climate fluctuations between ˜12 and 65 ka. There is evidence for a high degree of synchrony in major river aggradation events across the Mediterranean in catchments with very different sizes, tectonic regimes and histories. Climate-related changes in catchment hydrology and vegetation cover over the last 200 ka would appear to be the primary control of large-scale (catchment wide) sedimentation over time periods of between 10 3 and 10 4 years.

A changing European Security and defense architecture and its impact on Turkey

OpenAIRE

Yikilkan, Orhan.

2001-01-01

Since the 1991 Maastricht Treaty, the European Union countries have been trying to form a common security and defense identity as one facet of the European Union unification process. The efforts to create "separable but not separate" European forces within NATO have accelerated in the last three years and changed direction toward creating an autonomous "European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP)" within the framework of the EU. This policy concerns some non-EU European NATO allies, such as T...

Restraint training for awake functional brain scanning of rodents can cause long-lasting changes in pain and stress responses.

Science.gov (United States)

Low, Lucie A; Bauer, Lucy C; Pitcher, Mark H; Bushnell, M Catherine

2016-08-01

With the increased interest in longitudinal brain imaging of awake rodents, it is important to understand both the short-term and long-term effects of restraint on sensory and emotional processing in the brain. To understand the effects of repeated restraint on pain behaviors and stress responses, we modeled a restraint protocol similar to those used to habituate rodents for magnetic resonance imaging scanning, and studied sensory sensitivity and stress hormone responses over 5 days. To uncover lasting effects of training, we also looked at responses to the formalin pain test 2 weeks later. We found that while restraint causes acute increases in the stress hormone corticosterone, it can also cause lasting reductions in nociceptive behavior in the formalin test, coupled with heightened corticosterone levels and increased activation of the "nociceptive" central nucleus of the amygdala, as seen by Fos protein expression. These results suggest that short-term repeated restraint, similar to that used to habituate rats for awake functional brain scanning, could potentially cause long-lasting changes in physiological and brain responses to pain stimuli that are stress-related, and therefore could potentially confound the functional activation patterns seen in awake rodents in response to pain stimuli.

Holocene environmental change along the southern Cape coast of South Africa - Insights from the Eilandvlei sediment record spanning the last 8.9 kyr

Science.gov (United States)

Wündsch, Michael; Haberzettl, Torsten; Cawthra, Hayley C.; Kirsten, Kelly L.; Quick, Lynne J.; Zabel, Matthias; Frenzel, Peter; Hahn, Annette; Baade, Jussi; Daut, Gerhard; Kasper, Thomas; Meadows, Michael E.; Mäusbacher, Roland

2018-04-01

This study investigates Holocene sediments from Eilandvlei, a coastal lake located within the Wilderness embayment at the southern Cape coast of South Africa. The evolution of the present estuarine/coastal lake system is reconstructed based on seismic data as well as a multi-proxy approach on a 30.5 m sediment core spanning the last 8.9 kyr. Geochemical (Ca, TOC/S, Br/TOC) and micropalaeontological data (diatoms, foraminifera) reflect changes in the degree of marine influence at the core site. The embayment likely developed via distinct phases of connectivity to the Indian Ocean caused by sea level changes and dune progradation. Marine conditions prevailed at the core site from 8900 to 4700 cal BP. The rapid sea level rise during the early Holocene caused the inundation of a palaeovalley that most likely had formed at lower sea levels during the Pleistocene. Towards the mid-Holocene the sea level exceeded its present height around 7500 cal BP creating a marine embayment. At 4700 cal BP, the embayment became distinctly more disconnected from the ocean turning into a lagoon system that persisted until 1200 cal BP. Subsequently, the marine influence further decreased and the present estuarine/coastal lake system was established. Grain size and geochemical data (Fe, Si/Al, chemical index of alteration (CIA)) further reflect changes in the deposition of terrigenous sediments at the core site. While the sedimentation of fine-grained (climatic conditions than today from 8900 to 7900 cal BP and 6400 to 3000 cal BP. In contrast, the periods between 7900-6400 cal BP and 3000 cal BP-present were likely characterized by high river discharge and thus, generally more rainfall. The reconstructed palaeoclimatic variations are discussed within the context of e.g., shifts in the position of the Antarctic sea ice extent and the mid-latitude westerly wind belt as well as changes in the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

Simulating low frequency changes in atmospheric CO2 during the last 740 000 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P. Köhler

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Atmospheric CO2 measured in Antarctic ice cores shows a natural variability of 80 to 100 ppmv during the last four glacial cycles and variations of approximately 60 ppmv in the two cycles between 410 and 650 kyr BP. We here use various paleo-climatic records from the EPICA Dome C Antarctic ice core and from oceanic sediment cores covering the last 740 kyr to force the ocean/atmosphere/biosphere box model of the global carbon cycle BICYCLE in a forward mode over this time in order to interpret the natural variability of CO2. Our approach is based on the previous interpretation of carbon cycle variations during Termination I (Köhler et al., 2005a. In the absense of a process-based sediment module one main simplification of BICYCLE is that carbonate compensation is approximated by the temporally delayed restoration of deep ocean [CO32−]. Our results match the low frequency changes in CO2 measured in the Vostok and the EPICA Dome C ice core for the last 650 kyr BP (r2≈0.75. During these transient simulations the carbon cycle reaches never a steady state due to the ongoing variability of the overall carbon budget caused by the time delayed response of the carbonate compensation to other processes. The average contributions of different processes to the rise in CO2 during Terminations I to V and during earlier terminations are: the rise in Southern Ocean vertical mixing: 36/22 ppmv, the rise in ocean temperature: 26/11 ppmv, iron limitation of the marine biota in the Southern Ocean: 20/14 ppmv, carbonate compensation: 15/7 ppmv, the rise in North Atlantic deep water formation: 13/0 ppmv, the rise in gas exchange due to a decreasing sea ice cover: −8/−7 ppmv, sea level rise: −12/−4 ppmv, and rising terrestrial carbon storage: −13/−6 ppmv. According to our model the smaller interglacial CO2 values in the pre-Vostok period prior to Termination V are mainly caused by smaller interglacial Southern Ocean SST and an Atlantic THC which stayed

Chronic sleep restriction induces long-lasting changes in adenosine and noradrenaline receptor density in the rat brain.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Youngsoo; Elmenhorst, David; Weisshaupt, Angela; Wedekind, Franziska; Kroll, Tina; McCarley, Robert W; Strecker, Robert E; Bauer, Andreas

2015-10-01

Although chronic sleep restriction frequently produces long-lasting behavioural and physiological impairments in humans, the underlying neural mechanisms are unknown. Here we used a rat model of chronic sleep restriction to investigate the role of brain adenosine and noradrenaline systems, known to regulate sleep and wakefulness, respectively. The density of adenosine A1 and A2a receptors and β-adrenergic receptors before, during and following 5 days of sleep restriction was assessed with autoradiography. Rats (n = 48) were sleep-deprived for 18 h day(-1) for 5 consecutive days (SR1-SR5), followed by 3 unrestricted recovery sleep days (R1-R3). Brains were collected at the beginning of the light period, which was immediately after the end of sleep deprivation on sleep restriction days. Chronic sleep restriction increased adenosine A1 receptor density significantly in nine of the 13 brain areas analysed with elevations also observed on R3 (+18 to +32%). In contrast, chronic sleep restriction reduced adenosine A2a receptor density significantly in one of the three brain areas analysed (olfactory tubercle which declined 26-31% from SR1 to R1). A decrease in β-adrenergic receptors density was seen in substantia innominata and ventral pallidum which remained reduced on R3, but no changes were found in the anterior cingulate cortex. These data suggest that chronic sleep restriction can induce long-term changes in the brain adenosine and noradrenaline receptors, which may underlie the long-lasting neurocognitive impairments observed in chronic sleep restriction. © 2015 European Sleep Research Society.

Fermat's Last Theorem A Theorem at Last!

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Home; Journals; Resonance – Journal of Science Education; Volume 1; Issue 1. Fermat's Last Theorem A Theorem at Last! C S Yogananda. General Article Volume 1 Issue 1 January 1996 pp 71-79. Fulltext. Click here to view fulltext PDF. Permanent link: https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/reso/001/01/0071-0079 ...

Climate bifurcation during the last deglaciation?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lenton, T.M.; Livina, V.N.; Dakos, V.; Scheffer, M.

2012-01-01

There were two abrupt warming events during the last deglaciation, at the start of the Bolling-Allerod and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying dynamics are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state

Comparing modeled and observed changes in mineral dust transport and deposition to Antarctica between the Last Glacial Maximum and current climates

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Albani, Samuel [University of Siena, Graduate School in Polar Sciences, Siena (Italy); University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Environmental Sciences, Milano (Italy); Cornell University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, NY (United States); Mahowald, Natalie M. [Cornell University, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Ithaca, NY (United States); Delmonte, Barbara; Maggi, Valter [University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Environmental Sciences, Milano (Italy); Winckler, Gisela [Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Palisades, NY (United States); Columbia University, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, New York, NY (United States)

2012-05-15

Mineral dust aerosols represent an active component of the Earth's climate system, by interacting with radiation directly, and by modifying clouds and biogeochemistry. Mineral dust from polar ice cores over the last million years can be used as paleoclimate proxy, and provide unique information about climate variability, as changes in dust deposition at the core sites can be due to changes in sources, transport and/or deposition locally. Here we present results from a study based on climate model simulations using the Community Climate System Model. The focus of this work is to analyze simulated differences in the dust concentration, size distribution and sources in current climate conditions and during the Last Glacial Maximum at specific ice core locations in Antarctica, and compare with available paleodata. Model results suggest that South America is the most important source for dust deposited in Antarctica in current climate, but Australia is also a major contributor and there is spatial variability in the relative importance of the major dust sources. During the Last Glacial Maximum the dominant source in the model was South America, because of the increased activity of glaciogenic dust sources in Southern Patagonia-Tierra del Fuego and the Southernmost Pampas regions, as well as an increase in transport efficiency southward. Dust emitted from the Southern Hemisphere dust source areas usually follow zonal patterns, but southward flow towards Antarctica is located in specific areas characterized by southward displacement of air masses. Observations and model results consistently suggest a spatially variable shift in dust particle sizes. This is due to a combination of relatively reduced en route wet removal favouring a generalized shift towards smaller particles, and on the other hand to an enhanced relative contribution of dry coarse particle deposition in the Last Glacial Maximum. (orig.)

The Last Great American Picture Show

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Elsaesser, Thomas; King, Noel; Horwath, Alexander

2004-01-01

The Last Great American Picture Show brings together essays by scholars and writers who chart the changing evaluations of the American cinema of the 1970s, sometimes referred to as the decade of the lost generation, but now more and more recognized as the first New Hollywood, without which the

Changes in leaf Δ13C of herbarium plant species during the last 3 centuries of CO2 increase

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peñuelas, J.; Azcón-Bieto, J.

1992-01-01

Δ 13 C were determined for herbarium specimens of 12 C 3 plants (trees, shrubs and herbs) collected during the last 240 years in Catalonia, an area with a Mediterranean climate. Values were 19.91 (S.E. = 0.32, n= 21) for 1750–1760, 19–86 (S.E. = 0.21, n= 49) for 1850–1890 and 19.95 (S.E. = 0.29, n= 25) for 1925–1950, and decreased significantly to 18.87 (S.E. = 0.31, n= 29) for 1982–1988. More irregular temporal changes were found in Δ 13 C of two C 4 species, but they also suggest a decrease in discrimination in recent decades. These results suggest that either carbon assimilation rates have increased or stomatal conductance has decreased, and therefore, that there has been an increase in water use efficiency over the last few decades. (author)

"Changing Our Skin": Creating Collective Knowledge in American Classrooms

Science.gov (United States)

Krechevsky, Mara

2012-01-01

In this essay, the author explores the notion that the focus of learning in classrooms and schools extends beyond the learning of individuals to create a collective body of knowledge that is larger than what any one person knows. This idea was examined in a collaboration between Project Zero researchers and educators from the municipal preschools…

Glacial terminations and the Last Interglacial in the Okhotsk Sea; Their implication to global climatic changes

Science.gov (United States)

Gorbarenko, Sergey; Velivetskaya, Tatyana; Malakhov, Mikhail; Bosin, Aleksandr

2017-05-01

Paleoclimate data from the Okhotsk Sea (OS) over Terminations II and I (TII, TI), and the Last and Present Interglacial (LIG, PIG) periods were compiled in order to examine Northern Hemisphere climate and sea level changes. Based on records of four AMS 14C-dated OS cores over TI-PIG, it is argued that the OS productivity/climate, IRD (ice-rafted debris), and benthic foraminiferal oxygen isotope (δ18Obf) proxies provide representative and in-phase evidence of the Northern Hemisphere climate and continental ice sheet changes consistent with the LR 04 δ18Obf curve. Chronologies for two central OS cores over TII-LIG-cooling event 23 (C23) were constructed by correlating OS productivity proxies with well-dated δ18O records of Chinese speleothems because OS environment is modulated by East Asian Monsoon; and, as well as correlating measured magnetic paleointensity excursions with those in the dated PISO-1500 paleointensity stack. Results show several OS climatic and environment states, including TII coeval with Asian Weak Monsoon Interval (WMI) II since 136 ka, LIG with a sharp two-step transition (130.2-129 ka) and demise at С25 (116.5 ka), and last glaciation with coolings at C24 (111 ka) and C23. The OS productivity and IRD records demonstrate certain climate amelioration in the middle of WMI-II, and two insignificant cooling events inside the LIG marked by C27 (126 ka) and C26 (120.6 ka). OS δ18Obf records of both cores demonstrate a gradual trend of lighter values since around 131.5 ka BP, continuing from the onset of LIG (129 ka) to minimum values at 126 ka BP (C27), then nearly constant values until 121.5 ka, followed by a slight increase up to 120.6 ka (C26), and a subsequent strong increase up to 116.5 ka (C25). The magnitude of OS δ18Obf oscillations is 1.35‰, which is less than those in the N. Atlantic. It may therefore be suggested that this OS index probably tracks changes in continental ice sheet volume and sea level.

The paleo-climate change of Chaidam Basin during the last 2.85 Ma recorded by gamma-ray logging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Ye; Yuan Linwang; Liu Zechun

2000-01-01

The author deals with mainly the aspect of paleo-climate change of the basin. The approach used for the study consisted of (1) establishing the paleo-climate curve of the basin according to the climate indices, including the spore-pollen statistics, carbonate content and δ 18 O, obtained from the samples of the 760 m continuously-cored exploration holes sited in the basin, (2) comparing the paleo-climate curve with the natural gamma-logs of the same exploration holes, and (3) determining the paleo-climatic changes in the last 2.85 Ma on the basis of detailed geochronological calculations. These results are extremely important for comparison with the δ 18 O-based climate curve derived from the ODP659 in the Atlantic Ocean and with the cycles of paleosol in the Chinese loess

Response of spatial vegetation distribution in China to climate changes since the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Siyang; Xu, Xiaoting; Shrestha, Nawal; Zimmermann, Niklaus E.; Tang, Zhiyao; Wang, Zhiheng

2017-01-01

Analyzing how climate change affects vegetation distribution is one of the central issues of global change ecology as this has important implications for the carbon budget of terrestrial vegetation. Mapping vegetation distribution under historical climate scenarios is essential for understanding the response of vegetation distribution to future climatic changes. The reconstructions of palaeovegetation based on pollen data provide a useful method to understand the relationship between climate and vegetation distribution. However, this method is limited in time and space. Here, using species distribution model (SDM) approaches, we explored the climatic determinants of contemporary vegetation distribution and reconstructed the distribution of Chinese vegetation during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18,000 14C yr BP) and Middle-Holocene (MH, 6000 14C yr BP). The dynamics of vegetation distribution since the LGM reconstructed by SDMs were largely consistent with those based on pollen data, suggesting that the SDM approach is a useful tool for studying historical vegetation dynamics and its response to climate change across time and space. Comparison between the modeled contemporary potential natural vegetation distribution and the observed contemporary distribution suggests that temperate deciduous forests, subtropical evergreen broadleaf forests, temperate deciduous shrublands and temperate steppe have low range fillings and are strongly influenced by human activities. In general, the Tibetan Plateau, North and Northeast China, and the areas near the 30°N in Central and Southeast China appeared to have experienced the highest turnover in vegetation due to climate change from the LGM to the present. PMID:28426780

Creating an effective system of quality management in health care organizations through the implementation of technology lean production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. A. Gurina

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the conditions of changing management paradigm in the public sphere, strengthening political, economic, social and technological risks on the part of stakeholders of medical organizations, there is a need to create an effective quality management system based on the technology of lean production. This system is aimed at increasing the satisfaction of consumers of medical services, reducing the labor losses of medical personnel, improving the quality and productivity of labor in medical organizations. The use of lin-production in the framework of pilot projects implemented in Russia for the last three years shows significant advantages in the work of medical organizations in comparison with traditional approaches in the organization of the provision of services by polyclinics. In the article, step-by-step organization of the work on creating a thrifty polyclinic is considered.

Creating a Library of Climate Change Education Resources for Audiences in the Southeast United States

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, J.; McNeal, K. S.; Williams, C. C.; Paz, J. O.; Cho, H. "; Nair, U. S.; Geroux, J.; Guthrie, C.; Wright, K.; Hill, J.

2011-12-01

The Climate Literacy Partnership in the Southeast (CLiPSE) is a part of the Climate Change Education Program supported by the National Science Foundation (http://CLiPSE-project.org). The established CLiPSE partnership is dedicated to improving climate literacy in the southeast and promoting scientifically accurate, formal educational resources for the K-12 classroom audience, as well as informal educational resources for audiences such as agriculture, education, leisure, and religious organizations, to name a few. The CLiPSE project has been successful in creating partnerships with the National Geographic Alliances, Departments of Education, and Mississippi Environmental Education Alliance, among others, to determine an effective strategic plan for reaching K-12 audiences. One goal in the strategic plan is to create a catalog of climate change education resources that are aligned to state standards in the SE. Eighty-seven resources from the Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (http://cleanet.org) have been aligned with the state education standards for grades six through twelve in the southeast, beginning with science in Mississippi and expanding to include science and math in the remaining SE states. The criteria for aligning the existing resources includes: matching key terms, topics, and lesson activities with the content strands and essential skills included in the state science framework. By developing a searchable database containing climate resources already aligned with state standards, CLiPSE will have made these resources more appealing to educators in the SE, increasing the likelihood of resources being implemented in the classroom. The CLiPSE Climate Science Team has also created an inventory of scientifically sound, informal resources, which will be available for dispersion to appropriate audiences and communities. Cataloged resources, both formal and informal, grouped by a variety of means, to include audience, grade level, and resource

Creating sustainable city by enhancing social capital

Science.gov (United States)

Affandi, R. A.; Mursitama, T. N.

2018-03-01

Scholars have been discussing social capital since the last two decades. They analyzed from various perspectives such as sociology, education, political participation, strengthening democratic values and economic empowerment of the society. However, study related to the implementation that benefits directly to the society is needed. This study examines how to create a sustainable city by enhancing social capital from both macro and micro analyses. This combination of analysis offers deeper understanding both from decision makers at city level and individuals, groups and society. We will conduct qualitative approach mainly by interviews and direct observation to collect the data. also, we also analyze publicly available data. Finally, this study contributes to new understanding in creating a sustainable city, not only about the environment and physical aspects, but also about ensuring political economic, democratic values, and social welfare.

Geoarchaeological response to landscape changes of the Greek continental shelf since the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

Kapsimalis, Vasilios; Pavlopoulos, Kosmas; Panagiotopoulos, Ioannis

2010-05-01

An overview of geological, sedimentological, palaeoclimatic, archaeological and mythological data is presented in order to detect the geomorphological changes of the Aegean and Ionian shelves during the last sea-level transgression, and comprehend the consequent prehistoric human adaptations. The irregular rise of sea level since the Last Glacial Maximum forced the Palaeolithic human to abandon its settlements located near the old (lower) coastlines and to move landward in new positions. Commonly, the coastline movement was very slow causing no significant impact on human activities; however in some cases, the transgression was very prompt causing human migration towards highlands. In some very gentle-dipped and wide regions, e.g. the North Aegean plateau, the sea-level rise caused a rapid coastline retreat (in some extreme case as fast as 10 m/yr) and inundation of an extended surface area. However, at the same time, in the steep parts of the Greek shelf, e.g. the Kyparissiakos Gulf and Crete, the coastline advanced landwards with a slow motion (commonly, a few cm/yr) covering small areas. In addition, coastal regions with particular geomorphologic characteristics, e.g. coastal paleo-lakes protected by a sill (gulfs of Corinth, Amvrakikos, Pagasitikos Evvoikos, Saronikos), were deluged by the sea during different periods and under different intensity, depending on the elevation of the sill and the manner of its overflow. Although the presence of Palaeolithic human in the Greek mainland has been confirmed by several archaeological excavations, there is no certain evidence for human settlement in the deep parts of Greek shelf. However, many archaeologists have suggested that some of Palaeolithic people lived on the shelf, when the sea level was lower than its present position. Nevertheless, some potential Palaeolithic migration routes can be indicated taking into account (a) the palaeogeographic reconstruction of Greek shelf over the Last Quaternary; (b

A food environments feedback system (FoodBack) for empowering citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places.

Science.gov (United States)

Vandevijvere, Stefanie; Williams, Rachel; Tawfiq, Essa; Swinburn, Boyd

2017-11-14

This study developed a systems-based approach (called FoodBack) to empower citizens and change agents to create healthier community food places. Formative evaluations were held with citizens and change agents in six diverse New Zealand communities, supplemented by semi-structured interviews with 85 change agents in Auckland and Hamilton in 2015-2016. The emerging system was additionally reviewed by public health experts from diverse organizations. A food environments feedback system was constructed to crowdsource key indicators of the healthiness of diverse community food places (i.e. schools, hospitals, supermarkets, fast food outlets, sport centers) and outdoor spaces (i.e. around schools), comments/pictures about barriers and facilitators to healthy eating and exemplar stories on improving the healthiness of food environments. All the information collected is centrally processed and translated into 'short' (immediate) and 'long' (after analyses) feedback loops to stimulate actions to create healthier food places. FoodBack, as a comprehensive food environment feedback system (with evidence databases and feedback and recognition processes), has the potential to increase food sovereignty, and generate a sustainable, fine-grained database of food environments for real-time food policy research. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Creating a climate and culture for sustainable organizational change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mahsa Zolghadr

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to investigate the balance between employees’ organizational behavior and the method of managers’ decision making in creating a good organizational climate in Gas Company of Zanjan province, Iran. The statistical population of this research includes 180 professions, staffs, and managers of the company and the study selects 120 people according to random sampling and by the use of Cochran formula. The descriptive-survey research method is cross sectional type. The questionnaire made by researcher was used for data gathering and its reliability and validity was approved. SPSS software was used for data analysis, correlation test was used for the effectiveness, and the effectiveness was specified. Also, LISREL software has been used for performing structural equations of model. The results of the research state that the variables of the balance between organizational behavior of staffs such as the balance of management commitment, balance of leadership, balance of communications, balance of learning, and balance of motivation were effective on its effectiveness in creating good organizational climate in the Gas Company of Zanjan province by managers’ decision making methods.

Creating Cross-disciplinary Courses.

Science.gov (United States)

Reynolds, Elaine R

2012-01-01

Because of its focus on the biological underpinnings of action and behavior, neuroscience intersects with many fields of human endeavor. Some of these cross-disciplinary intersections have been long standing, while others, such as neurotheology or neuroeconomics, are more recently formed fields. Many undergraduate institutions have sought to include cross-disciplinary courses in their curriculum because this style of pedagogy is often seen as applicable to real world problems. However, it can be difficult for faculty with specialized training within their discipline to expand beyond their own fields to offer cross-disciplinary courses. I have been creating a series of multi- or cross-disciplinary courses and have found some strategies that have helped me successfully teach these classes. I will discuss general strategies and tools in developing these types of courses including: 1) creating mixed experience classrooms of students and contributing faculty 2) finding the right tools that will allow you to teach to a mixed population without prerequisites 3) examining the topic using multiple disciplinary perspectives 4) feeding off student experience and interest 5) assessing the impact of these courses on student outcomes and your neuroscience program. This last tool in particular is important in establishing the validity of this type of teaching for neuroscience students and the general student population.

A high-altitude peatland record of environmental changes in the NW Argentine Andes (24 ° S) over the last 2100 years

Science.gov (United States)

Schittek, Karsten; Kock, Sebastian T.; Lücke, Andreas; Hense, Jonathan; Ohlendorf, Christian; Kulemeyer, Julio J.; Lupo, Liliana C.; Schäbitz, Frank

2016-05-01

High-altitude cushion peatlands are versatile archives for high-resolution palaeoenvironmental studies, due to their high accumulation rates, range of proxies, and sensitivity to climatic and/or human-induced changes. Especially within the Central Andes, the knowledge about climate conditions during the Holocene is limited. In this study, we present the environmental and climatic history for the last 2100 years of Cerro Tuzgle peatland (CTP), located in the dry Puna of NW Argentina, based on a multi-proxy approach. X-ray fluorescence (XRF), stable isotope and element content analyses (δ13C, δ15N, TN and TOC) were conducted to analyse the inorganic geochemistry throughout the sequence, revealing changes in the peatlands' past redox conditions. Pollen assemblages give an insight into substantial environmental changes on a regional scale. The palaeoclimate varied significantly during the last 2100 years. The results reflect prominent late Holocene climate anomalies and provide evidence that in situ moisture changes were coupled to the migration of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ). A period of sustained dry conditions prevailed from around 150 BC to around AD 150. A more humid phase dominated between AD 200 and AD 550. Afterwards, the climate was characterised by changes between drier and wetter conditions, with droughts at around AD 650-800 and AD 1000-1100. Volcanic forcing at the beginning of the 19th century (1815 Tambora eruption) seems to have had an impact on climatic settings in the Central Andes. In the past, the peatland recovered from climatic perturbations. Today, CTP is heavily degraded by human interventions, and the peat deposit is becoming increasingly susceptible to erosion and incision.

From Sanctuaries to Prefigurative Social Change: Creating Health-Enabling Spaces in East London Community Gardens

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Madeleine A. Guerlain

2016-05-01

for effective community mobilization. AIDS Care, 22(Suppl. 2, 1569-1579; and a discussion of how creating these spaces is an act of prefigurative social change. Our findings suggest that in East London, participation in community gardens is not based on a common political intention or self-conscious motive to prefigure a new society, but instead on the shared practice of gardening. This results in unintended benefits that often address participants’ personal adversities in ways that contribute to the material, relational and symbolic deprivation of their daily lives – opening up new possibilities for being, seeing and doing. In this sense, community gardens in East London offer an alternative to traditional notions of prefigurative social action that are predicated on strategic intention. We argue for an understanding of prefiguration that better accounts for what participants themselves would like to achieve in their own lives, rather than in relation to externally imposed notions of what counts as political change.

Sediment core fossils in ancient Lake Ohrid: testing for faunal change since the Last Interglacial

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Albrecht

2010-11-01

Full Text Available Ancient Lake Ohrid is probably of early Pleistocene or Pliocene origin and amongst the few lakes in the world harbouring an outstanding degree of endemic biodiversity. Although there is a long history of evolutionary research in Lake Ohrid, particularly on molluscs, a mollusc fossil record has been missing up to date. For the first time, gastropod and bivalve fossils are reported from the basal, calcareous part of a 2.6 m long sediment succession (core Co1200 from the north-eastern part of Lake Ohrid. Electron spin resonance (ESR dating of mollusc shells from the same stratigraphic level yielded an age of 130 ± 28 ka. Lithofacies III sediments, i.e. a stratigraphic subdivision comprising the basal succession of core Co1200 between 181.5–263 cm, appeared solid, greyish-white, and consisted almost entirely of silt-sized endogenic calcite (CaCO₃>70% and intact and broken mollusc shells. Here we compare the faunal composition of the thanatocoenosis with recent mollusc associations in Lake Ohrid. A total of 13 mollusc species (9 gastropod and 4 bivalve species could be identified within Lithofacies III sediments. The value of sediment core fossils for reconstructing palaeoenvironmental settings was evaluated and the agreement between sediment and palaeontological proxies was tested.

The study also aims at investigating major faunal changes since the Last Interglacial and searching for signs of extinction events.

The combined findings of the ecological study and the sediment characteristics suggest deposition in a shallow water environment during the Last Interglacial. The fossil fauna exclusively included species also found in the present fauna, i.e. no extinction events are evident for this site since the Last Interglacial. The thanatocoenosis showed the highest similarity with recent Intermediate Layer (5–25 m water depth mollusc assemblages. The demonstrated existence of a mollusc fossil record in Lake Ohrid

Changing Groundwater and Lake Storage in the Americas from the Last Glacial Maximum to the Present Day

Science.gov (United States)

Callaghan, K. L.; Wickert, A. D.; Michael, L.; Fan, Y.; Miguez-Macho, G.; Mitrovica, J. X.; Austermann, J.; Ng, G. H. C.

2017-12-01

Groundwater accounts for 1.69% of the globe's water storage - nearly the same amount (1.74%) that is stored in ice caps and glaciers. The volume of water stored in this reservoir has changed over glacial-interglacial cycles as climate warms and cools, sea level rises and falls, ice sheets advance and retreat, surface topography isostatically adjusts, and patterns of moisture transport reorganize. During the last deglaciation, over the past 21000 years, all of these factors contributed to profound hydrologic change in the Americas. In North America, deglaciation generated proglacial lakes and wetlands along the isostatically-depressed margin of the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet, along with extensive pluvial lakes in the desert southwest. In South America, changing patterns of atmospheric circulation caused regional and time-varying wetting and drying that led to fluctuations in water table levels. Understanding how groundwater levels change in response to these factors can aid our understanding of the effects of modern climate change on groundwater resources. Using a model that incorporates temporally evolving climate, topography (driven by glacial isostatic adjustment), ice extent, sea level, and spatially varying soil properties, we present our estimates of changes in total groundwater storage in the Americas over the past 21000 years. We estimate depth to water table at 500-year intervals and at a 30-arcsecond resolution. This allows a comparative assessment of changing groundwater storage volumes through time. The model has already been applied to the present day and has proven successful in estimating modern groundwater depths at a broad scale (Fan et al., 2013). We also assess changing groundwater-fed lakes, and compare model-estimated lake sizes and locations to paleorecords of these lakes. Our data- and model-integrated look back at the terminal Pleistocene provides an estimate of groundwater variability under extreme climate change. Preliminary results

Created mangrove wetlands store belowground carbon and surface elevation change enables them to adjust to sea-level rise

OpenAIRE

Krauss, Ken W.; Cormier, Nicole; Osland, Michael J.; Kirwan, Matthew L.; Stagg, Camille L.; Nestlerode, Janet A.; Russell, Marc J.; From, Andrew S.; Spivak, Amanda C.; Dantin, Darrin D.; Harvey, James E.; Almario, Alejandro E.

2017-01-01

Mangrove wetlands provide ecosystem services for millions of people, most prominently by providing storm protection, food and fodder. Mangrove wetlands are also valuable ecosystems for promoting carbon (C) sequestration and storage. However, loss of mangrove wetlands and these ecosystem services are a global concern, prompting the restoration and creation of mangrove wetlands as a potential solution. Here, we investigate soil surface elevation change, and its components, in created mangrove w...

One the way to European Union: changes in the Czech education system during the last fifteen years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Milada Rubusicová

2004-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the present paper is to describe the changes in the educationalsystem in the Czech Republic that have taken place from the beginning of the 1990’s up to the present. The first part includes a brief characterisation of the initial situation typical of the socialist model of education and a specification ofthose areas that were viewed sceptically or critically after the „velvet revolution»in 1989, and that have been identified as areas where a change is desirable. Next part of the paper describes the course of changes and reforms of education in subsequent years. Periodisation of reforms is carried out on the basisof a general model that has been created, as one of possible approaches, for postsocialist countries in transformation. Each part of the model, i.e. the correctivereforms, modernization reforms, structural reforms and system reforms, containsan outline of the respective individual changes that took place in the Czech Republic in the course of the last, almost fifteen years, and the changes arecritically evaluated.There are some documents (e.g. the Czech «White Paper» that are of essential importance to the recent and current situation in the Czech educational systembecause they create basic visions and orientation but also a strategy of future changes. The documents are treated in the next section of the present text. It isfollowed by a brief analysis of the current situation of the Czech educational system, namely as regards the educational opportunities and participation in education, structure and network of schools, financing of the Czech educational system, and finally the school leavers’ prospects at the labour market.The last part of the paper deals with the outlooks of further development of the Czech educational system in connection with the entry into the European Union,and a conclusion is drawn that it involves mutual convergence of problems caused by global economic and social forces that also leads to

CREATING A CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP STRATEGY FOR COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

OpenAIRE

ENGİNOĞLU, Didem; ARIKAN, Cenk Laçin

2016-01-01

Current competitive environment is rapidly changing. In today’s business environment, organizations are having an increasingly difficult time in creating competitive advantages. The main reason for this is the ease in contemporary business life for organizations to reach the same or very similar resources. Firms need innovation to create and sustain success and effectiveness. In such a highly competitive business life, the importance of creating competitive advantages for organizations based ...

Changes in sunflower breeding over the last fifty years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vear Felicity

2016-03-01

Full Text Available This article discusses changes in sunflower breeding objectives since the introduction of hybrid varieties 50 years ago. After a reminder of the importance of some early programmes, Canadian in particular, the present situation for each breeding objective is compared with those encountered earlier. Breeding for yield has changed from maximum possible yield under intensive agriculture to yield with resistance to abiotic stresses, moderate droughts and shallow soils in particular, helped by collaboration with agronomists to produce crop models. Breeding for oil has changed from quantity to quality and the value of seed meal is again becoming economically important. Necessary disease resistances vary with agronomic practises and selection pressure on pathogens according to varietal genetics. The possibilities of new types of sunflower are also discussed. Advances in genomics will change breeding procedures, but with rapidly changing molecular techniques, international collaboration is particularly important.

Consequences of land use and climate changes on sediment deposition in estuaries during the last centuries

Science.gov (United States)

Poirier, Clément; Chaumillon, Eric; Arnaud, Fabien; Goubert, Evelyne; Sauriau, Pierre-Guy; Caurant, Florence

2010-05-01

Estuaries are the downstream end-member of fluvial systems. They are experiencing high sedimentation rates, thus providing good opportunities for high resolution studies of Holocene environmental changes at the land/ocean interface. From a thorough literature survey, it appears that a rapid siltation and/or an increase in sedimentation rate were recorded in many estuarine environments, concomitantly to major migrations of human population throughout the world, both in time and space. It has been clearly related to an increase in sediment supply to estuaries in Minor Asia (Bronze Age, e.g. Spezzaferri et al, 2000) and in North America and Southwest Pacific (18th and 19th centuries, e.g. Goff, 1997), in response to deforestation on catchment areas. However, this relationship is less obvious in Europe (Sorrel et al., 2009), because deforestation occurred concomitantly to climate changes of the last millennium (climate instability at the end of Medieval Warm Period, Little Ice Age) that can also explain an increase in soil erosion. Indeed, these hypotheses have been proposed to explain a similar change in Marennes-Oléron Bay (Atlantic coast of France), which consists in the sudden deposition of a few meters-thick mud drape on basal mixed mud and sand bodies (Billeaud et al., 2005). The methods used to investigate this estuarine bay so far (very high resolution seismic stratigraphy, grain size analysis and radiocarbon dating) provided relevant information about recent environmental changes, but new data are now needed for further investigation. In the present study, we provide a multi-proxy analysis of the Marennes-Oléron Bay mud drape. A new 8 m-long core (M7UC01) was sampled on an intertidal flat, its location being determined on the basis of seismic stratigraphy. Core processing included visual description, physical measurements, grain size analysis every 2.5 to 5 cm, AMS radiocarbon dating, XRF core scanning, clay mineralogy and Rock Eval analysis. Fossil molluscs

Differential Responses of Neotropical Mountain Forests to Climate Change during the Last Millenium

Science.gov (United States)

Figueroa-Rangel, B. L.; Olvera Vargas, M.

2013-05-01

The long-term perspective in the conservation of mountain ecosystems using palaeoecological and paleoclimatological techniques are providing with crucial information for the understanding of the temporal range and variability of ecological pattern and processes. This perception is contributing with means to anticipate future conditions of these ecosystems, especially their response to climate change. Neotropical mountain forests, created by a particular geological and climatic history in the Americas, represent one of the most distinctive ecosystems in the tropics which are constantly subject to disturbances included climate change. Mexico due to its geographical location between the convergence of temperate and tropical elements, its diverse physiography and climatic heterogeneity, contains neotropical ecosystems with high biodiversity and endemicity whose structure and taxonomical composition have changed along centurial to millennial scales. Different neotropical forests expand along the mountain chains of Mexico with particular responses along spatial and temporal scales. Therefore in order to capture these scales at fine resolution, sedimentary sequences from forest hollows were retrieved from three forest at different altitudes within 10 km; Pine forest (PF), Transitional forest (TF) and Cloud forest (CF). Ordination techniques were used to relate changes in vegetation with the environment every ~60 years. The three forests experience the effect of the dry stage ~AD 800-1200 related to the Medieval Warm Period reported for several regions of the world. CF contracted, PF expanded while the TF evolved from CF to a community dominated by dry-resistant epiphytes. Dry periods in PF and TF overlapped with the increase in fire occurrences while a dissimilar pattern took place in CF. Maize, Asteraceae and Poaceae were higher during dry intervals while epiphytes decreased. A humid period ~1200-1450 AD was associated with an expansion and a high taxa turnover in CF

Hospital culture--why create one?

Science.gov (United States)

Sovie, M D

1993-01-01

Hospitals, to survive, must be transformed into responsive, participative organizations capable of new practices that produce improved results in both quality of care and service at reduced costs. Creating, managing, and changing the culture are critical leadership functions that will enable the hospital to succeed. Strategic planning and effective implementation of planned change will produce the desired culture. Work restructuring, a focus on quality management along with changes in clinical practices, as well as the care and support processes, are all a part of the necessary hospital cultural revolution.

Synchronicity of the East Asian Summer Monsoon variability and Northern Hemisphere climate change since the last deglaciation

Science.gov (United States)

Shinozaki, T.; Uchida, M.; Minoura, K.; Kondo, M.; Rella, S. F.; Shibata, Y.

2011-06-01

Understanding of the mechanism of the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) is required for the prediction of climate change in East Asia in a scenario of modern global warming. In this study, we present high-resolution climate records from peat sediments in Northeast Japan to reconstruct the EASM variability based on peat bulk cellulose δ13C since the last deglaciation. We used a 8.8 m long peat sediment core collected from the Tashiro Bog, Northeast Japan. Based on 42 14C measurements, the core bottom reaches ~15.5 ka. δ13C, accumulation rate and accumulation flux time-series correlate well to Greenland ice core δ18O variability, suggesting that the climate record in Northeast Japan is linked to global climate changes. The δ13C record at Tashiro Bog and other paleo-EASM records at Northeast and Southern China consistently demonstrate that hydrological environments were spatially different in mid-high and mid-low latitude regions over the last 15.5 kyr. During global cooling (warming) periods, mid-high and mid-low latitude regions were characterized by wet (dry) and dry (wet) environments, respectively. We suggest that these climatic patterns are related to the migration of the EASM-related rain belt during global climate changes, as a consequence of variations in intensity and location of both the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and the Western Pacific Subtropical High (STH). The location of the rain belt largely influences the East Asian hydrological environment. Our δ13C time-series are characterized by a 1230 yr throughout the Holocene and a 680 yr periodicity during the early Holocene. The 1230 yr periodicity is in agreement with North Atlantic ice-rafted debris (IRD) events, suggesting a teleconnection between the Northeast Japan and the North Atlantic during the Holocene. In addition, it is the first evidence that the Bond events were recorded in terrestrial sediment in Japan. On the other hand, the 680 yr periodicity between 10.0 and 8.0 kyr is

The ACER pollen and charcoal database: a global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period

Science.gov (United States)

Sánchez Goñi, María Fernanda; Desprat, Stéphanie; Daniau, Anne-Laure; Bassinot, Frank C.; Polanco-Martínez, Josué M.; Harrison, Sandy P.; Allen, Judy R. M.; Anderson, R. Scott; Behling, Hermann; Bonnefille, Raymonde; Burjachs, Francesc; Carrión, José S.; Cheddadi, Rachid; Clark, James S.; Combourieu-Nebout, Nathalie; Mustaphi, Colin. J. Courtney; Debusk, Georg H.; Dupont, Lydie M.; Finch, Jemma M.; Fletcher, William J.; Giardini, Marco; González, Catalina; Gosling, William D.; Grigg, Laurie D.; Grimm, Eric C.; Hayashi, Ryoma; Helmens, Karin; Heusser, Linda E.; Hill, Trevor; Hope, Geoffrey; Huntley, Brian; Igarashi, Yaeko; Irino, Tomohisa; Jacobs, Bonnie; Jiménez-Moreno, Gonzalo; Kawai, Sayuri; Kershaw, A. Peter; Kumon, Fujio; Lawson, Ian T.; Ledru, Marie-Pierre; Lézine, Anne-Marie; Liew, Ping Mei; Magri, Donatella; Marchant, Robert; Margari, Vasiliki; Mayle, Francis E.; Merna McKenzie, G.; Moss, Patrick; Müller, Stefanie; Müller, Ulrich C.; Naughton, Filipa; Newnham, Rewi M.; Oba, Tadamichi; Pérez-Obiol, Ramón; Pini, Roberta; Ravazzi, Cesare; Roucoux, Katy H.; Rucina, Stephen M.; Scott, Louis; Takahara, Hikaru; Tzedakis, Polichronis C.; Urrego, Dunia H.; van Geel, Bas; Valencia, B. Guido; Vandergoes, Marcus J.; Vincens, Annie; Whitlock, Cathy L.; Willard, Debra A.; Yamamoto, Masanobu

2017-09-01

Quaternary records provide an opportunity to examine the nature of the vegetation and fire responses to rapid past climate changes comparable in velocity and magnitude to those expected in the 21st-century. The best documented examples of rapid climate change in the past are the warming events associated with the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) cycles during the last glacial period, which were sufficiently large to have had a potential feedback through changes in albedo and greenhouse gas emissions on climate. Previous reconstructions of vegetation and fire changes during the D-O cycles used independently constructed age models, making it difficult to compare the changes between different sites and regions. Here, we present the ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses) global database, which includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73-15 ka) with a temporal resolution better than 1000 years, 32 of which also provide charcoal records. A harmonized and consistent chronology based on radiometric dating (14C, 234U/230Th, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), 40Ar/39Ar-dated tephra layers) has been constructed for 86 of these records, although in some cases additional information was derived using common control points based on event stratigraphy. The ACER database compiles metadata including geospatial and dating information, pollen and charcoal counts, and pollen percentages of the characteristic biomes and is archived in Microsoft AccessTM at PANGAEA.870867" target="_blank">https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.870867.

Sea-level change and demography during the last glacial termination and early Holocene across the Australian continent

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Alan N.; Ulm, Sean; Sapienza, Tom; Lewis, Stephen; Turney, Chris S. M.

2018-02-01

Future changes in sea-level are projected to have significant environmental and social impacts, but we have limited understanding of comparable rates of change in the past. Using comprehensive palaeoenvironmental and archaeological datasets, we report the first quantitative model of the timing, spatial extent and pace of sea-level change in the Sahul region between 35-8 ka, and explore its effects on hunter-gatherer populations. Results show that the continental landmass (excluding New Guinea) increased to 9.80 million km2 during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), before a reduction of 2.12 million km2 (or ∼21.6%) to the early Holocene (8 ka). Almost 90% of this inundation occurs during and immediately following Meltwater Pulse (MWP) 1a between 14.6 and 8 ka. The location of coastlines changed on average by 139 km between the LGM and early Holocene, with some areas >300 km, and at a rate of up to 23.7 m per year (∼0.6 km land lost every 25-year generation). Spatially, inundation was highly variable, with greatest impacts across the northern half of Australia, while large parts of the east, south and west coastal margins were relatively unaffected. Hunter-gatherer populations remained low throughout (hypothesis that late Pleistocene coastal populations were low, with use of coastal resources embedded in broad-ranging foraging strategies, and which would have been severely disrupted in some regions and at some time periods by sea-level change outpacing tolerances of mangals and other near-shore ecological communities.

Changing pattern of clinical profile of first-contact patients attending outpatient services at a general hospital psychiatric unit in India over the last 50 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mamta Sood

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Over the last five decades, general hospital psychiatric units (GHPUs have become important mental health service setups in India. The present study reports on the changing clinical profile of the patients attending the GHPUs over the last five decades. Methodology: A total of 500 subjects, attending a GHPU were recruited prospectively for the study. The subjects were assessed using a semistructured proforma. A comparison was made with similar studies conducted in GHPU settings over the last five decades. Results: In the present study, neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders formed the commonest diagnostic group (33% followed by psychotic disorders (17% and mood disorders (15%. The diagnostic distribution is broadly similar to the studies done at different times in the last 5 decades, though there were lesser number of patients with mental retardation and organic brain syndrome. About 15% of the subjects did not have a psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusion: GHPUs in India attend to a broad range of patients with psychiatric disorders.

Changes in the perception of alcohol-related stigma in Germany over the last two decades.

Science.gov (United States)

Schomerus, Georg; Matschinger, Herbert; Lucht, Michael J; Angermeyer, Matthias C

2014-10-01

Alcohol dependence is a severely stigmatized disorder. Perceived stigma may deter help-seeking and is associated with higher co-morbidity and self-stigma in persons with alcohol dependence. We assess changes in the perception of alcohol-related stigma over 21 years in the general population. Two representative population surveys using identical methodology were conducted in Germany in 1990 and 2011 (n=1022 and n=967), eliciting the perceived discrimination and devaluation of someone with a history of alcohol problems as measured with an adoption of Link's Perceived Discrimination and Devaluation Scale (aPDDS), and perceived negative stereotypes of an "alcoholic." Both on item level and using factor scores, attitudes changed significantly between 1990 and 2011. Perceived discrimination and devaluation of someone with a history of alcohol dependence decreased considerably by 0.44 standard deviations (SD). Perceived negative stereotypes related to unpredictability of an "alcoholic" increased slightly by 0.15 SD, while perceived stereotypes related to strangeness decreased (-0.23 SD). Our findings suggest that particularly the image of someone who has received treatment for alcohol dependence has improved in Germany. This parallels increasing acceptance of professional treatment for alcohol dependence among the general population over the last twenty years, and contrasts with overall unchanged negative attitudes toward persons who actually suffer from alcohol problems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Abrupt Change in Atmospheric CO2 During the Last Ice Age, Version 1

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — During the last glacial period atmospheric carbon dioxide and temperature in Antarctica varied in a similar fashion on millennial time scales, but previous work...

The never-ending digital journey creating new consumer experiences through technology

CERN Document Server

Angelani, Andres; Migoya, Martin

2016-01-01

The Never-Ending Digital Journey provides readers with the concepts and steps needed to create successful user experiences. The authors look ahead and explore digital scenarios of the future. They probe how technology is changing the way users interact with brands, and they address today's digital challenges with new ways of surprising consumers, integrating design and engineering. The authors leverage knowledge gleaned from working with renowned global companies to describe the recipe needed to build a Digital Journey. With a strong focus on Agile Pods, they dive into technolo- gies, processes, team building, motivation, and met- rics that enable businesses to construct and nurture the dynamic ecosystems necessary in this digital era to foster success. Over the last several years, customers, employees, and partners have become tech-savvy users whose expectations of “Give me more and deliver it faster" require manageable solutions. The desire to interact with digital ecosystems anywhere, anytime demands that...

An oxygen isotope record from Lake Xiarinur in Inner Mongolia since the last deglaciation and its implication for tropical monsoon change

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Qing; Chu, Guoqiang; Xie, Manman; Zhu, Qingzeng; Su, Youliang; Wang, Xisheng

2018-04-01

We present a high-resolution oxygen isotope record from authigenic carbonate (δ18Ocarb) from Lake Xiarinur (Inner Mongolia) since the last deglaciation. The lake is located at the modern northern limit of the monsoon, and is therefore sensitive to the extension of the East Asian summer monsoon. Based on calibration against the instrumental record, the δ18Ocar variation has been interpreted as changes in atmospheric circulation pattern on decadal time scales. On longer time scales, the δ18Ocarb in lake sediments could be mainly regulated by the relative contribution of nearby (remote) water-vapor sources associated with subtropical (tropical) monsoon through changes in the distance from sources to the site of precipitation. Increased remote water vapors from tropical monsoon would lead to lighter isotope value in our study site. Through time the δ18Ocarb record in Lake Xiarinur indicate a notable weak tropical monsoon during the Younger Dryas, a gradual increasing monsoon from the early Holocene and weakening monsoon after the middle Holocene. Oxygen isotope records from lakes and stalagmite in the Asian monsoon region across different localities show a general similar temporal pattern since the last deglaciation, and highlight a fundamental role of the tropical monsoon.

Lake Level Changes in the Mono Basin During the Last Deglacial Period

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, X.; Ali, G.; Hemming, S. R.; Zimmerman, S. R. H.; Stine, S. W.; Hemming, G.

2014-12-01

Mono Basin, located in the southwestern corner of the US Great Basin, has long been known to have experienced large lake level changes, particularly during the last deglaciation. But until recently it was not possible to establish a reliable lake level time series. We discovered many visually clean, white, shiny, dense calcite samples in the basin, associated with tufa deposits from high terraces. Their low thorium, but high uranium contents allow precise and reproducible U/Th age determinations. A highly resolved history of a minimum lake level through the last deglaciation can therefore be inferred based on sample locations and their ages. We found that the lake level reached ~2030 m asl at ~20.4 ka, evidenced by calcite coatings on a tufa mound at the upper Wilson Creek. The lake then rose to ~2075 m by ~19.1 ka, shown by calcite cements on conglomerates from the Hansen Cut terrace. The lake climbed to at least ~2140 m at ~15.9 ka, indicated by beach calcites from the east Sierra slope. Such timing of the highest lake stand, occurring within Heinrich Stadial 1, is reinforced by U/Th dates on calcite coatings from widespread locations in the basin, including the Bodie Hills and Cowtrack Mountains. The lake then dropped rapidly to ~2075 m at ~14.5 ka. It stood near this height over the next ~300 years, evidenced by a few-centimeter thick, laminated calcite rims on the Goat Ranch tufa mounds. It subsequently plunged to ~2007 m at ~13.8 ka, indicated by calcite coatings from cemetery road tufa mounds. The lake level came back to ~2030 m at ~12.9 ka, as seen in upper Wilson Creek tufa mounds. The lake level had a few fluctuations within the Younger Dryas, and even shot up to ~2075 m at ~12.0 ka. It then fell to levels in accord with Holocene climatic conditions. Relative to the present lake level of ~1950 m, Mono Lake broadly stood high during Heinrich Stadial 1 and Younger Dryas, when the climate was extremely cold over the North Atlantic, and the Asian monsoon was

Creating resilient SMEs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahlberg, Rasmus; Guay, Fanny

2015-01-01

According to the EU, during the past five years, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) have created 85% of new jobs and two-thirds of private sector employment in the region. SMEs are considered the backbone of the economy in Europe and represent more than 95% of enterprises in USA and Australia....... They are considered more vulnerable to disasters because of their size. This paper argues, on the contrary, that SMEs also can be less vulnerable to sudden change than large corporations, drawing upon the ideas of Hayek and Taleb, and that networks of SMEs may contribute to the overall resilience of society...... if certain criteria are met. With this in mind, this paper will be examining how to create resilient SMEs. A well-known concept in the field is business continuity management. BCM is defined as “a holistic management process that identifies potential threats to an organization and the impacts to business...

Mode change of millennial CO2 variability during the last glacial cycle associated with a bipolar marine carbon seesaw.

Science.gov (United States)

Bereiter, Bernhard; Lüthi, Dieter; Siegrist, Michael; Schüpbach, Simon; Stocker, Thomas F; Fischer, Hubertus

2012-06-19

Important elements of natural climate variations during the last ice age are abrupt temperature increases over Greenland and related warming and cooling periods over Antarctica. Records from Antarctic ice cores have shown that the global carbon cycle also plays a role in these changes. The available data shows that atmospheric CO(2) follows closely temperatures reconstructed from Antarctic ice cores during these variations. Here, we present new high-resolution CO(2) data from Antarctic ice cores, which cover the period between 115,000 and 38,000 y before present. Our measurements show that also smaller Antarctic warming events have an imprint in CO(2) concentrations. Moreover, they indicate that during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5, the peak of millennial CO(2) variations lags the onset of Dansgaard/Oeschger warmings by 250 ± 190 y. During MIS 3, this lag increases significantly to 870 ± 90 y. Considerations of the ocean circulation suggest that the millennial variability associated with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) undergoes a mode change from MIS 5 to MIS 4 and 3. Ocean carbon inventory estimates imply that during MIS 3 additional carbon is derived from an extended mass of carbon-enriched Antarctic Bottom Water. The absence of such a carbon-enriched water mass in the North Atlantic during MIS 5 can explain the smaller amount of carbon released to the atmosphere after the Antarctic temperature maximum and, hence, the shorter lag. Our new data provides further constraints for transient coupled carbon cycle-climate simulations during the entire last glacial cycle.

Impacts of peatland and permafrost changes on the terrestrial carbon storage over the last 21 ka

Science.gov (United States)

Spahni, Renato; Stocker, Benjamin D.; Joos, Fortunat

2014-05-01

Paleoclimate records and global climate-carbon cycle models suggest a net increase in land carbon (C) storage between 300 and 700 Pg C (1 Pg C = 1015 g C) during the transition from the last glacial maximum (LGM), the Holocene up to the preindustrial period. Peat accumulation rate records imply an increase in peatland C of ~600 Pg C over the course of the Holocene. In high northern latitudes mineral and organic soils are subject to permafrost formation, which is believed to have been more extensive during glacial compared to interglacial periods. Soil C in permafrost regions represents the largest inert C pool on land at present. The spatio-temporal evolution, however, of C stocks in soils and vegetation remains poorly quantified and is uncertain. Here, the Land surface Processes and eXchanges (LPX-Bern) Dynamic Global Vegetation Model is applied in transient simulations to explore the evolution of permafrost, peatland and vegetation C over the last 21'000 years. The model is forced with temperature and precipitation output from the Trace-21ka climate simulation, and dynamically simulates the formation and disappearance of peatlands and permafrost soils, vegetation distribution and C stocks. Results indicate that peatlands and permfrost areas existed further south in the LGM, in agreement with available proxy information, and that their associated C was lost during the transition into the Holocene. The simulated loss of inert C is over-compensated by vegetation regrowth. The timing of the C relocation on land is compared to observational evidence from paleoclimate archives and estimates from ocean C inventory changes.

Impacts of climate change on Middle Eastern societies over the last 2700 years: new results from the Gejkar speleothem, Iraq

Science.gov (United States)

Flohr, Pascal; Fleitmann, Dominik; Bosomworth, Matt; Cheng, Hai; Sadekov, Aleksey; Matthews, Roger; Matthews, Wendy; Black, Stuart; Edwards, Lawrence

2016-04-01

Climatic and environmental changes are often cited as a major factor for past social, economic, and political changes. This is especially relevant in the semi-arid to arid Middle East, where, however, only few precisely dated, high-resolution climate records are available. Here we present new results from an up to annually resolved stalagmite from Gejkar Cave in the Kurdish Regional Government of Iraq region. Based on Uranium-series dating and annual layer counts, the record dates back ~2700 years, and its annual layer thickness and carbon and oxygen isotope profile appear indicative of precipitation and effective moisture. We also assess if observed decadal to multi-decadal shifts in precipitation are synchronous with socio-economic changes as observed in the archaeological and historical record in the wider Middle East over the last 2000 years, such as the largely prosperous Roman and Byzantine periods, the Seljuq invasion, and the decline of the Ottoman Empire.

Marketing a destination: Case of CreateTrips and Mexico

OpenAIRE

Tiainen, Johanna; Korvenpää, Emmi

2015-01-01

This thesis concentrates on Finnish people travelling to Mexico. Firstly, the writers conduct a quantitative research, a questionnaire, that studies Finnish people’s thoughts and presumptions about Mexico. Secondly, they create mobile travel guides of four different destinations. The questionnaire concentrates on the people’s point of view, asking what people think about Mexico, on what kind of trip would they go it they travel there, how long it would last and so on. The questionnaire also h...

Blue ocean strategy: how to create uncontested market space and make the competition irrelevant

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kim, W. Chan; Mauborgne, Renée

2005-01-01

... of rivals fighting over a shrinking profit pool. Based on a study of 150 strategic moves spanning more than a hundred years and 30 industries, the authors argue that lasting success comes not from battling competitors, but from creating "blue...

Progress in thermal comfort research over the last twenty years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dear, R. J. de; Akimoto, T.; Arens, E. A.

2013-01-01

Climate change and the urgency of decarbonizing the built environment are driving technological innovation in the way we deliver thermal comfort to occupants. These changes, in turn, seem to be setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research. This article presents a literature...... review of major changes, developments, and trends in the field of thermal comfort research over the last 20 years. One of the main paradigm shift was the fundamental conceptual reorientation that has taken place in thermal comfort thinking over the last 20 years; a shift away from the physically based...... developed, driven by the continuous challenge to model thermal comfort at the same anatomical resolution and to combine these localized signals into a coherent, global thermal perception. Finally, the demand for ever increasing building energy efficiency is pushing technological innovation in the way we...

The ACER pollen and charcoal database: a global resource to document vegetation and fire response to abrupt climate changes during the last glacial period

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. F. Sánchez Goñi

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Quaternary records provide an opportunity to examine the nature of the vegetation and fire responses to rapid past climate changes comparable in velocity and magnitude to those expected in the 21st-century. The best documented examples of rapid climate change in the past are the warming events associated with the Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O cycles during the last glacial period, which were sufficiently large to have had a potential feedback through changes in albedo and greenhouse gas emissions on climate. Previous reconstructions of vegetation and fire changes during the D–O cycles used independently constructed age models, making it difficult to compare the changes between different sites and regions. Here, we present the ACER (Abrupt Climate Changes and Environmental Responses global database, which includes 93 pollen records from the last glacial period (73–15 ka with a temporal resolution better than 1000 years, 32 of which also provide charcoal records. A harmonized and consistent chronology based on radiometric dating (14C, 234U∕230Th, optically stimulated luminescence (OSL, 40Ar∕39Ar-dated tephra layers has been constructed for 86 of these records, although in some cases additional information was derived using common control points based on event stratigraphy. The ACER database compiles metadata including geospatial and dating information, pollen and charcoal counts, and pollen percentages of the characteristic biomes and is archived in Microsoft AccessTM at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.870867.

Vegetation changes and human settlement of Easter Island during the last millennia: a multiproxy study of the Lake Raraku sediments

Science.gov (United States)

Cañellas-Boltà, Núria; Rull, Valentí; Sáez, Alberto; Margalef, Olga; Bao, Roberto; Pla-Rabes, Sergi; Blaauw, Maarten; Valero-Garcés, Blas; Giralt, Santiago

2013-07-01

Earlier palynological studies of lake sediments from Easter Island suggest that the island underwent a recent and abrupt replacement of palm-dominated forests by grasslands, interpreted as a deforestation by indigenous people. However, the available evidence is inconclusive due to the existence of extended hiatuses and ambiguous chronological frameworks in most of the sedimentary sequences studied. This has given rise to an ongoing debate about the timing and causes of the assumed ecological degradation and cultural breakdown. Our multiproxy study of a core recovered from Lake Raraku highlights the vegetation dynamics and environmental shifts in the catchment and its surroundings during the late Holocene. The sequence contains shorter hiatuses than in previously recovered cores and provides a more continuous history of environmental changes. The results show a long, gradual and stepped landscape shift from palm-dominated forests to grasslands. This change started c. 450 BC and lasted about two thousand years. The presence of Verbena litoralis, a common weed, which is associated with human activities in the pollen record, the significant correlation between shifts in charcoal influx, and the dominant pollen types suggest human disturbance of the vegetation. Therefore, human settlement on the island occurred c. 450 BC, some 1500 years earlier than is assumed. Climate variability also exerted a major influence on environmental changes. Two sedimentary gaps in the record are interpreted as periods of droughts that could have prevented peat growth and favoured its erosion during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, respectively. At c. AD 1200, the water table rose and the former Raraku mire turned into a shallow lake, suggesting higher precipitation/evaporation rates coeval with a cooler and wetter Pan-Pacific AD 1300 event. Pollen and diatom records show large vegetation changes due to human activities c. AD 1200. Other recent vegetation changes also

Hydrological change during the last 600 years as observed from landscape analysis and historical maps: a case study from the Nete catchment, Campine area, NE-Belgium

Science.gov (United States)

Beerten, Koen; Leterme, Bertrand

2015-04-01

Reliably predicting the future state of the hydrological system under transient climate and land use conditions is a major challenge. Hydrological models are usually calibrated and validated for a short time period (e.g. 30 years), for conditions that are similar to today's. In order to test model performance for future (unverifiable) projections, palaeohydrological modelling is first needed to build confidence in model output under different conditions. One of the major challenges of palaeohydrological modelling is the acquisition of verification data that is representative for the past state(s) of the hydrological system. Here, we present the reconstructed evolution of the groundwater table depth over the last six centuries, in a sandy interfluvium (20 km² with altitude varying between 16 m and 28 m a.s.l.) of the Nete catchment. For periods before 1770 AD, the altitude (depth) of blown-out surfaces in the drift sand landscape is used as a proxy for the average highest groundwater level. These surfaces are generally interpreted as the lower limit for wind erosion. Soil profiles investigations where these surfaces are overblown by younger drift sand show that they were created in the time period between ca. 1400 AD and 1600 AD. For younger periods, historical maps were analysed for the presence of surface water features, such as fens (shallow lakes that are groundwater fed in this sandy landscape under temperate climate), marshes and wetlands. The results clearly show declining water levels in the second half of the 19th century, i.e., between 1854 AD and 1909 AD. The decline is most pronounced for the higher areas of the interfluve (drift sand landscape) and becomes less clear towards the floodplains. The amount of groundwater level decline is 1-2 m on average. The cause for the synchronous groundwater level drop seems to be linked to land use and land cover changes during that period. In the time interval between 1854 AD and 1909 AD, the total length of drains

Fluvial response to the last Holocene rapid climate change in the Northwestern Mediterranean coastlands

Science.gov (United States)

Degeai, Jean-Philippe; Devillers, Benoît; Blanchemanche, Philippe; Dezileau, Laurent; Oueslati, Hamza; Tillier, Margaux; Bohbot, Hervé

2017-05-01

The variability of fluvial activity in the Northwestern Mediterranean coastal lowlands and its relationship with modes of climate change were analysed from the late 9th to the 18th centuries CE. Geochemical analyses were undertaken from a lagoonal sequence and surrounding sediments in order to track the fluvial inputs into the lagoon. An index based on the K/S and Rb/S ratios was used to evidence the main periods of fluvial activity. This index reveals that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) was a drier period characterized by a lower fluvial activity, while the Little Ice Age (LIA) was a wetter period with an increase of the river dynamics. Three periods of higher than average fluvial activity were evidenced at the end of the first millennium CE (ca. 900-950 cal yr CE), in the first half of the second millennium CE (ca. 1150-1550 cal yr CE), and during the 1600s-1700s CE (ca. 1650-1800 cal yr CE). The comparison of these fluvial periods with other records of riverine or lacustrine floods in Spain, Italy, and South of France seems to indicate a general increase in fluvial and flood patterns in the Northwestern Mediterranean in response to the climate change from the MCA to the LIA, although some episodes of flooding are not found in all records. Besides, the phases of higher than average fluvial dynamics are in good agreement with the North Atlantic cold events evidenced from records of ice-rafted debris. The evolution of fluvial activity in the Northwestern Mediterranean coastlands during the last millennium could have been driven by atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns.

Rapid changes in the level of Kluane Lake in Yukon Territory over the last millennium

Science.gov (United States)

Clague, John J.; Luckman, Brian H.; Van Dorp, Richard D.; Gilbert, Robert; Froese, Duane; Jensen, Britta J. L.; Reyes, Alberto V.

2006-09-01

The level of Kluane Lake, the largest lake in Yukon Territory, was lower than at present during most of the Holocene. The lake rose rapidly in the late seventeenth century to a level 12 m above present, drowning forest and stranding driftwood on a conspicuous high-stand beach, remnants of which are preserved at the south end of the lake. Kluane Lake fell back to near its present level by the end of the eighteenth century and has fluctuated within a range of about 3 m over the last 50 yr. The primary control on historic fluctuations in lake level is the discharge of Slims River, the largest source of water to the lake. We use tree ring and radiocarbon ages, stratigraphy and sub-bottom acoustic data to evaluate two explanations for the dramatic changes in the level of Kluane Lake. Our data support the hypothesis of Hugh Bostock, who suggested in 1969 that the maximum Little Ice Age advance of Kaskawulsh Glacier deposited large amounts of sediment in the Slims River valley and established the present course of Slims River into Kluane Lake. Bostock argued that these events caused the lake to rise and eventually overflow to the north. The overflowing waters incised the Duke River fan at the north end of Kluane Lake and lowered the lake to its present level. This study highlights the potentially dramatic impacts of climate change on regional hydrology during the Little Ice Age in glacierised mountains.

Twelve tips for creating an academic teaching portfolio.

Science.gov (United States)

Little-Wienert, Kim; Mazziotti, Mark

2018-01-01

An academic teaching portfolio is not only a requirement at many academic teaching institutions, but it is also important in a medical educator's growth and development through documentation, reflection, evaluation, and change. Creating an academic portfolio may appear daunting at first but with careful advanced preparation, organized evidence collection of your educational work, proof of scholarship, and thorough documentation of self-reflection and change, you can produce a successful product that accurately represents your educational beliefs, accomplishments, and growth throughout your career. This article provides medical educators with twelve steps for creating a successful academic teaching portfolio.

IODP Expedition 310 Reconstructs Sea Level, Climatic, and Environmental Changes in the South Pacific during the Last Deglaciation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasufumi Iryu

2007-07-01

Full Text Available The timing and course of the last deglaciation (19,000–6,000 years BP are essential components for understanding　the dynamics of large ice sheets (Lindstrom and MacAyeal,　1993 and their effects on Earth’s isostasy (Nakada and　Lambeck, 1989; Lambeck, 1993; Peltier, 1994, as well as the　complex relationship between freshwater fluxes to the ocean,　thermohaline circulation, and, hence, global climate during　the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene. Moreover, the lastdeglaciation is generally seen as a possible analogue for the　environmental changes and increased sea level that Earth　may experience because of the greenhouse effect, related　thermal expansion of oceans, and the melting of polar ice　sheets.

A Quantitative Method for the Analysis of Nomothetic Relationships between Idiographic Structures: Dynamic Patterns Create Attractor States for Sustained Posttreatment Change

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Aaron J.; Newman, Michelle G.; Molenaar, Peter C. M.

2011-01-01

Objective: The present article aimed to demonstrate that the establishment of dynamic patterns during the course of psychotherapy can create attractor states for continued adaptive change following the conclusion of treatment. Method: This study is a secondary analysis of T. D. Borkovec and E. Costello (1993). Of the 55 participants in the…

Estimation of the time scale of last chance alpha emission using an ''atomic clock''

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gallamore, L.; Sarantites, D.G.; Charity, R.J.; Nicolis, N.G.; Sobotka, L.G.; Beene, J.R.; Halbert, M.L.; Varner, R.L.

1994-01-01

The probability of filling a K-vacancy, created on the incoming part of the collision, before α-particle emission is used to time the decay of Yb compound nuclei. These nuclei were produced in the fusion reaction 250 MeV 60 Ni+ 100 Mo. In general the nuclear decays are too fast to be timed by this clock, however, α-particle emitting compound nucleus states have lifetimes sufficiently long for this technique to work when both the α-particle has low energy and the compound nucleus spin is large. This supports the existence of last, or near last, chance α-particle emission in the deexcitation of high spin compound nuclei

Last nine-thousand years of temperature variability in Northern Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Seppä

2009-09-01

Full Text Available The threat of future global warming has generated a major interest in quantifying past climate variability on centennial and millennial time-scales. However, palaeoclimatological records are often noisy and arguments about past variability are only possible if they are based on reproducible features in several reliably dated datasets. Here we focus on the last 9000 years, explore the results of 36 Holocene pollen-based July mean and annual mean temperature reconstructions from Northern Europe by stacking them to create summary curves, and compare them with a high-resolution, summary chironomid-based temperature record and other independent palaeoclimate records. The stacked records show that the "Holocene Thermal Maximum" in the region dates to 8000 to 4800 cal yr BP and that the "8.2 event" and the "Little Ice Age" at 500–100 cal yr BP are the clearest cold episodes during the Holocene. In addition, a more detailed analysis of the last 5000 years pinpoints centennial-scale climate variability with cold anomalies at 3800–3000 and 500–100 cal yr BP, a long, warmer period around 2000 cal yr BP, and a marked warming since the mid 19th century. The colder (warmer anomalies are associated with increased (decreased humidity over the northern European mainland, consistent with the modern high correlation between cold (warm and humid (dry modes of summer weather in the region. A comparison with the key proxy records reflecting the main forcing factors does not support the hypothesis that solar variability is the cause of the late-Holocene centennial-scale temperature changes. We suggest that the reconstructed anomalies are typical of Northern Europe and their occurrence may be related to the oceanic and atmospheric circulation variability in the North Atlantic – North-European region.

Creating value in supply chains : suppliers' impact on value for customers, society and shareholders

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kibbeling, M.I.

2010-01-01

This dissertation deals with the question how suppliers contribute to creating value in supply chains. The last decades have been characterized by increased specialization of business activities and, consequently, firms have outsourced between 50% and 80% of their business activities to suppliers.

Deep circulation changes in the South Atlantic since the Last Glacial Maximum from Nd isotope and multi-proxy records

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, R.; Abouchami, W.; Zahn, R.; Masque, P.

2016-01-01

We report down-core sedimentary Nd isotope (εNd) records from two South Atlantic sediment cores, MD02-2594 and GeoB3603-2, located on the western South African continental margin. The core sites are positioned downstream of the present-day flow path of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) and close to the Southern Ocean, which makes them suitable for reconstructing past variability in NADW circulation over the last glacial cycle. The Fe-Mn leachates εNd records show a coherent decreasing trend from glacial radiogenic values towards less radiogenic values during the Holocene. This trend is confirmed by εNd in fish debris and mixed planktonic foraminifera, albeit with an offset during the Holocene to lower values relative to the leachates, matching the present-day composition of NADW in the Cape Basin. We interpret the εNd changes as reflecting the glacial shoaling of Southern Ocean waters to shallower depths combined with the admixing of southward flowing Northern Component Water (NCW). A compilation of Atlantic εNd records reveals increasing radiogenic isotope signatures towards the south and with increasing depth. This signal is most prominent during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and of similar amplitude across the Atlantic basin, suggesting continuous deep water production in the North Atlantic and export to the South Atlantic and the Southern Ocean. The amplitude of the εNd change from the LGM to Holocene is largest in the southernmost cores, implying a greater sensitivity to the deglacial strengthening of NADW at these sites. This signal impacted most prominently the South Atlantic deep and bottom water layers that were particularly deprived of NCW during the LGM. The εNd variations correlate with changes in 231Pa/230Th ratios and benthic δ13C across the deglacial transition. Together with the contrasting 231Pa/230Th: εNd pattern of the North and South Atlantic, this indicates a progressive reorganization of the AMOC to full strength during the Holocene.

Parents as Change Agents in Their Schools and Communities: The Founding of Families for Early Autism Treatment (FEAT)

Science.gov (United States)

Mickahail, Bethany K.

2010-01-01

A qualitative research highlights how parent driven "communities of support" create lasting change in schools and communities, through the unique blend of the two methodologies, oral history and educational criticism and connoisseurship. In recent years, schools and communities are unusually impacted by an escalating wave in the diagnosis and…

Climate bifurcation during the last deglaciation?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

T. M. Lenton

2012-07-01

Full Text Available There were two abrupt warming events during the last deglaciation, at the start of the Bølling-Allerød and at the end of the Younger Dryas, but their underlying dynamics are unclear. Some abrupt climate changes may involve gradual forcing past a bifurcation point, in which a prevailing climate state loses its stability and the climate tips into an alternative state, providing an early warning signal in the form of slowing responses to perturbations, which may be accompanied by increasing variability. Alternatively, short-term stochastic variability in the climate system can trigger abrupt climate changes, without early warning. Previous work has found signals consistent with slowing down during the last deglaciation as a whole, and during the Younger Dryas, but with conflicting results in the run-up to the Bølling-Allerød. Based on this, we hypothesise that a bifurcation point was approached at the end of the Younger Dryas, in which the cold climate state, with weak Atlantic overturning circulation, lost its stability, and the climate tipped irreversibly into a warm interglacial state. To test the bifurcation hypothesis, we analysed two different climate proxies in three Greenland ice cores, from the Last Glacial Maximum to the end of the Younger Dryas. Prior to the Bølling warming, there was a robust increase in climate variability but no consistent slowing down signal, suggesting this abrupt change was probably triggered by a stochastic fluctuation. The transition to the warm Bølling-Allerød state was accompanied by a slowing down in climate dynamics and an increase in climate variability. We suggest that the Bølling warming excited an internal mode of variability in Atlantic meridional overturning circulation strength, causing multi-centennial climate fluctuations. However, the return to the Younger Dryas cold state increased climate stability. We find no consistent evidence for slowing down during the Younger Dryas, or in a longer

Decade-centenary resolution records of climate changes in East Siberia from elements in the bottom sediments of lake Baikal for the last 150 kyr

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Goldberg, E.L. [Limnological Institute of the SB RAS, 664033 Irkutsk (Russian Federation)]. E-mail: gold@econova.nsk.su; Phedorin, M.A. [Limnological Institute of the SB RAS, 664033 Irkutsk (Russian Federation); Chebykin, E.P. [Limnological Institute of the SB RAS, 664033 Irkutsk (Russian Federation); Zolotarev, K.B [Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of SB RAS, Lavrentyev prospect -11, 630090 Novosibirsk (Russian Federation); Zhuchenko, N.A. [Limnological Institute of the SB RAS, 664033 Irkutsk (Russian Federation)

2007-05-21

High-resolution scanning Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (SRXFA) was applied to investigate the downcore distribution of elements in the sediments from Lake Baikal (East Siberia). The obtained multi-element time series reveal the presence of abrupt climate shifts in East Siberia which were synchronous with the abrupt warming events in the North Atlantic and Greenland (Dansgaard-Oeschges events (D/O) during the last ice age 24-75 kyr BP. We show here the set of climatic indicators reveals all globally known climate changes from dry and cool or glacial climates to humid and warm ones, which were recorded in Northern Atlantic and East Siberia both on the orbital and millennial time scales during the last 150 kyr.

Decade-centenary resolution records of climate changes in East Siberia from elements in the bottom sediments of lake Baikal for the last 150 kyr

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldberg, E.L.; Phedorin, M.A.; Chebykin, E.P.; Zolotarev, K.B; Zhuchenko, N.A.

2007-01-01

High-resolution scanning Synchrotron Radiation X-ray Fluorescence Analysis (SRXFA) was applied to investigate the downcore distribution of elements in the sediments from Lake Baikal (East Siberia). The obtained multi-element time series reveal the presence of abrupt climate shifts in East Siberia which were synchronous with the abrupt warming events in the North Atlantic and Greenland (Dansgaard-Oeschges events (D/O) during the last ice age 24-75 kyr BP. We show here the set of climatic indicators reveals all globally known climate changes from dry and cool or glacial climates to humid and warm ones, which were recorded in Northern Atlantic and East Siberia both on the orbital and millennial time scales during the last 150 kyr

The last SPR dinner awards

Science.gov (United States)

Tsurutani, Bruce

1992-03-01

Because the Solar-Planetary Relationships section of AGU has officially changed its name to Space Physics and Aeronomy (SPA), the December 10, 1991, section dinner award ceremony at the AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco was the last of the series. Presumably an SPA dinner award series will be started under President-elect Andy Nagy.We have followed our tradition of recognizing the special talents of section members at the annual dinner. This year we had eight awardees. These awards are given in fun and are intended to be humorous. The selection committee defining the awards (the awards are changed regularly to keep people from trying to win one) and selecting the awardees will have to remain anonymous. (The committee is similar to Skull and Bones, but we are politically correct in that we allow women as members.)

Orbital-scale denitrification changes in the Eastern Arabian Sea during the last 800 kyrs.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Ji-Eun; Khim, Boo-Keun; Ikehara, Minoru; Lee, Jongmin

2018-05-04

Denitrification in the Arabian Sea is closely related to the monsoon-induced upwelling and subsequent phytoplankton production in the surface water. The δ 15 N values of bulk sediments collected at Site U1456 of the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) Expedition 355 reveal the orbital-scale denitrification history in response to the Indian Monsoon. Age reconstruction based on the correlation of planktonic foraminifera (Globigerinoides ruber) δ 18 O values with the LR04 stack together with the shipboard biostratigraphic and paleomagnetic data assigns the study interval to be 1.2 Ma. Comparison of δ 15 N values during the last 800 kyrs between Site U1456 (Eastern Arabian Sea) and Site 722B (Western Arabian Sea) showed that δ 15 N values were high during interglacial periods, indicating intensified denitrification, while the opposite was observed during glacial periods. Taking 6‰ as the empirical threshold of denitrification, the Eastern Arabian Sea has experienced a persistent oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) to maintain strong denitrification whereas the Western Arabian Sea has undergone OMZ breakdown during some glacial periods. The results of this study also suggests that five principal oceanographic conditions were changed in response to the Indian Monsoon following the interglacial and glacial cycles, which controls the degree of denitrification in the Arabian Sea.

Creating Intangible Value through a Corporate Employee Portal

OpenAIRE

David Mendes; Jorge Gomes; Mário Romao

2017-01-01

Organizations create competitive advantage by creating more economic value than their rivals. Increasing business competition and information technology development have both led to huge corporate organizational changes and have raised the importance of intangible assets along the value chain. Value creation and the success of organizations increasingly depends on the leverage of knowledge available internally, as nowadays it has become essential to understand employee portals’ business value...

Collide@CERN: exclusive open rehearsal of Gilles Jobin's last piece

CERN Multimedia

2012-01-01

Collide@CERN and Gilles Jobin, artist in residency at CERN, present an exclusive open rehearsal of his last piece SPIDER GALAXIES Tuesday 31 July 2012 - A new piece created to open new territories of the mind - Join us in Restaurant 1 from 4 p.m. (next to the Glass Box Restaurant) With this piece, the body turns into matter, which is complete, spatial and sensual. Come and see Gilles Jobin and his dancers. With a score by Cristian Vogel and Carla Scaletti invoking sound particles, while Daniel Demont disperses the spectrum. Protean, infinitely large or infinitesimal, such are the Spider Galaxies.    

Innovation for creating a smart future

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sang M. Lee

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Today, we live in a dynamic and turbulent global community. The wave of mega-trends, including rapid change in globalization and technological advances, is creating new market forces. For any organization to survive and prosper in such an environment, innovation is imperative. However, innovation is no longer just for creating value to benefit individuals, organizations, or societies. The ultimate purpose of innovation should be much more far reaching, helping create a smart future where people can enjoy the best quality of life possible. Thus, innovation must search for intelligent solutions to tackle major social ills, seek more proactive approaches to predict the uncertain future, and pursue strategies to remove barriers to the smart future. This study explores the detailed requirements of a smart future, including both hardware types and soft social/cultural components.

The last straw!: a tool for participatory education about the social determinants of health.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossiter, Kate; Reeve, Kate

2008-01-01

In response to a scarcity of teaching tools regarding the social determinants of health (SDOH), Kate Reeve and Kate Rossiter created The Last Straw! board game, an innovative participatory education tool to facilitate and engage critical thinking about the SDOH. The Last Straw! is designed to encourage discussion about the SDOH, promote critical thinking, and build empathy with marginalized people. The game begins as each player rolls the dice to create a character profile, including socioeconomic status (SES), race, and gender. Based on this profile, players then receive a certain number of "vitality chips." Moving across the board, players encounter scenarios that cause them to gain and lose chips based on their profile. The player who finishes the game with the most chips wins the game. The game can be facilitated for a variety of audiences, including both players with no prior knowledge of the SDOH and those experienced in the field. The game has been played with students, policymakers, and community workers, among others, and has been met with immense enthusiasm. Here, we detail the game's reception within the community, including benefits, limitations, and next steps.

Creating an Economically Enabling and Competitive Business ...

International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Digital Library (Canada)

Creating an Economically Enabling and Competitive Business Environment in the ... the scope of operations of private sector enterprises in the West Bank and Gaza. ... IWRA/IDRC webinar on climate change and adaptive water management.

Periodical climate variations and their impact on Earth rotation for the last 800Kyr

Science.gov (United States)

Chapanov, Yavor; Gambis, Daniel

2010-05-01

The Earth rotation variations are highly affected by climatic variations associated with the glacial cycles in the late Pleistocene. The processes of glaciation, followed by ice melting, are connected with significant changes of the mean sea level. These processes redistribute great amount of water masses between oceans and ice sheets, which lead to changes of the axial moment of inertia and corresponding variations of the Universal Time UT1 and Length of Day LOD, according to the law of angular momentum conservation. The climatic variations for the last 800Kyr are analyzed by means of time series of temperature changes, determined by deuterium data from Antarctica ice core. Reconstructed glacial sea level variations for the last 380Kyr, determined by the sediments from the Red sea, are used, too. Common periodicities of the temperature and mean sea level variations are determined. Time series of the long-periodical UT1 and LOD oscillations for the last 380Kyr and 800Kyr are reconstructed by means of empirical hydrological model of global water redistribution between the ocean and ice sheets during the last glacial events.

Amateur boxing in the last 59 years. Impact of rules changes on the type of verdicts recorded and implications on boxers' health.

Science.gov (United States)

Bianco, Massimiliano; Loosemore, Mike; Daniele, Gianlorenzo; Palmieri, Vincenzo; Faina, Marcello; Zeppilli, Paolo

2013-05-01

Several changes have occurred in Olympic boxing (OB) in the last few decades, influencing the results in official competitions. The aim of this study was to assess how the evolution of rules changed the rate of the results that can influence boxers' health. From a web-research, the results of OB tournaments from 1952 to 2011 were reviewed (29,357 bouts). For each event, rate of knockout (KO), referee-stop contest (RSC), RSC-Head (RSCH), RSC-Injury (RSCI), RSC-Outclassed (RSCO), abandon, disqualification and points decisions were recorded. In our analysis we investigated the changes that occurred after the introduction of the standing-count rule (1964), mandatory head guard (1984), computerised scoring system (1992), RSCO (2000-2009) and modification of bout formula 3×3 min rounds (3×3, until 1997, 5×2 min rounds (5×2) until 1999, 4×2 min rounds (4×2) until 2008, 3×3 from 2009). The most important results were: (1) an RSCI rate increase (0.72-2.42%, p<0.03) after the standing-count rule; (2) a lower RSCI (0.60%, p<0.001) and higher RSCH (1.31-4.92%, p<0.001) and RSC (9.71-13.05%, p<0.03) rate with mandatory head guard; (3) a KO rate reduction (6.44-2.09%, p<0.001) with the computerised scoring system; (4) an RSC (13.15-5.91%, p<0.05) and RSCH (4.23-1.41%, p<0.001) rate reduction comparing 5×2-4×2 bouts. In the last six decades, along with rule changes in OB, a clear reduction of health challenging results was observed. In the near future, older rules will be adopted (no head guard and a manual scoring system). Continued medical surveillance is important to ensure that new rule changes do not result in poor medical outcomes for the boxers.

Hydrology of surface waters and thermohaline circulation during the last glacial period

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vidal, L.

1996-01-01

Sedimentological studies on oceanic cores from the north Atlantic have revealed, over the last glacial period, abrupt climatic changes with a periodicity of several thousand years which contrasts strongly with the glacial-interglacial periodicity (several tens of thousand years). These periods of abrupt climate changes correspond to massive icebergs discharges into the north Atlantic. The aim of this work was to study the evolution of the thermohaline circulation in relation to these episodic iceberg discharges which punctuated the last 60 ka. To reconstruct the oceanic circulation in the past, we have analysed oxygen and carbon stable isotopes on benthic foraminifera from north Atlantic deep-sea cores. First of all, the higher temporal resolution of sedimentary records has enabled us to establish a precise chrono-stratigraphy for the different cores. Then, we have shown the close linkage between surface water hydrology and deep circulation, giving evidence of the sensibility of thermohaline circulation to melt water input in the north Atlantic ocean. Indeed, changes in deep circulation are synchronous from those identified in surface waters and are recorded on a period which lasted ∼ 1500 years. Deep circulation reconstructions, before and during a typical iceberg discharge reveal several modes of circulation linked to different convection sites at the high latitudes of the Atlantic basin. Moreover, the study of the last glacial period gives the opportunity to differentiate circulation changes due to the external forcing (variations of the orbital parameters) and those linked to a more local forcing (icebergs discharges). 105 refs., 50 figs., 14 tabs., 4 appends

Leadership Capacity--A Key to Sustaining Lasting Improvement

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Henry S.

2009-01-01

Studies on school change indicate that schools successful in sustaining school improvement build capacity for leadership within the organization (Harris & Lambert, 2003). Reliance on the leadership of the principal alone is no longer viable if schools are to improve and sustain improvement. Leadership capacity is about creating conditions…

USING LANDSAT IMAGES AND GIS TO ASSESS THE CHANGES OF MER DE GLACE AND MARMOLADA GLACIERS, IN THE LAST THREE DECADES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. M. NISTOR

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Using Landsat Images and GIS to Assess the Changes of Mer de Glace and Marmolada Glaciers, in the Last Three Decades. We have demonstrated that Mer de Glace Glacier (GL and Marmolada GL are in continuous retreat. The changes in size and status of terminus points were estimated in various time intervals by satellite images (SIs and Geographic Information Systems (GIS techniques, during the last three decades. The aim of the research was to found the value of the ice melting areas of Mer de Glace GL and Marmolada GL and to calculate the decline rate for both GLs. A large number of GLs have lost ice mass all over the world. Often glaciologists monitor the GLs movements under climate changes and they express their opinions about the ocean level rise, ecosystem challenges and the future implications of GLs decline. The analysed information to quantify the Mer de Glace GL and Marmolada GL areas derived from SIs. By manual vectorization we obtained the outlines of GLs in different years. For 1984, 1999, 2013 we defined the limits for Mer de Glace GL and for 1986, 1999, 2013 we defined the limits for Marmolada GL. These vector layers were compared in order to observe the melting area and to establish the withdrawal rate. The first results indicate that Mer de Glace GL area declined by 2.365 km² between 1984 and 2013 and a mean melting rate of 0.082 km²/year was obtained. Marmolada GL decreased by 1.035 km² between 1986 and 2013 and a mean melting rate of 0.038 km²/year was calculated. We believe that these results represent significant quantitative data about GLs movements regarding two different areas in the Alps Range and may provide knowledge for hydrology, geomorphology and environmental sciences.

BRACKISH MARSH BENTHIC MICROFAUNA AND PALEOENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES DURING THE LAST 6000 YEARS AT THE COASTAL PLAIN OF MARATHON (SE GREECE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

MARIA V.TRIANTAPHYLLOU

2003-11-01

Full Text Available The present study, based mainly on the analysis of foraminifers and ostracodes, provides evidence of paleoenvironmental changes on the coastal plain of Marathon (E. Greece during the last 6.000 yrs. Three sedimentary units -lagoonal formations - were recognized and identified as A, B and C. They range in time between before 5500BP-3500BP, 3500BP-2500BP and 2500BP-recent, respectively. The study of the brackish marsh microfauna of the Marathon plain Holocene sediments reveals the presence, during the last 5500 yrs., of three distinct biofacies in the sedimentary units already established. Alternating mesohaline - oligohaline (MO, oligohaline - fresh water (OFW and mesohaline - oligohaline to oligohaline - fresh water (MO-OFW biofacies in the framework of the sedimentary units indicate a general trend landward along the plain suggesting a slowing of sea-level rise probably correlated with a relevant tectonic uplift. One prominent feature of this study is the clarification of the ecological preference of the species Trichohya1us aguayoi (Bermudez, 1935, which is dominant in oligohaline conditions under an influence of fresh water input (salinity less than 15 ‰. 

Progress in thermal comfort research over the last twenty years

OpenAIRE

de Dear, R; Akimoto, T; Arens, E; Brager, G; Candido, C; Cheong, K.W.; Li, B; Nishihara, N; Sekhar, S.C.; Tanabe, S; Toftum, J; Zhang, H; Zhu, Y

2013-01-01

Climate change and the urgency of decarbonizing the built environment are driving technological innovation in the way we deliver thermal comfort to occupants. These changes, in turn, seem to be setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research. This article presents a literature review of major changes, developments, and trends in the field of thermal comfort research over the last 20 years. One of the main paradigm shift was the fundamental conceptual reorientation that has ta...

Neonatal tetanus in Turkey; what has changed in the last decade?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kocamaz Halil

2008-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Neonatal tetanus (NT is still considered as one of the major causes of neonatal death in many developing countries. The aim of the present study was to assess the characteristics of sixty-seven infants with the diagnosis of neonatal tetanus followed-up in the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Ward of Dicle University Hospital, Diyarbakir, between 1991 and 2006, and to draw attention to factors that may contribute (or may have contributed to the elimination of the disease in Diyarbakir. Methods The data of sixty-seven infants whose epidemiological and clinical findings were compatible with neonatal tetanus were reviewed. Patients were stratified into two groups according to whether they survived or not to assess the effect of certain factors in the prognosis. Factors having a contribution to the higher rate of tetanus among newborn infants were discussed. Results A total of 55 cases of NT had been hospitalized between 1991 and 1996 whereas only 12 patients admitted in the last decade. All of the infants had been delivered at home by untrained traditional birth attendants (TBA, and none of the mothers had been immunized with tetanus toxoid during her pregnancy. Twenty-eight (41.8% of the infants died during their follow-up. Lower birth weight, younger age at onset of symptoms and at the time admission, the presence of opisthotonus, risus sardonicus and were associated with a higher mortality rate. Conclusion Although the number of neonatal tetanus cases admitted to our clinic in recent years is lower than in the last decade efforts including appropriate health education of the masses, ensurement of access to antenatal sevices and increasing the rate of tetanus immunization among mothers still should be made in our region to achieve the goal of neonatal tetanus elimination.

Subchronic steroid administration induces long lasting changes in neurochemical and behavioral response to cocaine in rats.

Science.gov (United States)

Kailanto, Sanna; Kankaanpää, Aino; Seppälä, Timo

2011-11-01

The abuse of anabolic androgenic steroids (AASs), such as nandrolone, is not only a problem in the world of sports but is associated with the polydrug use of non-athletes. Among other adverse effects, AAS abuse has been associated with long term or even persistent psychiatric problems. We have previously found that nandrolone decanoate treatment could produce prolonged changes in rats' brain reward circuits associated to drug dependence. The aim in this study was to evaluate whether AAS-induced neurochemical and behavioral changes are reversible. The increases in extracellular dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) concentration, as well as stereotyped behavior and locomotor activity (LMA) evoked by cocaine were attenuated by pretreatment with nandrolone. The recovery period, which was needed for the DA system to return back to the basic level, was fairly long compared to the dosing period of the steroid. In the 5-HT system, the time that system needed to return back to the basal level, was even longer than in the DA system. The attenuation was still seen though there were no detectable traces of nandrolone in the blood samples. Given that accumbal outflow of DA and 5-HT, as well as LMA and stereotyped behavior are all related to reward of stimulant drugs, this study suggests that nandrolone decanoate has significant, long-lasting but reversible effects on the rewarding properties of cocaine. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Regional contributions of ocean iron fertilization to atmospheric CO2 changes during the last glacial termination

Science.gov (United States)

Opazo, N. E.; Lambert, F.

2017-12-01

Mineral dust aerosols affect climate directly by changing the radiative balance of the Earth, and indirectly by acting as cloud condensation nuclei and by affecting biogeochemical cycles. The impact on marine biogeochemical cycles is primarily through the supply of micronutrients such as iron to nutrient-limited regions of the oceans. Iron fertilization of High Nutrient Low Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the oceans is thought to have significantly affected the carbon cycle on glacial-interglacial scales and contributed about one fourth of the 80-100 ppm lowering of glacial atmospheric CO2 concentrations.In this study, we quantify the effect of global dust fluxes on atmospheric CO2 using the cGENIE model, an Earth System Model of Intermediate Complexity with emphasis on the carbon cycle. Global Holocene and Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) dust flux fields were obtained from both dust model simulations and reconstructions based on observational data. The analysis was performed in two stages. In the first instance, we produced 8 global intermediate dust flux fields between Holocene and LGM and simulated the atmospheric CO2 drawdown due to these 10 dust levels. In the second stage, we only changed dust flux levels in specific HNLC regions to isolate the effect of these ocean basins. We thus quantify the contribution of the South Atlantic, the South Pacific, the North Pacific, and the Central Pacific HNLC regions to the total atmospheric CO2 difference due to iron fertilization of the Earth's oceans.

Promoting Entrepreneurship - Changing Attitudes or Behavior?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dreisler, Poul; Blenker, Per; Nielsen, Kent T.

. The choice of strategy depends on whether the target groups: 1) have a positive or negative attitude towards what is socially desired, and 2) are engaged or not engaged in socially desired action During the last 30 years, entrepreneurship has become what most nations would call a socially desirable action...... and Frazier's (1982) model of planned social change, examining whether initiatives can be a means of creating change in attitudes or in behaviour or in both? The basic idea underlying Sheth and Frazier's model is that different strategies can be used to bring about socially desirable attitudes and behaviour...... and thus a target for planned social change. However, the model introduced by Sheth and Frazier has never been used to analyse how this socially desirable action can be promoted. Undertaking such an analysis is the ambition of this paper, and based on this analysis, the paper will, will conclude...

Last interglacial temperature evolution – a model inter-comparison

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bakker, P.; Stone, E.J.; Charbit, S.; Gröger, M.; Krebs-Kanzow, U.; Ritz, S.P.; Varma, V.; Khon, S.; Lunt, D.J.; Mikolajewicz, U.; Prange, M.; Renssen, H.; Schneider, B.; Schulz, M.

2013-01-01

There is a growing number of proxy-based reconstructions detailing the climatic changes that occurred during the last interglacial period (LIG). This period is of special interest, because large parts of the globe were characterized by a warmer-than-present-day climate, making this period an

Medulloblastoma-change of prognosis in children at one center over the last 30 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lechner-Pissenberger, S.

2002-06-01

Tumours of the central nervous system are the most common solid tumours in children. Medulloblastoma constitute about 20 % of all brain tumours in children. The peak of incidence is noted between the 4th and 8th year of life. There is a male/female predominancy of approximately 2 to 1. Medulloblastoma is a high-malignant tumour and originates in the posterior fossa. 87 patients were treated for a medulloblastoma at the Department of Neurosurgery at the General Hospital Vienna from January 1969 to December 2000. In this study the change of prognosis in children over the last 30 years should be explored. The 5-year event-free survival rate was between 1969 and 1979 33 %, between 1980 and 1990 64 % and between 1991 and 2000 59 %. Reasons for the improved survival rates from 1980 are the optimal surgical planning with CT and MRT, the MRT of the spinal cord before and after surgery for the purpose of tumor staging (metastases)and the advent of the surgical microscope in 1988. For all that the prognosis of medulloblastoma is poor now as before, because the mean 10-year survival rate is 60 %. Therefore it is necessary to improve the therapy to increase the long-term survival rates. This can be reached only with additional chemotherapy, which has been demonstrated in several studies of famous study groups. (author)

Facilitating Lasting Changes at an Elementary School

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurie JAMES

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine how to minimize waste in a school setting by reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting waste products. Specifically, the desire was to identify what steps could be taken to decrease waste practices at a Title I elementary school. Through the Washington Green Schools certification process, a Waste and Recycling Assessment and Characterization Audit allowed for the collection of data. The assessment examined how much and what types of waste products were disposed of at the school. Based on the audit, 93% of waste products in the cafeteria were recyclable or compostable. The results provided ways for the students and staff to take action resulting in behavioral changes that taught and modeled environmental conservation. This study can help revolutionize school communities by serving as a prototype for environmental sustainability enhancing an eco-friendly citizenry.

Facilitating lasting changes at an elementary school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurie James

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine how to minimize waste in a school setting by reducing, reusing, recycling, and composting waste products. Specifically, the desire was to identify what steps could be taken to decrease waste practices at a Title I elementary school. Through the Washington Green Schools certification process, a Waste and Recycling Assessment and Characterization Audit allowed for the collection of data. The assessment examined how much and what types of waste products were disposed of at the school. Based on the audit, 93% of waste products in the cafeteria were recyclable or compostable. The results provided ways for the students and staff to take action resulting in behavioral changes that taught and modeled environmental conservation. This study can help revolutionize school communities by serving as a prototype for environmental sustainability enhancing an eco-friendly citizenry.

Exposure to chronic early-life stress lastingly alters the adipose tissue, the leptin system and changes the vulnerability to western-style diet later in life in mice

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yam, Kit-Yi; Naninck, Eva F. G.; Abbink, M. R.; la Fleur, Susanne E.; Schipper, L.; de Beukelaar, J W K; Grefhorst, Aldo; Oosting, A.; van der Beek, E. M.; Lucassen, P. J.; Korosi, Aniko

Early-life stress (ES) increases the vulnerability to develop psychopathologies and cognitive decline in adulthood. Interestingly, this is often comorbid with metabolic disorders, such as obesity. However, it is unclear whether ES leads to lasting metabolic changes and to what extent this is

Exposure to chronic early-life stress lastingly alters the adipose tissue, the leptin system and changes the vulnerability to western-style diet later in life in mice.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Yam, K.Y.; Naninck, E.F.G.; Abbink, M.R.; la Fleur, S.E.; Schipper, L.; van den Beukel, J.C.; Grefhorst, A.; Oosting, A.; van der Beek, E.M.; Lucassen, P.J.; Korosi, A.

Early-life stress (ES) increases the vulnerability to develop psychopathologies and cognitive decline in adulthood. Interestingly, this is often comorbid with metabolic disorders, such as obesity. However, it is unclear whether ES leads to lasting metabolic changes and to what extent this is

Long lasting protein synthesis- and activity-dependent spine shrinkage and elimination after synaptic depression.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yazmín Ramiro-Cortés

Full Text Available Neuronal circuits modify their response to synaptic inputs in an experience-dependent fashion. Increases in synaptic weights are accompanied by structural modifications, and activity dependent, long lasting growth of dendritic spines requires new protein synthesis. When multiple spines are potentiated within a dendritic domain, they show dynamic structural plasticity changes, indicating that spines can undergo bidirectional physical modifications. However, it is unclear whether protein synthesis dependent synaptic depression leads to long lasting structural changes. Here, we investigate the structural correlates of protein synthesis dependent long-term depression (LTD mediated by metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs through two-photon imaging of dendritic spines on hippocampal pyramidal neurons. We find that induction of mGluR-LTD leads to robust and long lasting spine shrinkage and elimination that lasts for up to 24 hours. These effects depend on signaling through group I mGluRs, require protein synthesis, and activity. These data reveal a mechanism for long lasting remodeling of synaptic inputs, and offer potential insights into mental retardation.

Salinity change in the Baltic Sea during the last 8,500 years: evidence, causes and models

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Westman, Per; Wastegaard, Stefan; Schoning, Kristian [Stockholm Univ. (Sweden). Dept. of Quaternary Research; Gustafsson, Bo [Oceanus Havsundersoekningar, Goeteborg (Sweden); Omstedt, Anders [SMHI, Norrkoeping (Sweden)

1999-12-01

The salinity influences which ecosystems will dominate in the coastal area and what property radionuclides have. Salinity is also an important boundary condition for the transport models in the geosphere. Knowledge about the past salinity is important background to evaluate the hydrology and geochemistry in the rock and further to assess the radiological consequences of possible releases from a radioactive repository. This report concerns the salinity in the Baltic Sea during the last 8500 calendar years BP. Shore-level data for the inlet areas and proxy (indirect) data for the palaeo-salinity and the climate are reviewed. These data is further used in a steady-state model for the salt exchange between the Baltic Sea and Kattegat. This will then be extended to a model of the future development of the salinity in the Baltic Sea. We conclude that the changes in the inlet cross-section areas together with a 15% to 60% lower net freshwater input compared to the present input can explain the higher salinity in the Baltic Sea during earlier times.

Salinity change in the Baltic Sea during the last 8,500 years: evidence, causes and models

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Westman, Per; Wastegaard, Stefan; Schoning, Kristian; Omstedt, Anders

1999-12-01

The salinity influences which ecosystems will dominate in the coastal area and what property radionuclides have. Salinity is also an important boundary condition for the transport models in the geosphere. Knowledge about the past salinity is important background to evaluate the hydrology and geochemistry in the rock and further to assess the radiological consequences of possible releases from a radioactive repository. This report concerns the salinity in the Baltic Sea during the last 8500 calendar years BP. Shore-level data for the inlet areas and proxy (indirect) data for the palaeo-salinity and the climate are reviewed. These data is further used in a steady-state model for the salt exchange between the Baltic Sea and Kattegat. This will then be extended to a model of the future development of the salinity in the Baltic Sea. We conclude that the changes in the inlet cross-section areas together with a 15% to 60% lower net freshwater input compared to the present input can explain the higher salinity in the Baltic Sea during earlier times

Creating high-resolution time series land-cover classifications in rapidly changing forested areas with BULC-U in Google Earth Engine

Science.gov (United States)

Cardille, J. A.; Lee, J.

2017-12-01

With the opening of the Landsat archive, there is a dramatically increased potential for creating high-quality time series of land use/land-cover (LULC) classifications derived from remote sensing. Although LULC time series are appealing, their creation is typically challenging in two fundamental ways. First, there is a need to create maximally correct LULC maps for consideration at each time step; and second, there is a need to have the elements of the time series be consistent with each other, without pixels that flip improbably between covers due only to unavoidable, stray classification errors. We have developed the Bayesian Updating of Land Cover - Unsupervised (BULC-U) algorithm to address these challenges simultaneously, and introduce and apply it here for two related but distinct purposes. First, with minimal human intervention, we produced an internally consistent, high-accuracy LULC time series in rapidly changing Mato Grosso, Brazil for a time interval (1986-2000) in which cropland area more than doubled. The spatial and temporal resolution of the 59 LULC snapshots allows users to witness the establishment of towns and farms at the expense of forest. The new time series could be used by policy-makers and analysts to unravel important considerations for conservation and management, including the timing and location of past development, the rate and nature of changes in forest connectivity, the connection with road infrastructure, and more. The second application of BULC-U is to sharpen the well-known GlobCover 2009 classification from 300m to 30m, while improving accuracy measures for every class. The greatly improved resolution and accuracy permits a better representation of the true LULC proportions, the use of this map in models, and quantification of the potential impacts of changes. Given that there may easily be thousands and potentially millions of images available to harvest for an LULC time series, it is imperative to build useful algorithms

Food transitions in last 50 years and related environmental implications

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, P.; Reusser, D. E.; Kropp, J. P.

2012-04-01

Food production is an important driver for global change processes such as land use change and green-house-gas emissions. We analyzed a global, long term data set on food consumption per country to identify typical patterns of diets for the last 50 years. From changes in these patterns, we derived food transitions on a global scale. Subsequently we assessed the environmental consequences from green-house-gas (GHG) emission and anthropogenic inputs. More specifically, we applied Self Organizing Maps (SOM) to identify the dietary patterns based on supply of 12 food groups from FAOSTAT dataset for a period 1961-2007. Using the data on energy output/input ratio for crop production and agricultural emission, we estimated fossil energy and GHG emission associated with the diets. We found 16 typical consumption patterns consisting of high, moderate, low and lowest calorie supply with varied food compositions. The high calorie diets are associated with a higher supply of cereals, animal-products, vegetable-oils and sugar-sweeteners featuring a total supply greater than 2800 kcal/cap/day. During the last 50 years, we observed food transitions from lower calories diets to higher calories diets. On the one hand, food transition towards affluent diet, sometime with shortcuts, occurred in developing countries. On the other hand, developed countries increased consumption of fruits and vegetables. Some of the developing countries are also stagnated in the low consumption level during the last 50 years. The high calorie diets also embed higher fossil energy (1800-3500 kcal/cap/day) and are associated with higher GHG emissions (3.7-6.1 kg CO2 eq/cap/day). However, their non-CO2 GHG emission intensities per kilo calorie of food are relatively low. Changes in dietary patterns are a part of the global change processes. Identification of past transitions is way to predict possible future transitions. This in turn supports policy processes and negotiations in the fields of climate

A continuous high-resolution record of western South Island environmental change over the last 31,000 years from stable isotope analyses of two north-west Nelson speleothems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hellstrom, J.; McCulloch, M.; Stone, J.

1997-01-01

Core samples were taken through large sheets of calcite flowstone growing in two cave systems, Nettlebed, and Exhaleair, in north-west Nelson, New Zealand. The sampled flowstones are at elevations of 400 m asl and 600 m asl, and are both located 200m below the surface. Ten high-precision U-series dates, measured by thermal ionisation mass spectroemtry, indicate the Nettlebed flowstone grew continuously over the last 31 ka. The Exhaleair flowstone grew continuously over the last 16 ka, following a 50 ka hiatus in deposition. The speleothems from both caves show similar records of oxygen isotope variation over the last 16 ka. The carbon isotope record from Nettlebed shows considerable variation, of almost 10 per thousand from the last glacial maximum to the early Holocene. It is anticipated that these well-dated speleothem records will enable more accurate constraints to be placed on the timing of glacial advances and vegetation changes in the western South Island than are possible using the available radiocarbon ages alone. (author)

The changing roles of p&t committees: a look back at the last decade and a look forward to 2020.

Science.gov (United States)

Vogenberg, F Randy; Gomes, Judith

2014-11-01

Market and regulatory changes in the last 10 years, as well as the Affordable Care Act, have resulted in significant modifications to health care delivery models. Traditionally, P&T committees limited the impact of their decisions to the populations associated with their hospital or health plan; however, as hospitals have begun to transform into larger health systems and even integrated payer organizations, P&T committees must consider both inpatient and outpatient needs of patients in multiple hospitals and ambulatory care settings. The function of the P&T committee has not necessarily changed, but its scope has expanded. Considerations of quality, cost (reimbursement), and access (accreditation) affecting P&T committees over the past decade will become even more important as new drugs and biotech therapies enter the market and the shortage of primary care physicians intensifies. Pharmacists, physical therapists, nurses, and physicians are assuming new leadership responsibilities, making them partners with P&T committees in improving clinical care and cost performance for health systems.

Evaluating Admission Practices as Potential Barriers to Creating Equitable Access to Undergraduate Engineering Education

Science.gov (United States)

Myers, Beth Ann

2016-01-01

To create a more competitive and creative engineering workforce, breakthroughs in how we attract and educate more diverse engineers are mandated. Despite a programmatic focus on increasing the representation of women and minorities in engineering during the last few decades, no single solution has been identified and is probably not realistic. But…

Indications of pediatric tracheostomy over the last 30 years: Has anything changed?

Science.gov (United States)

Gergin, Ozgul; Adil, Eelam A; Kawai, Kosuke; Watters, Karen; Moritz, Ethan; Rahbar, Reza

2016-08-01

Recent reports have shown that the indications for pediatric tracheostomy have evolved over time. To review the indications for pediatric tracheostomy over the last 30 years. Retrospective chart review. Tertiary referral children's hospital. Patients who underwent tracheostomy. Surgical tracheostomy placement. Medical records for patients who underwent surgical tracheostomy over the 30-year study period (1984-2014) were reviewed. Patient characteristics including age, gender, birth-weight, gestational age and death were collected and compared with the primary indication for tracheostomy using bivariable analysis. Five hundred and one patients met inclusion criteria. The most common primary indications for tracheostomy were cardiopulmonary disease (34%) and neurological impairment (32%), followed by airway obstruction (19%), craniofacial (11%), and traumatic injury (4%). Over the last five years (2010-14) cardiopulmonary disease became the most common indication for tracheostomy. and The indications for pediatric tracheostomy have evolved over the past 30 years. Infectious causes of airway obstruction and tracheostomy have almost disappeared. Tracheostomy is now most commonly performed in very premature patients with cardiopulmonary or neurological impairment who require prolonged ventilator support. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Changes in structure and function of the family of the adolescent in the last decade (1997-2007)].

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez Milena, Alejandro; Martínez Fernández, María Luz; Mesa Gallardo, Inmaculada; Pérez Milena, Rafael; Leal Helmling, Francisco Javier; Jiménez Pulido, Idoia

2009-09-01

To find out the structure and functioning of the family of the adolescent and its changes in the last decade. Cross-sectional descriptive study using questionnaires. Pupils in obligatory secondary education and high-school in one rural (Granada) and one urban (Jaén) area. Self-administered questionnaire (years 1997-2001-2004-2007) in which details of age, sex, family structure and family-Apgar test were recorded. A total of 1356 adolescents participated, 1271 questionnaires valid (259, 386, 246 and 380 respectively per year). Ages 12-18 years, equality of sexes. The nuclear family structure was predominant (78-84%), followed by single parent family in (7-11%), extended (6-7%) and reconstituted (2%). The family function was mainly normal (70-76%), with 30% dysfunction (slight dysfunction 18-21% and severe dysfunction 5-10%). The structure and family function does not vary by sex or the year of study, it is influenced by age: adolescents 16 years with a higher percentage of family dysfunction in 1997/2001 than the rest of ages, declining in the years 2004/2007 (P family in 1997 had a greater number of adolescents with normal family function (P family structures. The perception of family function in adolescents has changed and now does not depend on sex, age and structure. Family care during adolescence should focus on promoting positive family dynamics, regardless of family structure.

CREATE-IP and CREATE-V: Data and Services Update

Science.gov (United States)

Carriere, L.; Potter, G. L.; Hertz, J.; Peters, J.; Maxwell, T. P.; Strong, S.; Shute, J.; Shen, Y.; Duffy, D.

2017-12-01

The NASA Center for Climate Simulation (NCCS) at the Goddard Space Flight Center and the Earth System Grid Federation (ESGF) are working together to build a uniform environment for the comparative study and use of a group of reanalysis datasets of particular importance to the research community. This effort is called the Collaborative REAnalysis Technical Environment (CREATE) and it contains two components: the CREATE-Intercomparison Project (CREATE-IP) and CREATE-V. This year's efforts included generating and publishing an atmospheric reanalysis ensemble mean and spread and improving the analytics available through CREATE-V. Related activities included adding access to subsets of the reanalysis data through ArcGIS and expanding the visualization tool to GMAO forecast data. This poster will present the access mechanisms to this data and use cases including example Jupyter Notebook code. The reanalysis ensemble was generated using two methods, first using standard Python tools for regridding, extracting levels and creating the ensemble mean and spread on a virtual server in the NCCS environment. The second was using a new analytics software suite, the Earth Data Analytics Services (EDAS), coupled with a high-performance Data Analytics and Storage System (DASS) developed at the NCCS. Results were compared to validate the EDAS methodologies, and the results, including time to process, will be presented. The ensemble includes selected 6 hourly and monthly variables, regridded to 1.25 degrees, with 24 common levels used for the 3D variables. Use cases for the new data and services will be presented, including the use of EDAS for the backend analytics on CREATE-V, the use of the GMAO forecast aerosol and cloud data in CREATE-V, and the ability to connect CREATE-V data to NCCS ArcGIS services.

[Multiple pregnancies prevalence: its raise on last decade].

Science.gov (United States)

Herrera, Ricardo Jorge Hernández; Torres, Mauro Ochoa; Santos, Roberto Flores; Flores, Raúl Cortés; Sánchez, Gerardo Forsbasch

2008-09-01

Multiple pregnancies prevalence has been increasing in last decade, which have also increased the requirements of neonatal intensive care units and all problems related to premature neonate or low birth weight. Prevalence rate of twin (18 to 26 in 1,000 births), and triple pregnancies (0.37 to 1.74 in 1,000 births) have raised too, perhaps due to assisted reproductive techniques. To know incidence of multiple pregnancies at Unidad Medica de Alta Especialidad no. 23, from Institute Mexicano del Seguro Social. Retrospective and descriptive study. We review the files of multiple pregnancies from 1972 to 2006 to estimate its rate and change every five and ten years. We registered 9,055 twin pregnancies during the period, with a rate of 7.1 to 14.4 in 1,000 (63% of increase in the last decade [12.6 in 1,000 births] compared with the previous decade [7.7 in 1,000 births]; p < 0.005). Pregnancies with three or more fetuses were 202, with 191 triplets, 13 with four, three with five, and one with six products (646 newborns). Incidence of multiple pregnancies with four or more products has also increased in last decade: 230 times higher than two decades before. Multiple pregnancies rate has increased in last decade: 63% in twin pregnancies, 217% in triplets, and 230 times more than expected in four or more products pregnancies.

Creating long-term relations in travel agencies within partnership marketing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sowier-Kasprzyk Izabella

2015-10-01

Full Text Available In the following paper the opportunities of applying the partnership marketing in the tourism have been shown. The advantages of creating, enriching and maintaining long-term and individualised relations have been presented. The importance of the mutual relations in the partnership marketing concept in the tourism has been shown. Moreover the satisfaction and trust among customers and organisers have been pointed out. The last important matter which has been presented was the tightening relations by the use of the loyalty programmes in tourism.

Impact of postglacial warming on borehole reconstructions of last millennium temperatures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Rath

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The investigation of observed borehole temperatures has proved to be a valuable tool for the reconstruction of ground surface temperature histories. However, there are still many open questions concerning the significance and accuracy of the reconstructions from these data. In particular, the temperature signal of the warming after the Last Glacial Maximum is still present in borehole temperature profiles. It is shown here that this signal also influences the relatively shallow boreholes used in current paleoclimate inversions to estimate temperature changes in the last centuries by producing errors in the determination of the steady state geothermal gradient. However, the impact on estimates of past temperature changes is weaker. For deeper boreholes, the curvature of the long-term signal is significant. A correction based on simple assumptions about glacial–interglacial temperature changes shows promising results, improving the extraction of millennial scale signals. The same procedure may help when comparing observed borehole temperature profiles with the results from numerical climate models.

The formation of soap bubbles created by blowing on soap films

Science.gov (United States)

Salkin, Louis; Schmit, Alexandre; Panizza, Pascal; Courbin, Laurent

2015-11-01

Using either circular bubble wands or long-lasting vertically falling soap films having an adjustable steady state thickness, we study the formation of soap bubbles created when air is blown through a nozzle onto a soap film. We vary nozzle radius, film size, space between the film and nozzle, and gas density, and we measure the gas velocity threshold above which bubbles are generated. The response is sensitive to confinement, that is, the ratio between film and jet sizes, and dissipation in the turbulent gas jet which is a function of the distance from the nozzle to the film. We observe four different regimes that we rationalize by comparing the dynamic pressure of a jet on the film and the Laplace pressure needed to create the curved surface of a bubble.

Creating dune landscapes for nature and housing - how to assess the designs?

Science.gov (United States)

van den Ancker, J.; Jungerius, P. D.; Hartman, J.

2012-04-01

Over the last decades landscape and nature organisations in The Netherlands initiated discussions about safeguarding characteristic historical landscapes, as well as improving nature and landscape quality. In these discussions they were supported by Dutch government agencies and newspapers. As a consequence, architects, landscape architects and building firms in the Netherlands try to upgrade the quality of houses and build-up areas by creating special landscape settings. Dunes are one of the landscapes that appeal to the designers, and several projects make use of dunes to create a quality living environment. Also nature manager construct dunes in what is called 'new nature'. This contribution evaluates several projects creating dune landscapes. Criteria for the evaluation are: - the subsequent geomorphology, - the materials used for construction, - the resulting internal structure, - the soil profile, - the relationship with the vegetation, - the historical integrity of the location. These examples indicate that engaging earth-scientific knowhow would substantially improve the authenticity of the designs.

Creating a public space and dialogue on sexuality and rights: a case study from Bangladesh.

Science.gov (United States)

Rashid, Sabina Faiz; Standing, Hilary; Mohiuddin, Mahrukh; Ahmed, Farah Mahjabeen

2011-06-16

This article describes and analyses a research based engagement by a university school of public health in Bangladesh aimed at raising public debate on sexuality and rights and making issues such as discrimination more visible to policy makers and other key stakeholders in a challenging context. The impetus for this work came from participation in an international research programme with a particular interest in bridging international and local understandings of sexual and reproductive rights. The research team worked to create a platform to broaden discussions on sexuality and rights by building on a number of research activities on rural and urban men's and women's sexual health concerns, and on changing concepts of sexuality and understandings of sexual rights among specific population groups in Dhaka city, including sexual minorities. Linked to this on-going process of improving the evidence base, there has been a series of learning and capacity building activities over the last four years consisting of training workshops, meetings, conferences and dialogues. These brought together different configurations of stakeholders - members of sexual minorities, academics, service providers, advocacy organisations, media and policy makers. This process contributed to developing more effective advocacy strategies through challenging representations of sexuality and rights in the public domain. Gradually, these efforts brought visibility to hidden or stigmatised sexuality and rights issues through interim outcomes that have created important steps towards changing attitudes and policies. These included creating safe spaces for sexual minorities to meet and strategise, development of learning materials for university students and engagement with legal rights groups on sexual rights. Through this process, it was found to be possible to create a public space and dialogue on sexuality and rights in a conservative and challenging environment like Bangladesh by bringing

Changes in North Atlantic deep-sea temperature during climatic fluctuations of the last 25,000 years based on ostracode Mg/Ca ratios

Science.gov (United States)

Dwyer, Gary S.; Cronin, Thomas M.; Baker, Paul A.; Rodriguez-Lazaro, Julio

2000-01-01

We reconstructed three time series of last glacial-to-present deep-sea temperature from deep and intermediate water sediment cores from the western North Atlantic using Mg/Ca ratios of benthic ostracode shells. Although the Mg/Ca data show considerable variability (“scatter”) that is common to single-shell chemical analyses, comparisons between cores, between core top shells and modern bottom water temperatures (BWT), and comparison to other paleo-BWT proxies, among other factors, suggest that multiple-shell average Mg/Ca ratios provide reliable estimates of BWT history at these sites. The BWT records show not only glacial-to-interglacial variations but also indicate BWT changes during the deglacial and within the Holocene interglacial stage. At the deeper sites (4500- and 3400-m water depth), BWT decreased during the last glacial maximum (LGM), the late Holocene, and possibly during the Younger Dryas. Maximum deep-sea warming occurred during the latest deglacial and early Holocene, when BWT exceeded modern values by as much as 2.5°C. This warming was apparently most intense around 3000 m, the depth of the modern-day core of North Atlantic deep water (NADW). The BWT variations at the deeper water sites are consistent with changes in thermohaline circulation: warmer BWT signifies enhanced NADW influence relative to Antarctic bottom water (AABW). Thus maximum NADW production and associated heat flux likely occurred during the early Holocene and decreased abruptly around 6500 years B.P., a finding that is largely consistent with paleonutrient studies in the deep North Atlantic. BWT changes in intermediate waters (1000-m water depth) of the subtropical gyre roughly parallel the deep BWT variations including dramatic mid-Holocene cooling of around 4°C. Joint consideration of the Mg/Ca-based BWT estimates and benthic oxygen isotopes suggests that the cooling was accompanied by a decrease in salinity at this site. Subsequently, intermediate waters warmed to modern

Organization development in a psychiatric hospital: creating desirable changes.

Science.gov (United States)

Cope, D; Cox, S

1980-07-01

The organization of the way in which hospitals and hospital staff provide a service to patients is obviously of critical importance to their effectiveness, yet it is clear that rigidities and inappropriate and ineffective procedures frequently intrude. It is commonly held that changing hospitals as organizations is difficult to acomplish, and indeed, reported attempts at such change reflect this. The project reported here was a successful attempt at changing a number of different aspects of the culture of a psychiatric hospital which included managerial practices and structure, aspects of patient care, multidisciplinary team work, and staff development. The present paper concentrates on some specific outcomes at ward level. The general pattern for bringing about change involves the collection of (valid) data and then feeding this back to the staff involved so that they can take appropriate action. The data discussed here concerned ward nursing staff's attitude to the 'climate' of the hospital, their job satisfaction and aspects of patient care. This was fed back to nursing, managerial and medical staff, and action plans were agreed to overcome the difficulties highlighted. Outcomes have included the production of ward and unit objectives and changes in treatment programmes and aspects of patient care on the wards.

License - CREATE portal | LSDB Archive [Life Science Database Archive metadata

Lifescience Database Archive (English)

Full Text Available List Contact us CREATE portal License License to Use This Database Last updated : 2016/03/16 You may use this database... the license terms regarding the use of this database and the requirements you must follow in using this database.... The license for this database is specified in the Creative Commons Attribu...tion-Share Alike 4.0 International . If you use data from this database, please be sure attribute this database...hare Alike 4.0 International is found here . With regard to this database, you are licensed to: freely acces

10 ways to create shareholder value.

Science.gov (United States)

Rappaport, Alfred

2006-09-01

Executives have developed tunnel vision in their pursuit of shareholder value, focusing on short-term performance at the expense of investing in long-term growth. It's time to broaden that perspective and begin shaping business strategies in light of the competitive landscape, not the shareholder list. In this article, Alfred Rappaport offers ten basic principles to help executives create lasting shareholder value. For starters, companies should not manage earnings or provide earnings guidance; those that fail to embrace this first principle of shareholder value will almost certainly be unable to follow the rest. Additionally, leaders should make strategic decisions and acquisitions and carry assets that maximize expected value, even if near-term earnings are negatively affected as a result. During times when there are no credible value-creating opportunities to invest in the business, companies should avoid using excess cash to make investments that look good on the surface but might end up destroying value, such as ill-advised, overpriced acquisitions. It would be better to return the cash to shareholders in the form of dividends and buybacks. Rappaport also offers guidelines for establishing effective pay incentives at every level of management; emphasizes that senior executives need to lay their wealth on the line just as shareholders do; and urges companies to embrace full disclosure, an antidote to short-term earnings obsession that serves to lessen investor uncertainty, which could reduce the cost of capital and increase the share price. The author notes that a few types of companies--high-tech start-ups, for example, and severely capital-constrained organizations--cannot afford to ignore market pressures for short-term performance. Most companies with a sound, well-executed business model, however, could better realize their potential for creating shareholder value by adopting the ten principles.

"Beautiful You": Creating Contexts for Students to Become Agents of Social Change

Science.gov (United States)

Fisette, Jennifer L.; Walton, Theresa A.

2015-01-01

The authors argue for creating a context within education where teachers can utilize critical pedagogical practices to explicate the hidden curriculum, explore students' sense of self and embodied identities, and engage students to empower themselves to speak up and take action about issues of embodiment and their understanding of social…

Quantifying Regional Vegetation Changes in China During Three Contrasting Warming Intervals since the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Q.; Wu, H.; Yu, Y.; Sun, A.; Luo, Y.

2017-12-01

Reconstructing patterns of past vegetation change on a large-scale facilitates a better understanding of the interactions and feedbacks between climate change and the terrestrial biosphere. In addition, reducing the uncertainty in predictions of vegetation change under global warming highlights the importance of reconstructing vegetation patterns during past warming intervals. Here, we present a quantitative regional vegetation reconstruction for China during three intervals: Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, 18±2 14C kyr B.P.), early Holocene (8.5±0.5 14C kyr B.P.), and mid-Holocene (6±0.5 14C kyr B.P.). The biomization method, based on 249 pollen records, was used for the reconstructions. The results demonstrate that during the LGM, steppe and desert expanded eastwards and southwards, reaching the present-day temperate deciduous forest (TEDE) zone, and dominated northern China. In contrast, the forest in Eastern China underwent a substantial southwards retreat and the percentage of forest-type sites was at a minimum. In addition, the warm mixed forest (WAMF) and TEDE shifted southwards of 10° N relative to the present-day, and tropical seasonal rain forest (TSFO) was almost absent. At the same time, the forest-steppe boundary shifted southwards to near the middle and lower reaches of Yangtze River. For the early Holocene and mid-Holocene, the TSFO, WAMF, and TEDE shifted northwards by 2-5° relative to today, and the percentage of forest sites increased and reached a maximum in the mid-Holocene. The slight expansion of forest from the early Holocene to the mid-Holocene caused the forest-steppe boundary to shift northwestwards to near the present-day 300 mm isohyet by the mid-Holocene. Our results also indicate that climatic warming since the LGM, which strengthened the East Asian summer monsoon, favored the development of forest in China. This is potentially an important finding for evaluating the possible response of forest in China to future global warming.

Influence of dynamic vegetation on climate change and terrestrial carbon storage in the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

O'ishi, R.; Abe-Ouchi, A.

2013-07-01

When the climate is reconstructed from paleoevidence, it shows that the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ca. 21 000 yr ago) is cold and dry compared to the present-day. Reconstruction also shows that compared to today, the vegetation of the LGM is less active and the distribution of vegetation was drastically different, due to cold temperature, dryness, and a lower level of atmospheric CO2 concentration (185 ppm compared to a preindustrial level of 285 ppm). In the present paper, we investigate the influence of vegetation change on the climate of the LGM by using a coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation general circulation model (AOVGCM, the MIROC-LPJ). The MIROC-LPJ is different from earlier studies in the introduction of a bias correction method in individual running GCM experiments. We examined four GCM experiments (LGM and preindustrial, with and without vegetation feedback) and quantified the strength of the vegetation feedback during the LGM. The result shows that global-averaged cooling during the LGM is amplified by +13.5 % due to the introduction of vegetation feedback. This is mainly caused by the increase of land surface albedo due to the expansion of tundra in northern high latitudes and the desertification in northern middle latitudes around 30° N to 60° N. We also investigated how this change in climate affected the total terrestrial carbon storage by using offline Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM). Our result shows that the total terrestrial carbon storage was reduced by 597 PgC during the LGM, which corresponds to the emission of 282 ppm atmospheric CO2. In the LGM experiments, the global carbon distribution is generally the same whether the vegetation feedback to the atmosphere is included or not. However, the inclusion of vegetation feedback causes substantial terrestrial carbon storage change, especially in explaining the lowering of atmospheric CO2 during the LGM.

Influence of dynamic vegetation on climate change and terrestrial carbon storage in the Last Glacial Maximum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. O'ishi

2013-07-01

Full Text Available When the climate is reconstructed from paleoevidence, it shows that the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ca. 21 000 yr ago is cold and dry compared to the present-day. Reconstruction also shows that compared to today, the vegetation of the LGM is less active and the distribution of vegetation was drastically different, due to cold temperature, dryness, and a lower level of atmospheric CO2 concentration (185 ppm compared to a preindustrial level of 285 ppm. In the present paper, we investigate the influence of vegetation change on the climate of the LGM by using a coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation general circulation model (AOVGCM, the MIROC-LPJ. The MIROC-LPJ is different from earlier studies in the introduction of a bias correction method in individual running GCM experiments. We examined four GCM experiments (LGM and preindustrial, with and without vegetation feedback and quantified the strength of the vegetation feedback during the LGM. The result shows that global-averaged cooling during the LGM is amplified by +13.5 % due to the introduction of vegetation feedback. This is mainly caused by the increase of land surface albedo due to the expansion of tundra in northern high latitudes and the desertification in northern middle latitudes around 30° N to 60° N. We also investigated how this change in climate affected the total terrestrial carbon storage by using offline Lund-Potsdam-Jena dynamic global vegetation model (LPJ-DGVM. Our result shows that the total terrestrial carbon storage was reduced by 597 PgC during the LGM, which corresponds to the emission of 282 ppm atmospheric CO2. In the LGM experiments, the global carbon distribution is generally the same whether the vegetation feedback to the atmosphere is included or not. However, the inclusion of vegetation feedback causes substantial terrestrial carbon storage change, especially in explaining the lowering of atmospheric CO2 during the LGM.

Creating standards: Creating illusions?

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Linneberg, Mai Skjøtt

written standards may open up for the creation of illusions. These are created when written standards' content is not in accordance with the perception standard adopters and standard users have of the specific practice phenomenon's content. This general theoretical argument is exemplified by the specific...

Narrating Corporate Values and Co-Creating Organizational Change

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ravazzani, Silvia; Mormino, Sara

identity and shared by employees by facilitating dialogical and sensemaking processes. After a review of relevant literature on corporate identity, organizational identity and internal social media, this paper presents main findings from a large Italian company that has used internal social media to engage......When management introduces a change in corporate identity and values, companies risk experiencing a disconnection from the actual organizational identity and narratives felt and shared among employees. The main challenge therefore is making sure that corporate identity is rooted in organizational...... employees in making sense of the new corporate values in an open and dialogical manner. Activities encompassed digital storytelling on corporate values and organizational change projects aimed at translating these values into concrete behaviours and organizational processes. Critical areas in the use...

Soft Systems Methodology Embedded in Organizational Knowledge-Creating Process

OpenAIRE

Yoshida, Taketoshi

2005-01-01

We clarify the role of tacit knowing in the soft systems methodology. For the purpose we investigate the basic structure of its seven-stage model, while embedding the soft systems methodology in organizational knowledge-creating process. This leads to the introduction of concept creation to the methodology. This changes the basic shape of the soft systems methodology from learning cycle to organizational knowledge-creating spiral where concept creation is the key point.

Increasing trends in kidney cancer over the last 2 decades in Saudi Arabia.

Science.gov (United States)

Alkhateeb, Sultan S; Alkhateeb, Jawaher M; Alrashidi, Eman A

2015-06-01

To examine the trends of kidney cancer over the last 2 decades in a subset of a Saudi Arabian population.   We conducted a retrospective study in a tertiary care center including all adult patients with primary kidney cancer who presented and were managed between 1990 and 2010. The time period was split into 4 quartiles, and variables tested and compared using chi-square, T-test, and Kaplan-Meier curves for survival.   The total was 215 patients with a mean age of 57.8 years. There was an increase in the number of kidney cancer cases over the last 2 decades. There was no significant difference in the mode of presentation or stage distribution between quartiles. A significant change was observed in the management towards minimally invasive and nephron-sparing surgeries (p less than 0.001). There was no change in recurrence-free and disease-specific survival over the last 20 years.   There have been an increasing number of kidney cancer patients over the last 2 decades with no observed migration towards more incidental and low stage tumors as compared with developed countries.

Transformational change: creating a safe operating space for humanity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Clive A. McAlpine

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Many ecologists and environmental scientists witnessing the scale of current environmental change are becoming increasingly alarmed about how humanity is pushing the boundaries of the Earth's systems beyond sustainable levels. The world urgently needs global society to redirect itself toward a more sustainable future: one that moves intergenerational equity and environmental sustainability to the top of the political agenda, and to the core of personal and societal belief systems. Scientific and technological innovations are not enough: the global community, individuals, civil society, corporations, and governments, need to adjust their values and beliefs to one in which sustainability becomes the new global paradigm society. We argue that the solution requires transformational change, driven by a realignment of societal values, where individuals act ethically as an integral part of an interconnected society and biosphere. Transition management provides a framework for achieving transformational change, by giving special attention to reflective learning, interaction, integration, and experimentation at the level of society, thereby identifying the system conditions and type of changes necessary for enabling sustainable transformation.

Interdecadal changes in intensity of the oxygen minimum zone off Concepción, Chile (~ 36° S), over the last century

Science.gov (United States)

Srain, B.; Pantoja, S.; Sepúlveda, J.; Lange, C. B.; Muñoz, P.; Summons, R. E.; McKay, J.; Salamanca, M.

2015-10-01

We reconstructed oxygenation changes in the upwelling ecosystem off Concepción (36° S), Chile, using inorganic and organic proxies in a sediment core covering the last ca. 110 years of sedimentation in this area. Authigenic enrichments of Mo, U and Cd were observed between ca. 1935 and 1971 CE, implying a prolonged period with predominantly more reduced conditions in bottom waters and surface sediments. Significant positive correlations between redox-sensitive metals, algal sterols, biomarkers of micro-aerophilic and anaerobic microorganisms, and archaeal glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers point to a tight coupling among bottom water O2 depletion and increased primary and export production. The time interval with low O2 of ca. 35 years seems to follow low-frequency interdecadal variation of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, and it may have resulted in O2 depletion over the entire continental shelf off Concepción. Taking this together with the concurrent increase in sedimentary molecular indicators of micro-aerophilic and anaerobic microbes, we can suggest that changes in oxygenation of the water column are reflected by changes in microbial community. This study can inform our understanding of ecological consequences to projected trends in ocean deoxygenation.

Loess deposits in Beijing and their paleoclimatic implications during the last interglacial-glacial cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Shengchen; Sun, Jimin; Gong, Zhijun

2017-12-01

Loess-paleosol sequences are important terrestrial paleoclimatic archives in the semi-arid region of north-central China. Compared with the numerous studies on the loess of the Chinese Loess Plateau, the eolian deposits, near Beijing, have not been well studied. A new loess section in the northeast suburb of Beijing provides an opportunity for reconstructing paleoenvironmental changes in this region. An optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) chronology yields ages of 145.1 to 20.5 ka, demonstrating that the loess deposits accumulated during the last interglacial-glacial cycle. High-resolution climatic proxies, including color-index, particle size and magnetic parameters, reveal orbital-scale climatic cycles, corresponding to marine oxygen isotope stages (MIS) 6 to MIS 2. In contrast to the loess deposits of the central Loess Plateau, loess near Beijing is a mixture of distal dust materials from gobi and sand deserts in the arid part of northwestern China and proximal, local alluvial sediments. Climatic change in Beijing during the last interglacial-glacial cycle was controlled primarily by the changing strength of the East Asian monsoon. Paleosols developed during the last interglacial complex (between 144.0 and 73.0 ka) and the interstadial of the last glaciation (between 44.6 and 36.2 ka), being associated with an enhanced summer monsoon in response to increased low-latitude insolation and a weakened Siberia High. Loess accumulation occurred during cold-dry stages of the last glaciation, in response to the intensified winter monsoon driven by the strengthened Siberia High and its longer residence time.

Coevolution of patients and hospitals: how changing epidemiology and technological advances create challenges and drive organizational innovation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lega, Federico; Calciolari, Stefano

2012-01-01

Over the last 20 years, hospitals have revised their organizational structures in response to new environmental pressures. Today, demographic and epidemiologic trends and recent technological advances call for new strategies to cope with ultra-elderly frail patients characterized by chronic conditions, high-severity health problems, and complex social situations. The main areas of change surround new ways of managing emerging clusters of patients whose needs are not efficiently or effectively met within traditional hospital organizations. Following the practitioner and academic literature, we first identify the most relevant clusters of new kinds of patients who represent an increasingly larger share of the hospital population in developed countries. Second, we propose a framework that synthesizes the major organizational innovations adopted by successful organizations around the world. We conclude by substantiating the trends of and the reasoning behind the prospective pattern of hospital organizational development.

Statistical significant changes in ground thermal conditions of alpine Austria during the last decade

Science.gov (United States)

Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Andreas

2016-04-01

Longer data series (e.g. >10 a) of ground temperatures in alpine regions are helpful to improve the understanding regarding the effects of present climate change on distribution and thermal characteristics of seasonal frost- and permafrost-affected areas. Beginning in 2004 - and more intensively since 2006 - a permafrost and seasonal frost monitoring network was established in Central and Eastern Austria by the University of Graz. This network consists of c.60 ground temperature (surface and near-surface) monitoring sites which are located at 1922-3002 m a.s.l., at latitude 46°55'-47°22'N and at longitude 12°44'-14°41'E. These data allow conclusions about general ground thermal conditions, potential permafrost occurrence, trend during the observation period, and regional pattern of changes. Calculations and analyses of several different temperature-related parameters were accomplished. At an annual scale a region-wide statistical significant warming during the observation period was revealed by e.g. an increase in mean annual temperature values (mean, maximum) or the significant lowering of the surface frost number (F+). At a seasonal scale no significant trend of any temperature-related parameter was in most cases revealed for spring (MAM) and autumn (SON). Winter (DJF) shows only a weak warming. In contrast, the summer (JJA) season reveals in general a significant warming as confirmed by several different temperature-related parameters such as e.g. mean seasonal temperature, number of thawing degree days, number of freezing degree days, or days without night frost. On a monthly basis August shows the statistically most robust and strongest warming of all months, although regional differences occur. Despite the fact that the general ground temperature warming during the last decade is confirmed by the field data in the study region, complications in trend analyses arise by temperature anomalies (e.g. warm winter 2006/07) or substantial variations in the winter

Vertical density gradient in the eastern North Atlantic during the last 30,000 years

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rogerson, M.; Ramirez, J. [University of Hull, Geography Department, Hull (United Kingdom); Bigg, G.R. [University of Sheffield, Department of Geography, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Rohling, E.J. [University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, School of Ocean and Earth Science, Southampton (United Kingdom)

2012-08-15

Past changes in the density and momentum structure of oceanic circulation are an important aspect of changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and consequently climate. However, very little is known about past changes in the vertical density structure of the ocean, even very extensively studied systems such as the North Atlantic. Here we exploit the physical controls on the settling depth of the dense Mediterranean water plume derived from the Strait of Gibraltar to obtain the first robust, observations-based, probabilistic reconstruction of the vertical density gradient in the eastern North Atlantic during the last 30,000 years. We find that this gradient was weakened by more than 50%, relative to the present, during the last Glacial Maximum, and that changes in general are associated with reductions in AMOC intensity. However, we find only a small change during Heinrich Event 1 relative to the Last Glacial Maximum, despite strong evidence that overturning was substantially altered. This implies that millennial-scale changes may not be reflected in vertical density structure of the ocean, which may be limited to responses on an ocean-overturning timescale or longer. Regardless, our novel reconstruction of Atlantic density structure can be used as the basis for a dynamical measure for validation of model-based AMOC reconstructions. In addition, our general approach is transferrable to other marginal sea outflow plumes, to provide estimates of oceanic vertical density gradients in other locations. (orig.)

IdeaSquare - finding and creating new ways to collaborate

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2014-01-01

IdeaSquare is a new pilot project meant to connect people inside and outside CERN to work together and helping the CERN-inspired innovations to create positive impact on society. We started our work last October with a five-month student project, Challenge Based Innovation (CBI) that has gathered some quite nice feedback along the way (http://cern.ch/go/wmM7), but is only one of our activities. Our big goal is scaling this collaboration up for different kinds of people all around the world to participate easily. We want to start by providing the student engineers, industrial designers and economists in the next round of CBI-course with better tools and services for working together and sharing their ideas. And in the long run, we want to create a scalable system that would allow a lot more people to work together and learn in similar constructive projects in the future. What are the tools at CERN we should use during the next round of CBI - Sharepoint, Vidyo, Owncloud, social.cern.ch... and something else? I...

Between Earth and Sky - Climate Change on the Last Frontier

Science.gov (United States)

Weindorf, David; Hunton, Paul

2017-04-01

Globally, Gelisols comprise 11.26 million km2; 8.6% of earth's surface. These soils effectively sequester 25% of global soil organic carbon. Global climate change has disproportionately affected arctic regions of the world, accelerating warming, erosion events, and altering soils and ecosystems. While many documentary films have touched on global climate change, this film is the first to consider the critical role soils play in the biogeochemical carbon cycle. Between Earth and Sky is a feature length documentary filmed in 4K which presents both the science of soil/climate dynamics whilst integrating the perspective of native Alaskans and respected elders of the community who provide personal accounts of changes observed over the past decades in Alaska. More than 40 scientists from universities, governmental research units, and consultancies deconstruct this complex topic to explain how soils form an integral part of the carbon cycle in arctic environments. This presentation will cover the development of the film from initial concepts, writing, fundraising, and project development, through filming on-site, post-production, marketing, and outreach plans.

Was last will prescribed in The Code of Hammurabi?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stanković Miloš

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The Code of Hammurabi does not include any provisions that could be qualified at least as the traces of the formation of last will as a legal transaction by which a person fulfilling the prescribed requirements, directly and unilaterally, in the form envisaged by the law, without consideration and with the possibility of revoke, disposes of his/her estate in case of death, in terms of the changing of the custom or law-intended scope of his/her heirs or changing the amount of their inheritance quota. First of all, the limitation of the scope of persons who could have an active testamentary capacity to God-devoted temple-maids and temple virgins only, in particular to the devoted temple-maids and temple-virgins of the temple of the Marduk of Babylon, regardless of the privileged social and legal status they had, is not enough to draw a general conclusion about the possibility of requesting. Secondly, the absence of any precisely arranged form for possible disposal in the case of death in the Code of Hammurabi Articles 179 and 182, as well as the dilemma whether such disposals were with or without consideration, are not in concordance with the legal nature of the last will. Finally, the failure to mention the possibility to unilaterally modify or revoke such disposal until the moment of death, is another argument for the assertion that the idea of the freedom of testation was still not in its infancy at the time. Although the insistence on the existence of all, or even most of the necessary elements of the legal nature of the last will in the Code of Hammurabi, would at first glance appear to be an anachronism, one should not forget that these contemporary features of the legal nature of last will are familiar with the Roman law from their very first testamentary forms - most of them being familiar with the Ancient Greek law as well, through the testamentary legacy and the testamentary adoption. Bearing in mind the entirety of the Code of Hammurabi

Celebrity endorsements versus created spokespersons in advertising: a survey among students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delarey Van der Waldt

2011-08-01

Full Text Available In this study the use of endorsements in advertising was investigated.  Endorsements can either be in the form of a celebrity acting as a spokesperson for an organisation or the organisation can create a spokesperson to act as an endorser.  The problem that faces marketers is that little scientific proof exists if students perceive celebrity endorsements and creative spokespersons differently with regard to their expertise and trustworthiness.  The aim of this study was to determine the attitudes of respondents with regard to expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness of created spokesperson and celebrity endorsements in advertisements. This knowledge will provide marketing professionals with the strategic advantage of how and when to make use of an endorser. Ohanian’s (1990 measurement scale of perceived expertise, trustworthiness and attractiveness was adopted in a self-administrative questionnaire for this article.  Respondents (n=185 were exposed to six visual images of endorsers namely:  three celebrities and three created spokespersons.  It was found that attractiveness should not be used as a factor when comparing created endorsers with celebrity endorsers.  The respondents perceived both endorsement applications as highly credible and professionals need to consider each application’s advantages and disadvantages when deciding which application will be more effective for their advertising strategy.  In the long term the organisation might find it more cost effective to create its own spokesperson due to the risk of possible characteristics changes or negative associations of celebrity endorsers.  Revoking advertisements after celebrity endorsers have received negative publicity or changed character can lead to great financial losses.  Created endorsers, on the other hand, provide the organisation with greater control and the ability to change to adapt to the organisations market and advertising needs.

Paleoceanographic changes on the Farallon Escarpment off central California during the last 16,000 years

Science.gov (United States)

McGann, M.

2011-01-01

New benthic and planktic foraminiferal assemblage census data and Benthic Foraminiferal Oxygen Index (BFOI) values, previously published marine climate proxy data (stable isotopes and Ca/Cd), and unpublished results of total carbon, organic carbon, and calcium carbonate analyses of sediments recovered off central California on the Farallon Escarpment (1605m water depth; 37??13.4???N, 123??14.6???W; core F-8-90-G21) document paleoceanographic changes during the latest Quaternary which reflect the intensity and source of North Pacific Intermediate Water (NPIW) and surface productivity. Accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dates of both benthic and planktic species provide an excellent age-depth model for the last 16,000 years, covering the latest glacial, B??lling-Aller??d, Younger Dryas, and early, middle, and late Holocene intervals. A Q-mode cluster analysis separated the benthic fauna into three clusters, one Pleistocene and two Holocene, whereas the planktic fauna was divided only into Pleistocene and Holocene clusters. Stable oxygen isotope values show an increase in water temperature of ~1??C from the late glacial to late Holocene and a change in faunal composition of the planktic assemblage implies surface waters warmed as well. A general trend of decreasing dissolved oxygen concentration from the Pleistocene (high oxic; 3.0-6.0+ ml/l O2) to the Holocene (low oxic; 1.5-3.0ml/l O2) suggested by the BFOI and Cd/Ca data reflect decreased ventilation as the source of the NPIW shifted from the Sea of Okhotsk to the tropical east Pacific at ~11,000 cal BP. The middle Holocene cooling reported in other central and northern California margin studies is not apparent in F-8-90-G21, which compares more favorably with studies from southern California and British Columbia. Total carbon and organic carbon values are highest in the B??lling-Aller??d, early Holocene, and late Holocene. Similarly, calcium carbonate values are high in the B??lling-Aller??d and peak in the

Collaborative Innovation: Creating Opportunities in a Changing World

NARCIS (Netherlands)

V.J.A. van de Vrande (Vareska)

2017-01-01

textabstractToday’s business environment is characterised by fast and frequent change, which is often difficult to predict. As a consequence, companies need to continuously invest in the development of new business to remain competitive. However, due to the increasing complexity of the environment,

Attitudes of Health Professionals towards Mental Disorders: Studies in Turkey during the Last Decade

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Zekiye Cetinkaya Duman

2011-06-01

Full Text Available People with mental disorders often manifest their extraordinary characters through their speech and behavior, which in turn creates reactionary attitudes in society. In the same manner, health professionals, as members of the society, can express negative attitudes towards psychiatry patients. Since they provide health services and serve as “consultants” and “role models” for the well-being of people, their discriminating and stigmatizing attitudes may also preclude the involvement of these patients in medical care. Therefore, attitude researches today primarily focus on to analyze the attitudes of health professionals. While a majority of the studies include psychiatrists, general practitioners, specialists and medical students, only a limited number of studies refer to staff nurses and nursing students. The review of literature in this study, therefore, was limited with the researches carried out in the last decade. The aim of this study was to analyze the attitude researches focused on the attitudes of health professionals, especially those of nursing and nursing students in Turkey, and to clarify the similarities and differences with relevant studies. The results of the review illustrated that the attitudes of health professionals towards psychiatry patients and psychiatric disorders have not changed for the last ten years and remained fundamentally discriminating and refusing. The medical curricula in Turkey should be redesigned so as to raise awareness in the course contents of medicine and nursing schools against the negative attitudes during both undergraduate and postgraduate education. Moreover, a more inclusive review of the factors that may have influenced the attitudes towards mental illnesses should be carried out and specially designed education and research programs should be implemented.

Reconstruction of Oceanographic Changes Based on the Diatom Records of the Central Okhotsk Sea over the last 500000 Years

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Wei-Lung Wang Liang-Chi Wang

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This study provides insight into changes in sea ice conditions and the oceanographic environment over the past 500 kyr through analysis of the diatom record. Based on the relative abundance of 13 diatoms species in piston core MD012414, four types of environmental conditions in the central Okhotsk Sea over the last 330 ka BP have been distinguished: (1 open-ocean alternating with seasonal sea-ice cover in Stages 9, 5, and 1; (2 almost open-ocean free of sea-ice cover in Stages 7 and 3; (3 perennial sea-ice cover in Stages 6, 4, and 2; and (4 a warm ice-age dominated by open ocean assemblages in Stage 8. The littoral diatom species, Paralia sulcata, showed a sudden increase from the glacial period to the nterglacial period over the last 330 ka BP, except during Stage 8. Such a result implies that melting sea-ice transported terrigenous materials from the north Okhotsk Sea continental shelves to the central ocean during eglaciation. From Stage 13 to Stage 10, however, cold and warm marine conditions unexpectedly occurred in the late interglacial periods and the glacial periods, respectively. One possible reason for this is a lack of age control points from Stage 13 to Stage 10, and the different sediment accumulation rates between glacial and interglacial periods. This study suggests not only the process by which oceanographic variation of sea ice occurred, but also new significance for Paralia sulcata as an indicator in the diatom record of the Okhotsk Sea.

Creating Intangible Value through a Corporate Employee Portal

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David Mendes

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Organizations create competitive advantage by creating more economic value than their rivals. Increasing business competition and information technology development have both led to huge corporate organizational changes and have raised the importance of intangible assets along the value chain. Value creation and the success of organizations increasingly depends on the leverage of knowledge available internally, as nowadays it has become essential to understand employee portals’ business value and to build adequate change management programmes. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC and Strategy Map (SM show an organization’s objectives, how they are achieved, and the link between the goals of the various sub-units and how these act together to produce the overall results. BSC and SM clarify how intangible assets are aligned with strategy, to create value for the organization. However, the concerns related to change management seem not to have been properly addressed. To conveniently deal with these matters, the authors propose a framework to map the cause-effect relationships that generates business value, as well as provides top management and decision makers with the information needed for a suitable top-down commitment and sponsorship, which is essential to bring about the appropriate change management and benefits’ realization. SM and Benefits Dependency Network (BDN were combined, resulting in a suitable framework to help organizations enhance their knowledge, mitigating the risk of investment failure or misuse, and a timely contribution to capture more value from investments in intangible assets. The developed framework helps organizations address their concerns related to value creation and change management, and it has been applied to this Employee Portal case study. This case study allows us to conclude that, although the promotion of organizational culture and corporate alignment are not usually frequent goals of organizations, and do not

Sea-Level Change in the Russian Arctic Since the Last Glacial Maximum

Science.gov (United States)

Horton, B.; Baranskaya, A.; Khan, N.; Romanenko, F. A.

2017-12-01

Relative sea-level (RSL) databases that span the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to present have been used to infer changes in climate, regional ice sheet variations, the rate and geographic source of meltwater influx, and the rheological structure of the solid Earth. Here, we have produced a quality-controlled RSL database for the Russian Arctic since the LGM. The database contains 394 index points, which locate the position of RSL in time and space, and 244 limiting points, which constrain the minimum or maximum limit of former sea level. In the western part of the Russian Arctic (Barents and White seas,) RSL was driven by glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) due to deglaciation of the Scandinavian ice sheet, which covered the Baltic crystalline shield at the LGM. RSL data from isolation basins show rapid RSL from 80-100 m at 11-12 ka BP to 15-25 m at 4-5 ka BP. In the Arctic Islands of Franz-Joseph Land and Novaya Zemlya, RSL data from dated driftwood in raised beaches show a gradual fall from 25-35 m at 9-10 ka BP to 5-10 m at 3 ka BP. In the Russian plain, situated at the margins of the formerly glaciated Baltic crystalline shield, RSL data from raised beaches and isolation basins show an early Holocene rise from less than -20 m at 9-11 ka BP before falling in the late Holocene, illustrating the complex interplay between ice-equivalent meltwater input and GIA. The Western Siberian Arctic (Yamal and Gydan Peninsulas, Beliy Island and islands of the Kara Sea) was not glaciated at the LGM. Sea-level data from marine and salt-marsh deposits show RSL rise at the beginning of the Holocene to a mid-Holocene highstand of 1-5 m at 5-1 ka BP. A similar, but more complex RSL pattern is shown for Eastern Siberia. RSL data from the Laptev Sea shelf show RSL at -40- -45 m and 11-14 ka BP. RSL data from the Lena Delta and Tiksi region have a highstand from 5 to 1 ka BP. The research is supported by RSF project 17-77-10130

Creating the Perfect Umbilicus: A Systematic Review of Recent Literature.

Science.gov (United States)

Joseph, Walter J; Sinno, Sammy; Brownstone, Nicholas D; Mirrer, Joshua; Thanik, Vishal D

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to perform an updated systematic review of the literature over the last 10 years, analyzing and comparing the many published techniques with the hope of providing plastic surgeons with a new standard in creating the perfect umbilicus in the setting of both abdominoplasty and abdominally based free-flap breast reconstruction. An initial search using the PubMed online database with the keyword "umbilicoplasty" was performed. These results were filtered to only include articles published within the last 10 years. The remaining articles were thoroughly reviewed by the authors and only those pertaining to techniques for umbilicoplasty in the setting of abdominoplasty and abdominally based free flap were included. Of the 10 unique techniques yielded by our search, 9/10 (90 %) initially incised the native umbilicus with a round, oval, or vertical ellipse pattern. Of the 9 techniques that initially perform a round incision, 4 of them (44.4 %) later modify the round umbilicus with either an inferior or superior excision to create either a "U"- or "inverted U"-shaped umbilicus. In terms of the shape of the incision made in the abdominal flap for umbilical reinsertion, the most common were either a round incision or an inverted "V" or "U," both of which accounted for 4/10 (40 %) and 3/10 (30 %), respectively. Almost all of the studies (8/10; 80 %) describe "defatting" or trimming of the subcutaneous adipose tissue around the incision to create a periumbilical concavity following inset of the umbilicus. 4/10 (40 %) of the techniques describe suturing the dermis of the umbilical skin to rectus fascia. Furthermore, 3/10 (30 %) advise that stalk plication is a necessary step to their technique. 7/9 techniques (77.8 %) preferred nondissolvable sutures for skin closure, with nylon being the most common suture material used. Only 2/9 (22.2 %) used dissolvable sutures. Although future studies are necessary, it is our hope that this systematic

Journalism and Media Future - Creating Identity and Reality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Slađana Stamenković

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Media and journalism are in constant uncertainty caused by the influence of online communities . A certain change is: ways of content distribution to consumers, media content and its production. Changes induced by metamedia - the internet is changing the position of the media market and the fundamental role of journalism. In response to these challenges in the U.S. several years ago began to develop the concept of "entrepreneurial journalism" that is still relatively unknown in the European public. Computers write news for, and artificial-intelligence experts at Google, predict that by of 2029. PCs to be smarter than the people, that in the next 15 years become more and more intelligent and will be able to understand what you 're talking about, learn from experience, they joke, tell stories, and even flirt. Journalism still has not found the outlines of his new identity, but it partly determines the logic of speed, brevity and superficiality of competition. The role of the editor is changing drastically - the editor should develop a vision angle and create an environment of different specialists who will thoughtfully implement it in practice. To have a greater effect on advertisers, journalists and editors are expected to not act in isolation in relation to the media business, and they know the mechanisms that determine whether and how advertisers appear within the online media. Respecting editorial integrity, journalists are the ones who should influence the greater engagement of readers. New professions in mediasfera is the creator of Content Curation, which are of great use journalistic and editorial experience. Computer - mediated communication replaces the actual communication and the media no longer represent reality but create it. In such circumstances, the media are no longer defined by their monopolistic or oligopolistic status, but their position in the market is determined to create their own identity in the online environment without

Challenges and Opportunities in ‘Last Mile’ Logistics for On-Line Food Retail

OpenAIRE

Trienekens , Jacques; Hvolby , Hans-Henrik; Turner , Paul

2017-01-01

Part 2: Production Management in Food Supply Chains; International audience; Conventional approaches to logistics for food retail continue to be challenged by the rapid growth of on-line food retail. At the same time, ‘last mile’ logistics optimization for on-line retail also face challenges as changing consumer expectations, habits and purchasing patterns intersect with the increasing density of urban environments. Numerous considerations are already in play around servicing of last mile log...

The explicit and implicit dance in psychoanalytic change.

Science.gov (United States)

Fosshage, James L

2004-02-01

How the implicit/non-declarative and explicit/declarative cognitive domains interact is centrally important in the consideration of effecting change within the psychoanalytic arena. Stern et al. (1998) declare that long-lasting change occurs in the domain of implicit relational knowledge. In the view of this author, the implicit and explicit domains are intricately intertwined in an interactive dance within a psychoanalytic process. The author views that a spirit of inquiry (Lichtenberg, Lachmann & Fosshage 2002) serves as the foundation of the psychoanalytic process. Analyst and patient strive to explore, understand and communicate and, thereby, create a 'spirit' of interaction that contributes, through gradual incremental learning, to new implicit relational knowledge. This spirit, as part of the implicit relational interaction, is a cornerstone of the analytic relationship. The 'inquiry' more directly brings explicit/declarative processing to the foreground in the joint attempt to explore and understand. The spirit of inquiry in the psychoanalytic arena highlights both the autobiographical scenarios of the explicit memory system and the mental models of the implicit memory system as each contributes to a sense of self, other, and self with other. This process facilitates the extrication and suspension of the old models, so that new models based on current relational experience can be gradually integrated into both memory systems for lasting change.

A glacial record of the last termination in the southern tropical Andes

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Bromley, G. R.; Schaefer, J. M.; Winckler, G.; Hall, B. L.; Todd, C. E.; Rademaker, K.

2012-12-01

The last glacial termination represents the highest-magnitude climate change of the last hundred thousand years. Accurate resolution of events during the termination is vital to our understanding of how - and why - the global climate system transitions from a full glacial to interglacial state, as well as the causes of abrupt climate change during the late-glacial period. Palaeoclimate data from low latitudes, though relatively sparse, are particularly valuable, since the tropical ocean and atmosphere likely play a crucial role in Quaternary climate variability on all timescales. We present a detailed glacier record from the Andes of southern Peru (15°S), resolved with 3He surface-exposure dating and spanning the last glacial maximum and termination. Our dataset reveals that glaciers in this part of the Southern Hemisphere maintained their Late Pleistocene maxima for several millennia and that the onset of the termination may have occurred relatively late. Deglaciation was punctuated by two major advances during the late-glacial period. Following the glacial-interglacial transition, our preliminary chronologic and morphologic data suggest that, in contrast to the Northern Hemisphere, glaciers in the southern tropical Andes have experienced overall shrinkage during the Holocene.

Detection of a dynamic topography signal in last interglacial sea-level records.

Science.gov (United States)

Austermann, Jacqueline; Mitrovica, Jerry X; Huybers, Peter; Rovere, Alessio

2017-07-01

Estimating minimum ice volume during the last interglacial based on local sea-level indicators requires that these indicators are corrected for processes that alter local sea level relative to the global average. Although glacial isostatic adjustment is generally accounted for, global scale dynamic changes in topography driven by convective mantle flow are generally not considered. We use numerical models of mantle flow to quantify vertical deflections caused by dynamic topography and compare predictions at passive margins to a globally distributed set of last interglacial sea-level markers. The deflections predicted as a result of dynamic topography are significantly correlated with marker elevations (>95% probability) and are consistent with construction and preservation attributes across marker types. We conclude that a dynamic topography signal is present in the elevation of last interglacial sea-level records and that the signal must be accounted for in any effort to determine peak global mean sea level during the last interglacial to within an accuracy of several meters.

Changes in the channel-bed level of the western Carpathian rivers over the last 40years

Science.gov (United States)

Kijowska-Strugała, Małgorzata; Bucała-Hrabia, Anna

2017-04-01

(3.2 cm/year) was dominated. Two main factors determine changes in the position of the rivers channel beds: natural (floods, tributaries, type of the channel bed substrate) and anthropogenic (control works in the channel, extraction gravels, reservoir backwater. The deep erosion observed in the Carpathians rivers in the last decade is also associated with changes in land use that have increased due to the economic transformation of the country, and in recent years, the Polish accession to the EU.

The trajectories and determinants of agricultural land-use change over the last two decades in post-Soviet European Russia

Science.gov (United States)

Prishchepov, A. V.; Müller, D.; Sieber, A.; Kuemmerle, T.; Radeloff, V. C.; Hostert, P.

2012-04-01

The transition from state-command to market-driven economies in Russia in 1991 triggered fundamental political, economic and institutional changes, which in turn drastically affected agricultural land use. Large tracks of agricultural lands became abandoned, particularly during the first decade of the transition. However, it is not clear how the changing socio-economic and political conditions in post-Soviet Russia changed abandonment trajectories over the last two decades. We analyzed agricultural land-use change, both agricultural land abandonment and recultivation of once abandoned agricultural lands, with multitemporal Landsat TM/ETM+ images for 1990-2000-2009 to study Ryazan province in the forest-steppe transition zone and Rostov province in the steppe zone of European Russia. We classified agricultural land use change over 1990-2000-2009 with Support Vector Machines and assessed classification accuracies with independently of training datasets collected validation data. Overall accuracies were over 80%. We summarized the rates of agricultural land use change, and quantified the spatial determinants of these land use change processes using logistic regressions. Results indicated that 28% of agricultural land managed in 1990 were abandoned by the year 2000 in Ryazan province. From 2000 to 2009, agricultural land abandonment increased by another half what was abandoned from 1990 to 2000 and comprised 42% of abandoned agricultural that was managed in 1990 while only 1.4% of previously abandoned agricultural land was recultivated. In other words, agricultural abandonment was a continuous and permanent land use change in Ryazan province. In Rostov province, abandonment rates were substantially lower at nearly 10% of the agricultural land managed in 1990 and only minor additional abandonment from 2000 to 2009. The pattern of agricultural land abandonment in Ryazan province was largely determined by a mix of socio-economic and environmental factors (e.g. increased

The Last Word

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, D. L.

2014-12-01

Earth is an isolated, cooling planet, that obeys the 2nd law of thermodynamics. Interior dynamics is driven from the top, by cold sinking slabs. High-resolution broad-band seismology and geodesy have confirmed that mantle flow is characterized by narrow downwellings and ~20 broad slowly rising updrafts. The low-velocity zone (LVZ) consists of a hot melange of sheared peridotite intruded with aligned melt-rich lamellae that are tapped by intraplate volcanoes. The high temperature is a simple consequence of the thermal overshoot common in large bodies of convecting fluids. The transition zone consists of ancient eclogite layers that are displaced upwards by slabs to become broad, passive, cool ridge-feeding updrafts of ambient mantle. The physics that is overlooked in canonical models of mantle dynamics and geochemistry includes; the 2nd law of thermodynamics, convective overshoots, subadiabaticity, wave-melt interactions, Archimedes principle, and kinetics. Rapid transitions allow stress-waves to interact with melting and phase changes, creating LVZs; sluggish transitions in cold slabs keep eclogite in the transition zone where it warms up by extracting heat from mantle below 650 km, creating the appearance of slab penetration. Canonical chemical geodynamic models are the exact opposite of physics- and thermodynamic-based models and of the real Earth. A model that results from inverting the assumptions regarding initial and boundary conditions (hot origin, secular cooling, no external power sources, cooling internal boundaries, broad passive upwellings, adiabaticity and whole-mantle convection not imposed, layering and self-organization allowed) results in a thick refractory-yet-fertile surface layer, with ancient xenoliths and cratons at the top and a hot overshoot at the base. A thin mobile D" layer results, that is an unlikely plume-generation zone. Accounting for the physics that is overlooked or violated (the 2nd law of thermodynamics) in canonical models, plus

Contrasting records of sea-level change in the eastern and western North Atlantic during the last 300 years

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Long, A. J.; Barlow, N. L. M.; Gehrels, W. R.; Saher, M. H.; Woodworth, P. L.; Scaife, R. G.; Brain, M. J.; Cahill, N.

2014-02-01

We present a new 300-year sea-level reconstruction from a salt marsh on the Isle of Wight (central English Channel, UK) that we compare to other salt-marsh and long tide-gauge records to examine spatial and temporal variability in sea-level change in the North Atlantic. Our new reconstruction identifies an overall rise in relative sea level (RSL) of c. 0.30 m since the start of the eighteenth century at a rate of 0.9±0.3 mm yr. Error-in-variables changepoint analysis indicates that there is no statistically significant deviation from a constant rate within the dataset. The reconstruction is broadly comparable to other tide-gauge and salt-marsh records from the European Atlantic, demonstrating coherence in sea level in this region over the last 150-300 years. In contrast, we identify significant differences in the rate and timing of RSL with records from the east coast of North America. The absence of a strong late 19th/early 20th century RSL acceleration contrasts with that recorded in salt marsh sediments along the eastern USA coastline, in particular in a well-dated and precise sea-level reconstruction from North Carolina. This suggests that this part of the North Carolina sea level record represents a regionally specific sea level acceleration. This is significant because the North Carolina record has been used as if it were globally representative within semi-empirical parameterisations of past and future sea-level change. We conclude that regional-scale differences of sea-level change highlight the value of using several, regionally representative RSL records when calibrating and testing semi-empirical models of sea level against palaeo-records. This is because by using records that potentially over-estimate sea-level rise in the past such models risk over-estimating sea-level rise in the future.

Create Your Plate

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Full Text Available ... offered in a 4-pack. Whether you're at home, the office, or somewhere in between, you have an easy portion control solution that works. Last Reviewed: October 8, 2015 Last Edited: September ...

Slow Warming of the Northern South China Sea during the Last Deglaciation

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Tomoya Shintani

2008-01-01

Full Text Available We have generated a record of alkenone sea surface temperatures (SSTs during the last 28000 years from Core MD97-2146 for the northern South China Sea (SCS. The SST record showed a typical pattern for change in the northern SCS SST. The SST during the LGM was ~25 C, this decreased to ~24 C to 17 ka, increased to ~25.5 C to 14.5 ka, decreased again to ~24.5 C to 11.8 ka, increased gradually to ~27 C to 6 ka, and then increased more gradually to reach ~27.5 C at present. The SST difference ( SSTNSCS = SSTMD97-2146 - SSTMD97-2141 between Cores MD97-2146 (the northern SCS; this study and MD97-2141 (the Sulu Sea; Rosenthal et al. 2003 was used to characterize the SST changes in the northern SCS relative to changes in the adjacent WTPregion. The SSTNSCS decreased from 21 to 11.8 ka and increased after 11.8 ka, indicating slower warming of the northern SCS during the last deglaciation than that of the adjacent western tropical Pacific region.We infer that the slow warming of the northern SCS was principally a result of stronger winter monsoon during the last deglaciation and early Holocene. In addition, the cool water inflow through the Taiwan Strait after 13 ka and the warm water inflow through the Sunda Shelf after 11 ka could influence the SST in the northern SCS.

Create Your Plate

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Full Text Available ... Children and Type 2 Diabetes Know Your Rights Employment Discrimination Health Care Professionals Law Enforcement Driver's License ... you have an easy portion control solution that works. Last Reviewed: October 8, 2015 Last Edited: September ...

Creating value in supply chains : suppliers' impact on value for customers, society and shareholders

OpenAIRE

Kibbeling, M.I.

2010-01-01

This dissertation deals with the question how suppliers contribute to creating value in supply chains. The last decades have been characterized by increased specialization of business activities and, consequently, firms have outsourced between 50% and 80% of their business activities to suppliers. Accordingly, purchasing and supply management receives growing interest from both managers and academics. Traditionally, the focus of purchasing and supply management was on attaining superior cost ...

Impact Of Non-Governmental Organizations\\' Activities In Creating ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study examines the impact of Non-Governmental Organizations\\' (NGOs) intervention in creating awareness and changing the mindset of people in typical rural communities in Kaduna State towards victims of HIV/AIDS. Structured questionnaire were used to collect data from adult male and female as well as young ...

Creating intoxigenic environments: marketing alcohol to young people in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Science.gov (United States)

McCreanor, Tim; Barnes, Helen Moewaka; Kaiwai, Hector; Borell, Suaree; Gregory, Amanda

2008-09-01

Alcohol consumption among young people in New Zealand is on the rise. Given the broad array of acute and chronic harms that arise from this trend, it is a major cause for alarm and it is imperative that we improve our knowledge of key drivers of youth drinking. Changes wrought by the neoliberal political climate of deregulation that characterised the last two decades in many countries including Aotearoa (Aotearoa is a Maori name for New Zealand) New Zealand have transformed the availability of alcohol to young people. Commercial development of youth alcohol markets has seen the emergence of new environments, cultures and practices around drinking and intoxication but the ways in which these changes are interpreted and taken up are not well understood. This paper reports findings from a qualitative research project investigating the meaning-making practices of young people in New Zealand in response to alcohol marketing. Research data included group interviews with a range of Maori and Pakeha young people at three time periods. Thematic analyses of the youth data on usages of marketing materials indicate naturalisation of tropes of alcohol intoxication. We show how marketing is used and enjoyed in youth discourses creating and maintaining what we refer to as intoxigenic social environments. The implications are considered in light of the growing exposure of young people to alcohol marketing in a discussion of strategies to manage and mitigate its impacts on behaviour and consumption.

Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic

Science.gov (United States)

Rovere, Alessio; Casella, Elisa; Harris, Daniel L.; Lorscheid, Thomas; Nandasena, Napayalage A. K.; Dyer, Blake; Sandstrom, Michael R.; Stocchi, Paolo; D'Andrea, William J.; Raymo, Maureen E.

2017-11-01

As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, ˜128–116 ka) tropical and extratropical North Atlantic cyclones may have been more intense than at present, and may have produced waves larger than those observed historically. Such strong swells are inferred to have created a number of geologic features that can be observed today along the coastlines of Bermuda and the Bahamas. In this paper, we investigate the most iconic among these features: massive boulders atop a cliff in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. We combine geologic field surveys, wave models, and boulder transport equations to test the hypothesis that such boulders must have been emplaced by storms of greater-than-historical intensity. By contrast, our results suggest that with the higher relative sea level (RSL) estimated for the Bahamas during MIS 5e, boulders of this size could have been transported by waves generated by storms of historical intensity. Thus, while the megaboulders of Eleuthera cannot be used as geologic proof for past “superstorms,” they do show that with rising sea levels, cliffs and coastal barriers will be subject to significantly greater erosional energy, even without changes in storm intensity.

Giant boulders and Last Interglacial storm intensity in the North Atlantic.

Science.gov (United States)

Rovere, Alessio; Casella, Elisa; Harris, Daniel L; Lorscheid, Thomas; Nandasena, Napayalage A K; Dyer, Blake; Sandstrom, Michael R; Stocchi, Paolo; D'Andrea, William J; Raymo, Maureen E

2017-11-14

As global climate warms and sea level rises, coastal areas will be subject to more frequent extreme flooding and hurricanes. Geologic evidence for extreme coastal storms during past warm periods has the potential to provide fundamental insights into their future intensity. Recent studies argue that during the Last Interglacial (MIS 5e, ∼128-116 ka) tropical and extratropical North Atlantic cyclones may have been more intense than at present, and may have produced waves larger than those observed historically. Such strong swells are inferred to have created a number of geologic features that can be observed today along the coastlines of Bermuda and the Bahamas. In this paper, we investigate the most iconic among these features: massive boulders atop a cliff in North Eleuthera, Bahamas. We combine geologic field surveys, wave models, and boulder transport equations to test the hypothesis that such boulders must have been emplaced by storms of greater-than-historical intensity. By contrast, our results suggest that with the higher relative sea level (RSL) estimated for the Bahamas during MIS 5e, boulders of this size could have been transported by waves generated by storms of historical intensity. Thus, while the megaboulders of Eleuthera cannot be used as geologic proof for past "superstorms," they do show that with rising sea levels, cliffs and coastal barriers will be subject to significantly greater erosional energy, even without changes in storm intensity.

Changes in epidemiological patterns of HCV infection and their impact on liver disease over the last 20 years in Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Savvas, S P; Koskinas, J; Sinani, C; Hadziyannis, A; Spanou, F; Hadziyannis, S J

2005-09-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the relative frequency of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in Greek patients with chronic infection as well as possible secular changes in their distribution in relation to modes of transmission, age and time at acquisition of the infection and other variables. We evaluated 434 unselected patients, 241 males and 193 females with a median age of 46.2 years (18-75), with chronic HCV infection presenting during the period 1996-2000. HCV infection was confirmed by the detection of HCV-RNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), while HCV genotyping was performed by the Inno-LiPA assay. Liver biopsies were evaluated according to Ishak's scoring system. Of 434 patients, 167 had a history of blood transfusion [post-transfusion hepatitis (PTH)], 80 were i.v. drug users and in 187 the route of infection remained unknown. The overall distribution of HCV genotypes 1, 2, 3 and 4 was 47, 8.3, 27 and 15.2%, respectively. Genotype 3 was common in younger adults and i.v. drug users, whereas genotype 1 predominated in older people and PTH patients (P duration of infection (P = 0.013). Our study revealed a change of HCV genotype distribution in the last 20 years among Greek patients with chronic HCV infection as a result of epidemiological changes in HCV transmission. The presence of cirrhosis was associated only with the duration of infection. These observations have impact both on prevention and treatment.

Land change monitoring, assessment, and projection (LCMAP) revolutionizes land cover and land change research

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Steven

2017-05-02

When nature and humanity change Earth’s landscapes - through flood or fire, public policy, natural resources management, or economic development - the results are often dramatic and lasting.Wildfires can reshape ecosystems. Hurricanes with names like Sandy or Katrina will howl for days while altering the landscape for years. One growing season in the evolution of drought-resistant genetics can transform semiarid landscapes into farm fields.In the past, valuable land cover maps created for understanding the effects of those events - whether changes in wildlife habitat, water-quality impacts, or the role land use and land cover play in affecting weather and climate - came out at best every 5 to 7 years. Those high quality, high resolution maps were good, but users always craved more: even higher quality data, additional land cover and land change variables, more detailed legends, and most importantly, more frequent land change information.Now a bold new initiative called Land Change Monitoring, Assessment, and Projection (LCMAP) promises to fulfill that demand.Developed at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, LCMAP provides definitive, timely information on how, why, and where the planet is changing. LCMAP’s continuous monitoring process can detect changes as they happen every day that Landsat satellites acquire clear observations. The result will be to place near real-time information in the hands of land and resource managers who need to understand the effects these changes have on landscapes.

Making lasting memories: Remembering the significant

Science.gov (United States)

McGaugh, James L.

2013-01-01

Although forgetting is the common fate of most of our experiences, much evidence indicates that emotional arousal enhances the storage of memories, thus serving to create, selectively, lasting memories of our more important experiences. The neurobiological systems mediating emotional arousal and memory are very closely linked. The adrenal stress hormones epinephrine and corticosterone released by emotional arousal regulate the consolidation of long-term memory. The amygdala plays a critical role in mediating these stress hormone influences. The release of norepinephrine in the amygdala and the activation of noradrenergic receptors are essential for stress hormone-induced memory enhancement. The findings of both animal and human studies provide compelling evidence that stress-induced activation of the amygdala and its interactions with other brain regions involved in processing memory play a critical role in ensuring that emotionally significant experiences are well-remembered. Recent research has determined that some human subjects have highly superior autobiographic memory of their daily experiences and that there are structural differences in the brains of these subjects compared with the brains of subjects who do not have such memory. Understanding of neurobiological bases of such exceptional memory may provide additional insights into the processes underlying the selectivity of memory. PMID:23754441

Breakup of last glacial deep stratification in the South Pacific

Science.gov (United States)

Basak, Chandranath; Fröllje, Henning; Lamy, Frank; Gersonde, Rainer; Benz, Verena; Anderson, Robert F.; Molina-Kescher, Mario; Pahnke, Katharina

2018-02-01

Stratification of the deep Southern Ocean during the Last Glacial Maximum is thought to have facilitated carbon storage and subsequent release during the deglaciation as stratification broke down, contributing to atmospheric CO2 rise. Here, we present neodymium isotope evidence from deep to abyssal waters in the South Pacific that confirms stratification of the deepwater column during the Last Glacial Maximum. The results indicate a glacial northward expansion of Ross Sea Bottom Water and a Southern Hemisphere climate trigger for the deglacial breakup of deep stratification. It highlights the important role of abyssal waters in sustaining a deep glacial carbon reservoir and Southern Hemisphere climate change as a prerequisite for the destabilization of the water column and hence the deglacial release of sequestered CO2 through upwelling.

Short-Term Second Language and Music Training Induces Lasting Functional Brain Changes in Early Childhood

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno, Sylvain; Lee, Yunjo; Janus, Monika; Bialystok, Ellen

2015-01-01

Immediate and lasting effects of music or second-language training were examined in early childhood using event-related potentials. Event-related potentials were recorded for French vowels and musical notes in a passive oddball paradigm in thirty-six 4- to 6-year-old children who received either French or music training. Following training, both…

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... you have an easy portion control solution that works. Last Reviewed: October 8, 2015 Last Edited: September 14, 2016 Articles from Diabetes Forecast® magazine: wcie-meal-planning, . In this section Food Planning Meals Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy ...

Progress in thermal comfort research over the last twenty years.

Science.gov (United States)

de Dear, R J; Akimoto, T; Arens, E A; Brager, G; Candido, C; Cheong, K W D; Li, B; Nishihara, N; Sekhar, S C; Tanabe, S; Toftum, J; Zhang, H; Zhu, Y

2013-12-01

Climate change and the urgency of decarbonizing the built environment are driving technological innovation in the way we deliver thermal comfort to occupants. These changes, in turn, seem to be setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research. This article presents a literature review of major changes, developments, and trends in the field of thermal comfort research over the last 20 years. One of the main paradigm shift was the fundamental conceptual reorientation that has taken place in thermal comfort thinking over the last 20 years; a shift away from the physically based determinism of Fanger's comfort model toward the mainstream and acceptance of the adaptive comfort model. Another noticeable shift has been from the undesirable toward the desirable qualities of air movement. Additionally, sophisticated models covering the physics and physiology of the human body were developed, driven by the continuous challenge to model thermal comfort at the same anatomical resolution and to combine these localized signals into a coherent, global thermal perception. Finally, the demand for ever increasing building energy efficiency is pushing technological innovation in the way we deliver comfortable indoor environments. These trends, in turn, continue setting the directions for contemporary thermal comfort research for the next decades. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Climate change and the past, present, and future of biotic interactions.

Science.gov (United States)

Blois, Jessica L; Zarnetske, Phoebe L; Fitzpatrick, Matthew C; Finnegan, Seth

2013-08-02

Biotic interactions drive key ecological and evolutionary processes and mediate ecosystem responses to climate change. The direction, frequency, and intensity of biotic interactions can in turn be altered by climate change. Understanding the complex interplay between climate and biotic interactions is thus essential for fully anticipating how ecosystems will respond to the fast rates of current warming, which are unprecedented since the end of the last glacial period. We highlight episodes of climate change that have disrupted ecosystems and trophic interactions over time scales ranging from years to millennia by changing species' relative abundances and geographic ranges, causing extinctions, and creating transient and novel communities dominated by generalist species and interactions. These patterns emerge repeatedly across disparate temporal and spatial scales, suggesting the possibility of similar underlying processes. Based on these findings, we identify knowledge gaps and fruitful areas for research that will further our understanding of the effects of climate change on ecosystems.

A new global reconstruction of temperature changes at the Last Glacial Maximum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. D. Annan

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Some recent compilations of proxy data both on land and ocean (MARGO Project Members, 2009; Bartlein et al., 2011; Shakun et al., 2012, have provided a new opportunity for an improved assessment of the overall climatic state of the Last Glacial Maximum. In this paper, we combine these proxy data with the ensemble of structurally diverse state of the art climate models which participated in the PMIP2 project (Braconnot et al., 2007 to generate a spatially complete reconstruction of surface air (and sea surface temperatures. We test a variety of approaches, and show that multiple linear regression performs well for this application. Our reconstruction is significantly different to and more accurate than previous approaches and we obtain an estimated global mean cooling of 4.0 ± 0.8 °C (95% CI.

TACTILE STIMULATION EVOKES LONG-LASTING POTENTIATION OF PURKINJE CELL DISCHARGE IN VIVO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramakrishnan eKanchipuram

2016-02-01

Full Text Available In the cerebellar network, a precise relationship between plasticity and neuronal discharge has been predicted. However, the potential generation of persistent changes in PC spike discharge as a consequence of plasticity following natural stimulation patterns has not been clearly determined. Here we show that facial tactile stimuli organized in theta-patterns can induce stereotyped NMDA and GABA-A receptor-dependent changes in Purkinje cell (PCs and molecular layer interneuron (MLIs firing: invariably, all PCs showed a long-lasting increase (spike-related potentiation or SR-P and MLIs a long-lasting decrease (spike-related suppression or SR-S in baseline activity and spike response probability. These observations suggests that natural sensory stimulation engages multiple long-term plastic changes that are distributed along the mossy fiber – parallel fiber pathway and operate synergistically to potentiate spike generation in PCs. In contrast, theta-pattern electrical stimulation of PFs indistinctly induced SR-P and SR-S both in PCs and MLIs, suggesting that natural sensory stimulation preordinates plasticity upstream of the PF-PC synapse. All these effects occurred in the absence of complex spike changes, supporting the theoretical prediction that Purkinje cell activity is potentiated when the mossy fiber - parallel fiber system is activated in the absence of conjunctive climbing fiber activity.

Health and vitality assessment of two common pine species in the context of climate change in southern Europe

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sicard, Pierre; Dalstein-Richier, Laurence

2015-01-01

The Mediterranean Basin is expected to be more strongly affected by ongoing climate change than most other regions of the earth. The South-eastern France can be considered as case study for assessing global change impacts on forests. Based on non-parametric statistical tests, the climatic parameters (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, global radiation) and forest-response indicators (crown defoliation, discoloration and visible foliar ozone injury) of two pine species (Pinus halepensis and Pinus cembra) were analyzed. In the last 20 years, the trend analyses reveal a clear hotter and drier climate along the coastline and slightly rainier inland. In the current climate change context, a reduction in ground-level ozone (O 3 ) was found at remote sites and the visible foliar O 3 injury decreased while deterioration of the crown conditions was observed likely due to a drier and warmer climate. Clearly, if such climatic and ecological changes are now being detected when the climate, in South-eastern France, has warmed in the last 20 years (+0.46–1.08 °C), it can be expected that many more impacts on tree species will occur in response to predicted temperature changes by 2100 (+1.95–4.59 °C). Climate change is projected to reduce the benefits of O 3 precursor emissions controls leading to a higher O 3 uptake. However, the drier and warmer climate should induce a soil drought leading to a lower O 3 uptake. These two effects, acting together in an opposite way, could mitigate the harmful impacts of O 3 on forests. The development of coordinated emission abatement strategies is useful to reduce both climate change and O 3 pollution. Climate change will create additional challenges for forest management with substantial socio-economic and biological diversity impacts. However, the development of future sustainable and adaptive forest management strategies has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of forest species to climate change. - Highlights: • We

Ecohydrological change and variability over western North America from the Last Glacial Maximum to the near term future: The known, the unknown and the known unknown

Science.gov (United States)

Seager, R.; Mankin, J. S.; Cook, B.; Scheff, J.; Smerdon, J. E.; Coats, S.; Williams, P.

2017-12-01

Hydroclimate variability and change in western North America from the last glacial to the near future is reviewed focusing on non-orbital-induced variations. The motivating factor is model projections of intensifying aridity in southwestern North America as a consequence of rising greenhouse gases. Future change will be considered in the context of changes in precipitation, evaporative demand and CO2 and from perspectives of surface hydroclimate and ecological response. Current earth system models project increasing aridity in terms of standard drought measures and declining soil moisture quite robustly as a consequence of declining precipitation (in the interior southwest) and rising evaporative demand (everywhere). However, the same models project rising net primary production, leaf area index and evapotranspiration as the effects on plants of increasing CO2 outweigh the effects of increased water stress. There are reasons to be cautious about the realism of this modeled response but it poses a future with a competition between ecosystems and humans (dependent on soil moisture and runoff) for available water. Looking back over the last millennium with the aid of near hemispheric tree ring drought reconstructions we show that the driving role the tropical Pacific and tropical North Atlantic Oceans have in orchestrating the sequence of western droughts and pluvials extends to the Medieval megadroughts. These famed severe and extended droughts, still visible in the landscape today, were most likely caused by internal atmosphere-ocean variability including frequent, but not anomalously recurrent, La Nina-conditions accompanied by persistent warm shifts in the tropical North Atlantic. Passing over early and mid-Holocene climates that were strongly influenced by orbitally-forcing, we turn to Last Glacial Maximum climates. According to lake records the LGM was moist across western North America while pollen records show a mix of wetter-looking and less lush ("drier

Bipolar seesaw control on last interglacial sea level.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino, G; Rohling, E J; Rodríguez-Sanz, L; Grant, K M; Heslop, D; Roberts, A P; Stanford, J D; Yu, J

2015-06-11

Our current understanding of ocean-atmosphere-cryosphere interactions at ice-age terminations relies largely on assessments of the most recent (last) glacial-interglacial transition, Termination I (T-I). But the extent to which T-I is representative of previous terminations remains unclear. Testing the consistency of termination processes requires comparison of time series of critical climate parameters with detailed absolute and relative age control. However, such age control has been lacking for even the penultimate glacial termination (T-II), which culminated in a sea-level highstand during the last interglacial period that was several metres above present. Here we show that Heinrich Stadial 11 (HS11), a prominent North Atlantic cold episode, occurred between 135 ± 1 and 130 ± 2 thousand years ago and was linked with rapid sea-level rise during T-II. Our conclusions are based on new and existing data for T-II and the last interglacial that we collate onto a single, radiometrically constrained chronology. The HS11 cold episode punctuated T-II and coincided directly with a major deglacial meltwater pulse, which predominantly entered the North Atlantic Ocean and accounted for about 70 per cent of the glacial-interglacial sea-level rise. We conclude that, possibly in response to stronger insolation and CO2 forcing earlier in T-II, the relationship between climate and ice-volume changes differed fundamentally from that of T-I. In T-I, the major sea-level rise clearly post-dates Heinrich Stadial 1. We also find that HS11 coincided with sustained Antarctic warming, probably through a bipolar seesaw temperature response, and propose that this heat gain at high southern latitudes promoted Antarctic ice-sheet melting that fuelled the last interglacial sea-level peak.

Fossil Coral Records of ENSO during the Last Glacial Period

Science.gov (United States)

Partin, J. W.; Taylor, F. W.; Shen, C. C.; Edwards, R. L.; Quinn, T. M.; DiNezro, P.

2017-12-01

Only a handful of paleoclimate records exist that can resolve interannual changes, and hence El Nino/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability, during the last glacial period, a time of altered mean climate. The few existing data suggest reduced ENSO variability compared to the Holocene, possibly due to a weaker zonal sea surface temperature gradient across the tropical Pacific and/or a deeper thermocline in the eastern tropical Pacific. Our goal is to add crucial data to this extremely limited subset using sub-annually resolved fossil corals that grew during this time period to reconstruct ENSO. We seek to recover fossil corals from Vanuatu, SW Pacific (16°S, 167°E) with the objective of using coral δ18O to reconstruct changes in the ENSO during and near the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Modern δ18O coral records from Vanuatu show a high degree of skill in capturing ENSO variability, making it a suitable site for reconstructing ENSO variability. We have custom designed and are building a drill system that can rapidly core many 0-25 m holes resulting in much more meters of penetration than achieved by previous land-based reef drilling. As the new drill system is extremely portable and can be quickly relocated by workers without landing craft or vehicles, it is time and cost efficient. Because the proposed drilling sites have uplifted extremely fast, 7 mm/year, the LGM shoreline has been raised from 120-140 m depth to within a depth range of 10 below to 20 m above present sea level. This enables all the drilling to be within the time range of interest ( 15-25 ka). A last advantage is that the LGM corals either are still submersed in seawater or emerged only within the last 2000 years at the uplift rate of 7 mm/yr. This greatly reduces the chances of disruption of the original climate signal because sea water is less diagenetically damaging than meteoric water in the mixed, phreatic, or vadose zones. LGM coral records will enable us to compare the proxy variability

Creating Food Futures. Trade, Ethics and the Environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Farnworth, C.R.; Jiggins, J.L.S.; Thomas, E.V.

2008-01-01

A global transformation in food supply and consumption is placing our food security at risk. What changes need to be made to the ways we trade, process and purchase our food if everyone in the world is going to have enough wholesome food to eat? Is there genuine scope for creating food futures that

Anoxic sediments off Central Peru record interannual to multidecadal changes of climate and upwelling ecosystem during the last two centuries

Science.gov (United States)

Gutiérrez, D.; Sifeddine, A.; Reyss, J. L.; Vargas, G.; Velazco, F.; Salvatteci, R.; Ferreira, V.; Ortlieb, L.; Field, D.; Baumgartner, T.; Boussafir, M.; Boucher, H.; Valdés, J.; Marinovic, L.; Soler, P.; Tapia, P.

2006-01-01

High-resolution paleo-environmental and paleo-ecological archives in laminated sequences are present in selected areas from the upper continental Peruvian margin within the oxygen minimum zone. We present initial results of a multidisciplinary study (the PALEOPECES project) that aims to reconstruct environmental and ecosystem variability during the past 200 years from high-resolution records. We report chronology development, sediment structure, elemental, organic, and mineralogical compositions of a box core collected at 300 m depth off Pisco, central Peru. An average sedimentation rate of 2.2 mm y-1 was estimated from downcore excess 210Pb activities for the last 100-150 years. Extending this rate further downcore indicates that a slump located at 52 cm depth from the top of the core can be correlated with a large tsunami that struck the coast of central Peru in 1746. X-ray analyses reveal laminated structures composed of couplets of light and dark laminae. Observations under polarized microscope show that light laminae are dominated by more dense, detrital and terrigenous material, while dark laminae are less dense with greater concentrations of amorphous biogenic silica. Downcore variations in dry bulk density and X-ray radioscopy of gray level show similar patterns, including a major shift at 34 cm depth (ca. mid-nineteenth century). A finely laminated sequence, which may include annual varves, is present between 34 cm depth and the slump layer. Sediment characteristics of the sequence suggest increased seasonality of terrigenous versus biogenous sedimentation during the corresponding period. In addition to a mid-nineteenth century change and considerable multidecadal variability in TOC, there is a positive trend in the past 50 years. Mineralogical analyses from a Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) of the upper core covering the last 25 years, indicate higher concentrations of the mineral fraction (quartz, feldspar, kaolinite and illite) in

Anoxic sediments off Central Peru record interannual to multidecadal changes of climate and upwelling ecosystem during the last two centuries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Gutiérrez

2006-01-01

Full Text Available High-resolution paleo-environmental and paleo-ecological archives in laminated sequences are present in selected areas from the upper continental Peruvian margin within the oxygen minimum zone. We present initial results of a multidisciplinary study (the PALEOPECES project that aims to reconstruct environmental and ecosystem variability during the past 200 years from high-resolution records. We report chronology development, sediment structure, elemental, organic, and mineralogical compositions of a box core collected at 300 m depth off Pisco, central Peru. An average sedimentation rate of 2.2 mm y-1 was estimated from downcore excess 210Pb activities for the last 100-150 years. Extending this rate further downcore indicates that a slump located at 52 cm depth from the top of the core can be correlated with a large tsunami that struck the coast of central Peru in 1746. X-ray analyses reveal laminated structures composed of couplets of light and dark laminae. Observations under polarized microscope show that light laminae are dominated by more dense, detrital and terrigenous material, while dark laminae are less dense with greater concentrations of amorphous biogenic silica. Downcore variations in dry bulk density and X-ray radioscopy of gray level show similar patterns, including a major shift at 34 cm depth (ca. mid-nineteenth century. A finely laminated sequence, which may include annual varves, is present between 34 cm depth and the slump layer. Sediment characteristics of the sequence suggest increased seasonality of terrigenous versus biogenous sedimentation during the corresponding period. In addition to a mid-nineteenth century change and considerable multidecadal variability in TOC, there is a positive trend in the past 50 years. Mineralogical analyses from a Fourier Transformed Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR of the upper core covering the last 25 years, indicate higher concentrations of the mineral fraction (quartz, feldspar, kaolinite and

Use of created snags by cavity‐nesting birds across 25 years

Science.gov (United States)

Barry, Amy M.; Hagar, Joan; Rivers, James W.

2018-01-01

Snags are important habitat features for many forest‐dwelling species, so reductions in the number of snags can lead to the loss of biodiversity in forest ecosystems. Intentional snag creation is often used in managed forests to mitigate the long‐term declines of naturally created snags, yet information regarding the use of snags by wildlife across long timescales (>20 yr) is lacking and prevents a complete understanding of how the value of created snags change through time. We used a long‐term experiment to assess how harvest treatment (i.e., small‐patch group selection, 2‐story, and clearcut) and snag configuration (i.e., scattered and clustered) influenced nesting in and foraging on 25–27‐year‐old Douglas‐fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) snags by cavity‐nesting birds. In addition, we compared our contemporary measures of bird use to estimates obtained from historical surveys conducted on the same group of snags to quantify how bird use changed over time. Despite observing created snags for >750 hours across 2 consecutive breeding seasons, we found limited evidence of nesting activity. Only 11% of created snags were used for breeding, with nesting attempts by 4 bird species (n = 36 nests); however, we detected 12 cavity‐nesting species present on our study sites. Furthermore, nearly all nests (94%) belonged to the chestnut‐backed chickadee (Poecile rufescens), a weak cavity‐excavating species that requires well‐decayed wood for creating nest cavities. Our surveys also recorded few observations of birds using created snags as foraging substrates, with only 1 foraging event recorded for every 20 hours of observation. We detected 82% fewer nests and recorded 7% fewer foraging observations during contemporary field work despite spending >7.5 times more effort observing created snags relative to historical surveys. We conclude that 25–27‐year‐old created Douglas‐fir snags provided limited opportunities for nesting and foraging by

Iterating between Tools to Create and Edit Visualizations.

Science.gov (United States)

Bigelow, Alex; Drucker, Steven; Fisher, Danyel; Meyer, Miriah

2017-01-01

A common workflow for visualization designers begins with a generative tool, like D3 or Processing, to create the initial visualization; and proceeds to a drawing tool, like Adobe Illustrator or Inkscape, for editing and cleaning. Unfortunately, this is typically a one-way process: once a visualization is exported from the generative tool into a drawing tool, it is difficult to make further, data-driven changes. In this paper, we propose a bridge model to allow designers to bring their work back from the drawing tool to re-edit in the generative tool. Our key insight is to recast this iteration challenge as a merge problem - similar to when two people are editing a document and changes between them need to reconciled. We also present a specific instantiation of this model, a tool called Hanpuku, which bridges between D3 scripts and Illustrator. We show several examples of visualizations that are iteratively created using Hanpuku in order to illustrate the flexibility of the approach. We further describe several hypothetical tools that bridge between other visualization tools to emphasize the generality of the model.

Inter-decadal changes in the intensity of the Oxygen Minimum Zone off Concepción, Chile (~ 36° S) over the last century

Science.gov (United States)

Srain, B.; Pantoja, S.; Sepúlveda, J.; Lange, C. B.; Muñoz, P.; Summons, R. E.; McKay, J.; Salamanca, M.

2015-04-01

We reconstructed oxygenation changes in the Oxygen Minimum Zone of the upwelling ecosystem off Concepción (36° S), Chile, using inorganic and organic proxies in a sediment core covering the last ca. 110 years of sedimentation in this area. Authigenic enrichments of Mo, U and Cd were observed between ca. 1935-1971 CE indicating a prolonged period of more reduced conditions in bottom waters and surface sediments. Significant positive correlations (p oxygen depletion, and increased primary and export production, suggesting that the period with low O2 of ca. 35 years, follows low frequency inter-decadal variation of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation, which may have resulted in O2 depletion over the entire continental shelf off Concepción. Taken together with the concurrent increase in sedimentary molecular indicators of anaerobic microbes allow us to suggest that the prokaryote community has been influenced by changes in oxygenation of the water column.

Developmental neurotoxicity of Propylthiouracil (PTU) in rats: Relationship between transient hypothyroxinemia during development and long-lasting behavioural and functional changes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Petersen, Marta Axelstad; Hansen, Pernille Reimer; Boberg, Julie

2008-01-01

Tac:WH) were dosed with PTU (0, 0.8.1.6 or 2.4 mg/kg/day) from gestation day (GD) 7 to postnatal day (PND) 17, and the physiological and behavioural development of rat offspring was assessed. Both dams and Pups in the higher close groups had markedly decreased thyroxine (T-4) levels during the closing period......Markedly lowered thyroid hormone levels during development may influence a child's behaviour, intellect, and auditory function. Recent Studies, indicating that even small changes in the mother's thyroid hormone Status early in pregnancy may Cause adverse effects on her child, have lead to increased...... concern for thyroid hormone disrupting chemicals in the environment. The overall aim of the Study was therefore to provide a detailed knowledge or) the relationship between thyroid hormone levels during development and long-lasting effects on behaviour and hearing. Groups of 16-17 pregnant rats (Han...

The last Deglaciation in the Mediterranean region: a multi-archives synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Bazin, Lucie; Siani, Giuseppe; Landais, Amaelle; Bassinot, Frank; Genty, Dominique; Govin, Aline; Michel, Elisabeth; Nomade, Sebastien; Waelbroeck, Claire

2016-04-01

Multiple proxies record past climatic changes in different climate archives. These proxies are influenced by different component of the climate system and bring complementary information on past climate variability. The major limitation when combining proxies from different archives comes from the coherency of their chronologies. Indeed, each climate archives possess their own dating methods, not necessarily coherent with each other's. Consequently, when we want to assess the latitudinal changes and mechanisms behind a climate event, we often have to rely on assumptions of synchronisation between the different archives, such as synchronous temperature changes during warming events (Austin and Hibbert 2010). Recently, a dating method originally developed to produce coherent chronologies for ice cores (Datice,Lemieux-Dudon et al., 2010) has been adapted in order to integrate different climate archives (ice cores, sediment cores and speleothems (Lemieux-Dudon et al., 2015, Bazin et al., in prep)). In this presentation we present the validation of this multi-archives dating tool with a first application covering the last Deglaciation in the Mediterranean region. For this experiment, we consider the records from Monticchio, the MD90-917, Tenaghi Philippon and Lake Orhid sediment cores as well as continuous speleothems from Sofular, Soreq and La Mine caves. Using the Datice dating tool, and with the identification of common tephra layers between the cores considered, we are able to produce a multi-archives coherent chronology for this region, independently of any climatic assumption. Using this common chronological framework, we show that the usual climatic synchronisation assumptions are not valid over this region for the last glacial-interglacial transition. Finally, we compare our coherent Mediterranean chronology with Greenland ice core records in order to discuss the sequence of events of the last Deglaciation between these two regions.

Simulation of the European ice sheet through the last glacial cycle and prediction of future glaciation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boulton, G.S.; Payne, A.

1992-12-01

Global climates of the recent past appear to correlate with patterns of variation in the earths orbit round the sun. As such orbital changes can be predicted into the future, it is argued that the pattern of natural long-term future change can also be estimated. From this, future trends of glaciation can be inferred. The physical and mathematical basis of a time-dependent, thermo mechanically coupled, three dimensional ice sheet model is described. The model is driven by changes in the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) on its surface. This causes flexure of the underlying lithosphere. The model is tuned to the maximum extension of the last (Weichselian) ice sheet and driven by an ELA fluctuation which reflects the NE Atlantic sea surface temperature fluctuation pattern during the last glacial cycle in such a way that the model reproduces the ice sheet margin at the glacial maximum. The distribution of internal ice sheet velocity, temperature, basal melting rate and sub glacial permafrost penetration are all computed. The model is then tested against its predictions of the areal pattern of ice sheet expansion and decay, the pattern of crustal flexure and relative sea level change, and the distribution of till produced by the last European ice sheet. The tested model is then driven by predictions of future climate change to produce simulations of future ice sheet glaciation in northern Europe

Investigation of morphological changes in platinum-containing nanostructures created by electron-beam-induced deposition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Botman, A.; Hesselberth, M.; Mulders, J.J.L.

2008-01-01

Focused electron-beam-induced deposition (EBID) allows the rapid fabrication of three-dimensional nanodevices and metallic wiring of nanostructures, and is a promising technique for many applications in nanoresearch. The authors present two topics on platinum-containing nanostructures created by

The Last Planner System Style of Planning: Its Basis in Learning Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Terje Kalsaas

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The objective of this article is to contribute to creating a better understanding of the Last Planner System (LPS – which is associated with Lean Construction – in the light of the learning processes at the basis of knowledge development, and of change and innovation. Founded on a theoretical discussion, three research questions are asked, namely: In what ways can the LPS be expected to alter the learning arenas compared to conventional project management in construction; according to learning theory, what are the main challenges associated with implementing the LPS; and, finally, what kind of learning can be linked to an implemented LPS that functions as intended? The implementation of the LPS is shown to require substantial changes to the technical-organisational learning arena. In order for the implementation to be successful, the work identity has to alter on the individual level so that an overlap occurs with the new work practices prescribed by the LPS. The LPS has an inbuilt experiential learning cycle, and provides a good starting point for single-loop learning, as well as for simple forms of double-loop learning (“routinized learning capability”. However, it is argued that the LPS understood as experiential learning has clear limitations with regard to “evolutionary learning capability”. This is amplified by the context project organisation provides. In terms of theoretical implications, this article promotes an understanding of the planning process informed by the theory describing it as an experiential learning cycle. The conceptualisation which separates the LPS from conventional production control theory is critiqued. Finally, it is argued that an understanding of the LPS grounded in learning theory will improve the possibilities for successful implementation and maximise the learning effects.

Create Your Plate

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Full Text Available ... Plate Share Create Your Plate ! Share: Seven Simple Steps to Create Your Plate It's simple and effective ... foods within each food category. Try these seven steps to get started: Using your dinner plate, put ...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... of the differences in types of vegetables. When creating your plate at home, remember that half of ... effective for both managing diabetes and losing weight. Creating your plate lets you still choose the foods ...

Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Power, M.J. [University of Edinburgh, Institute of Geography, School of Geosciences, Edinburgh (United Kingdom); Marlon, J.; Ortiz, N.; Bartlein, P.J.; Harrison, S.P.; Mayle, F.E.; Ballouche, A.; Bradshaw, R.H.W.; Carcaillet, C.; Cordova, C.; Mooney, S.; Moreno, P.I.; Prentice, I.C.; Thonicke, K.; Tinner, W.; Whitlock, C.; Zhang, Y.; Zhao, Y.; Ali, A.A.; Anderson, R.S.; Beer, R.; Behling, H.; Briles, C.; Brown, K.J.; Brunelle, A.; Bush, M.; Camill, P.; Chu, G.Q.; Clark, J.; Colombaroli, D.; Connor, S.; Daniau, A.L.; Daniels, M.; Dodson, J.; Doughty, E.; Edwards, M.E.; Finsinger, W.; Foster, D.; Frechette, J.; Gaillard, M.J.; Gavin, D.G.; Gobet, E.; Haberle, S.; Hallett, D.J.; Higuera, P.; Hope, G.; Horn, S.; Inoue, J.; Kaltenrieder, P.; Kennedy, L.; Kong, Z.C.; Larsen, C.; Long, C.J.; Lynch, J.; Lynch, E.A.; McGlone, M.; Meeks, S.; Mensing, S.; Meyer, G.; Minckley, T.; Mohr, J.; Nelson, D.M.; New, J.; Newnham, R.; Noti, R.; Oswald, W.; Pierce, J.; Richard, P.J.H.; Rowe, C.; Sanchez Goni, M.F.; Shuman, B.N.; Takahara, H.; Toney, J.; Turney, C.; Urrego-Sanchez, D.H.; Umbanhowar, C.; Vandergoes, M.; Vanniere, B.; Vescovi, E.; Walsh, M.; Wang, X.; Williams, N.; Wilmshurst, J.; Zhang, J.H.

2008-06-15

Fire activity has varied globally and continuously since the last glacial maximum (LGM) in response to long-term changes in global climate and shorter-term regional changes in climate, vegetation, and human land use. We have synthesized sedimentary charcoal records of biomass burning since the LGM and present global maps showing changes in fire activity for time slices during the past 21,000 years (as differences in charcoal accumulation values compared to pre-industrial). There is strong broad-scale coherence in fire activity after the LGM, but spatial heterogeneity in the signals increases thereafter. In North America, Europe and southern South America, charcoal records indicate less-than-present fire activity during the deglacial period, from 21,000 to {proportional_to}11,000 cal yr BP. In contrast, the tropical latitudes of South America and Africa show greater-than-present fire activity from {proportional_to}19,000 to {proportional_to}17,000 cal yr BP and most sites from Indochina and Australia show greater-than-present fire activity from 16,000 to {proportional_to}13,000 cal yr BP. Many sites indicate greater-than-present or near-present activity during the Holocene with the exception of eastern North America and eastern Asia from 8,000 to {proportional_to}3,000 cal yr BP, Indonesia and Australia from 11,000 to 4,000 cal yr BP, and southern South America from 6,000 to 3,000 cal yr BP where fire activity was less than present. Regional coherence in the patterns of change in fire activity was evident throughout the post-glacial period. These complex patterns can largely be explained in terms of large-scale climate controls modulated by local changes in vegetation and fuel load. (orig.)

Broadband for all: Connecting people from the ground up – one last mile at a time

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Matthee, K

2012-10-01

Full Text Available that are currently not connected utilising low-cost, locally-owned and locally-supported infrastructure to create socio-economic and commercial opportunities. ? Objectives of the project ? Establish a large scale demonstrator of the wireless mesh networks R...: Connecting people from the ground up ? one last mile at a time 4th Biennial Conference Presented by: Karel Matthee Date: 9 October 2012 Overview ? South African broadband context ? The need for broadband in rural areas ? ICT as an enabler (of socio...

Training Programs That Facilitate Lasting Change in Student Academic Behaviour

Science.gov (United States)

Hodge, Brad

2014-01-01

A range of evidence suggests that changing a person's pattern of behaviour is extremely difficult, with past behaviour being one of the strongest predictors of future behaviour. This is particularly evident in the university setting where students tend to use the same academic processes they have used throughout their schooling despite any…

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Planning Meals > Create Your Plate Share: Print Page Text Size: A A A Listen En Español Create ... Type 2 Education Series Hear audio clips and full recordings of past Q&A events at your ...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... for Association Events Messaging Tools Recruiting Advocates Local Market Planning Training Webinars News & Events Advocacy News Call ... Meals > Create Your Plate Share: Print Page Text Size: A A A Listen En Español Create Your ...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... In Memory In Honor Become a Member En Español Type 1 Type 2 About Us Online Community ... Page Text Size: A A A Listen En Español Create Your Plate Create Your Plate is a ...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Planning Meals Diabetes Meal Plans Create Your Plate Gluten Free Diets Meal Planning for Vegetarian Diets Cook with Heart- ... Create Your Plate Meal Planning for Vegetarian Diets Gluten Free Diets Holiday Meal Planning Cook with Heart-Healthy Foods ...

The last line effect explained

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beller, M. (Moritz); Zaidman, A. (Andy); Karpov, A. (Andrey); R.A. Zwaan (Rolf)

2017-01-01

textabstractMicro-clones are tiny duplicated pieces of code; they typically comprise only few statements or lines. In this paper, we study the “Last Line Effect,” the phenomenon that the last line or statement in a micro-clone is much more likely to contain an error than the previous lines or

Learning Is Change: Creating an Environment for Sustainable Organizational Change in Continuing and Higher Education

Science.gov (United States)

Schultz, Christie

2014-01-01

This article explores the ways in which learning itself is a form of organizational change and, as such, supports organizational readiness for change. The study considers a continuing education unit within a major Canadian university that managed to transform its decentralized and independent student records and administration system (student…

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Diabetes Meal Plans Create Your Plate Gluten Free Diets Meal Planning for Vegetarian Diets Cook with Heart-Healthy Foods Holiday Meal Planning ... Planning Meals Diabetes Meal Plans and a Healthy Diet Create Your Plate Meal Planning for Vegetarian Diets ...

The last line effect explained

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Beller, M.M.; Zaidman, A.E.; Karpov, Andrey; Zwaan, Rolf A.

Micro-clones are tiny duplicated pieces of code; they typically comprise only few statements or lines. In this paper, we study the “Last Line Effect,” the phenomenon that the last line or statement in a micro-clone is much more likely to contain an error than the previous lines or statements. We do

Eesti laste suvi

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2010-01-01

Laste suvisest koolivaheajast räägivad Eesti omavalitsuse ametnikud ja sotsiaaltöötajad: Kaasi Almers, Inna Kask, Aasa Saarna, Ülle Rajasalu, Merle Leopard, Aime Koger, Margit Pajo, Pilleriin Aalde, Andres Julle ja Tiiu Kuus

Developmental neurotoxicity of Propylthiouracil (PTU) in rats: Relationship between transient hypothyroxinemia during development and long-lasting behavioural and functional changes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Axelstad, Marta; Hansen, Pernille Reimar; Boberg, Julie; Bonnichsen, Mia; Nellemann, Christine; Lund, Soren Peter; Hougaard, Karin Sorig; Hass, Ulla

2008-01-01

Markedly lowered thyroid hormone levels during development may influence a child's behaviour, intellect, and auditory function. Recent studies, indicating that even small changes in the mother's thyroid hormone status early in pregnancy may cause adverse effects on her child, have lead to increased concern for thyroid hormone disrupting chemicals in the environment. The overall aim of the study was therefore to provide a detailed knowledge on the relationship between thyroid hormone levels during development and long-lasting effects on behaviour and hearing. Groups of 16-17 pregnant rats (HanTac:WH) were dosed with PTU (0, 0.8, 1.6 or 2.4 mg/kg/day) from gestation day (GD) 7 to postnatal day (PND) 17, and the physiological and behavioural development of rat offspring was assessed. Both dams and pups in the higher dose groups had markedly decreased thyroxine (T 4 ) levels during the dosing period, and the weight and histology of the thyroid glands were severely affected. PTU exposure caused motor activity levels to decrease on PND 14, and to increase on PND 23 and in adulthood. In the adult offspring, learning and memory was impaired in the two highest dose groups when tested in the radial arm maze, and auditory function was impaired in the highest dose group. Generally, the results showed that PTU-induced hypothyroxinemia influenced the developing rat brain, and that all effects on behaviour and loss of hearing in the adult offspring were significantly correlated to reductions in T 4 during development. This supports the hypothesis that decreased T 4 may be a relevant predictor for long-lasting developmental neurotoxicity

Chronic grouped social restriction triggers long-lasting immune system adaptations.

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Rui; Hou, Gonglin; Song, Liuwei; Zhang, Jianming; Yuan, Ti-Fei

2017-05-16

Chronic stress triggers rigorous psychological and physiological changes, including immunological system adaptations. However, the effects of long-term social restriction on human immune system have not been investigated. The present study is to investigate the effect of chronic stress on immune changes in human blood, with the stress stimuli controlled.10 male volunteers were group isolated from the modern society in a 50-meter-square room for 150 days, with enriched nutrition and good living conditions provided. Serum examination of immune system markers demonstrated numerous changes in different aspects of the immune functions. The changes were observed as early as 30 days and could last for another 150 days after the termination of the restriction period (300 days' time point). The results strongly argued for the adaptation of immunological system under chronic social restriction stress in adult human, preceding a clear change in psychological conditions. The changes of these immune system factors could as well act as the serum biomarkers in clinical early-diagnosis of stress-related disorders.

Web mapping: tools and solutions for creating interactive maps of forestry interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Notarangelo G

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The spread of geobrowsers as tools for displaying geographically referenced information provides insights and opportunities to those who, not being specialists in Geographic Information Systems, want to take advantage from exploration and communication power offered by these software. Through the use of web services such as Google Maps and the use of suitable markup languages, one can create interactive maps starting from highly heterogeneous data and information. These interactive maps can also be easily distributed and shared with Internet users, because they do not need to use proprietary software nor special skills but only a web browser. Unlike the maps created with GIS, whose output usually is a static image, the interactive maps retain all their features to users advantage. This paper describes a web application that, using the Keyhole Markup Language and the free service of Google Maps, produces choropleth maps relating to some forest indicators estimated by the last Italian National Forest Inventory. The creation of a map is done through a simple and intuitive interface. The maps created by users can be downloaded as KML file and can be viewed or modified via the freeware application Google Earth or free and open source GIS software like Quantum GIS. The web application is free and available at www.ricercaforestale.it.

Visual search for changes in scenes creates long-term, incidental memory traces.

Science.gov (United States)

Utochkin, Igor S; Wolfe, Jeremy M

2018-05-01

Humans are very good at remembering large numbers of scenes over substantial periods of time. But how good are they at remembering changes to scenes? In this study, we tested scene memory and change detection two weeks after initial scene learning. In Experiments 1-3, scenes were learned incidentally during visual search for change. In Experiment 4, observers explicitly memorized scenes. At test, after two weeks observers were asked to discriminate old from new scenes, to recall a change that they had detected in the study phase, or to detect a newly introduced change in the memorization experiment. Next, they performed a change detection task, usually looking for the same change as in the study period. Scene recognition memory was found to be similar in all experiments, regardless of the study task. In Experiment 1, more difficult change detection produced better scene memory. Experiments 2 and 3 supported a "depth-of-processing" account for the effects of initial search and change detection on incidental memory for scenes. Of most interest, change detection was faster during the test phase than during the study phase, even when the observer had no explicit memory of having found that change previously. This result was replicated in two of our three change detection experiments. We conclude that scenes can be encoded incidentally as well as explicitly and that changes in those scenes can leave measurable traces even if they are not explicitly recalled.

Spurious Additional Warming Reconstructed From Borehole Temperatures Corrected for the Effect of the Last Glacial Cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Šafanda, Jan

2018-03-01

Reconstructions of past ground surface temperature changes from temperature logs conducted in several hundred meter deep boreholes have proved to be a valuable independent source of information on climate variations over the last millennium. The reconstruction techniques have been evolving for more than two decades to extract optimally the climate signal of the last millennium contained in the temperature logs of different length performed in sites with different histories of the Last Glacial Cycle. This paper analyzes the method of the Last Glacial Cycle thermal effect removal from such borehole temperature profiles used by Beltrami et al. (2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071317) in reconstructing the last 500 year history. I show that the reported results of additional warming in this period reconstructed from the corrected borehole data for North America are an artifact generated by the correction.

Contributions to Zoology, the Journal - diversity in research topics and changes over the last 27 years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vonk, R.; Nijman, V.

2007-01-01

We provide a brief overview of the history of the journal Contributions to Zoology and analyse the papers published in the last 27 years by topic. Founded in 1848 as ‘Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde’, 160 years and 76 volumes later it is one of the oldest zoological journals that is still regularly

Contributions to Zoology, the journal - diversity in research topics and changes over the last 27 years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vonk, R.; Nijman, V.

2007-01-01

We provide a brief overview of the history of the journal Contributions to Zoology and analyse the papers published in the last 27 years by topic. Founded in 1848 as ‘Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde’, 160 years and 76 volumes later it is one of the oldest zoological journals that is still regularly

Large temperature variability in the southern African tropics since the Last Glacial Maximum

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Powers, L.A.; Johnson, T.C.; Werne, J.P.; Castañeda, I.S.; Hopmans, E.; Sinninghe Damsté, J.S.; Schouten, S.

2005-01-01

The role of the tropics in global climate change is actively debated, particularly in regard to the timing and magnitude of thermal and hydrological response. Continuous, high-resolution temperature records through the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) from tropical oceans have provided much insight

US Space Superiority: It was Good While it Lasted; Exploring the Contesting and Congesting of the Space Domain

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-11

she has always tolerated and encouraged that interest, even if it meant driving to Huntsville to watch an IMAX movie about space junk. I would also...last statement is not merely a false alarm or an attempt to create unnecessary drama , but is actually highlighting a real and growing dilemma that...today than anytime in human history , there are a number of forces that are continuing to shape the landscape of international relations and by

Food web heterogeneity and succession in created saltmarshes

Science.gov (United States)

Nordstrom, M C; Demopoulos, Amanda W.J.; Whitcraft, CR; Rismondo, A.; McMillan, P.; Gonzales, J P; Levin, L A

2015-01-01

1. Ecological restoration must achieve functional as well as structural recovery. Functional metrics for reestablishment of trophic interactions can be used to complement traditional monitoring of structural attributes. In addition, topographic effects on food web structure provide added information within a restoration context; often, created sites may require spatial heterogeneity to effectively match structure and function of natural habitats. 2. We addressed both of these issues in our study of successional development of benthic food web structure, with focus on bottom–up driven changes in macroinvertebrate consumer assemblages in the salt marshes of the Venice Lagoon, Italy. We combined quantified estimates of the changing community composition with stable isotope data (13C:12C and 15N:14N) to compare the general trophic structure between created (2–14 years) marshes and reference sites and along topographic elevation gradients within salt marshes. 3. Macrofaunal invertebrate consumers exhibited local, habitat-specific trophic patterns. Stable isotope-based trophic structure changed with increasing marsh age, in particular with regards to mid-elevation (Salicornia) habitats. In young marshes, the mid-elevation consumer signatures resembled those of unvegetated ponds. The mid elevation of older and natural marshes had a more distinct Salicornia-zone food web, occasionally resembling that of the highest (Sarcocornia-dominated) elevation. In summary, this indicates that primary producers and availability of vascular plant detritus structure consumer trophic interactions and the flow of carbon. 4. Functionally different consumers, subsurface-feeding detritivores (Oligochaeta) and surface grazers (Hydrobia sp.), showed distinct but converging trajectories of isotopic change over time, indicating that successional development may be asymmetric between ‘brown’ (detrital) guilds and ‘green’ (grazing) guilds in the food web. 5. Synthesis and applications

County and Parish Boundaries, This was created and maintained by Johnson County Records and Tax Administration and is updated when changes occur to county boundaries, Published in 2007, Johnson County Government.

Data.gov (United States)

NSGIC Local Govt | GIS Inventory — County and Parish Boundaries dataset current as of 2007. This was created and maintained by Johnson County Records and Tax Administration and is updated when changes...

Terrestrial environmental changes around the Gulf of Aden over the last 210 kyr deduced from the sediment n-alkane record: Implications for the dispersal of Homo sapiens

Science.gov (United States)

Isaji, Yuta; Kawahata, Hodaka; Ohkouchi, Naohiko; Murayama, Masafumi; Tamaki, Kensaku

2015-03-01

We analyzed long-chain (C25-C36) n-alkanes and pollen grains in sediments from the Gulf of Aden covering the last 212 kyr to reconstruct the surrounding terrestrial environment, a critical region for the dispersal of Homo sapiens. Substantial increases in the flux of n-alkanes during 200-185, 120-95, and 70-50 ka were interpreted to indicate enhanced vegetation biomass in the Arabian Peninsula and the northern part of the Horn of Africa or increase in lithogenic material inputs. Periods of enhanced n-alkane flux occurred during or immediately after pluvial episodes, indicating that the increased precipitation may have induced substantially enhanced vegetation biomass, creating favorable conditions for Homo sapiens. Additionally, vegetation may have increased due to moderate precipitation unrecorded by speleothems or in accordance with the lowering of sea level, indicating that the dispersal might have been possible even after the shift to an arid environment indicated by the speleothems.

Preparing Physical and Health Education Teacher Candidates to Create a Culture of Wellness in Schools: New Curriculum, New Message

Science.gov (United States)

Brewer, Hannah J.; Nichols, Randall; Leight, Joanne M.; Clark, Gary E.

2017-01-01

We live in a dynamic educational world. Physical and health education teacher preparation programs must examine what society needs and consider a new model for teacher preparation that is based on inspiring youth to build healthy behaviors that last a lifetime. One university created a new School Wellness Education (SWE) program that prepares…

Accumulation patterns around Dome C, East Antarctica, in the last 73 kyr

Science.gov (United States)

Cavitte, Marie G. P.; Parrenin, Frédéric; Ritz, Catherine; Young, Duncan A.; Van Liefferinge, Brice; Blankenship, Donald D.; Frezzotti, Massimo; Roberts, Jason L.

2018-04-01

We reconstruct the pattern of surface accumulation in the region around Dome C, East Antarctica, since the last glacial. We use a set of 18 isochrones spanning all observable depths of the ice column, interpreted from various ice-penetrating radar surveys and a 1-D ice flow model to invert for accumulation rates in the region. The shallowest four isochrones are then used to calculate paleoaccumulation rates between isochrone pairs using a 1-D assumption where horizontal advection is negligible in the time interval of each layer. We observe that the large-scale (100s km) surface accumulation gradient is spatially stable through the last 73 kyr, which reflects current modeled and observed precipitation gradients in the region. We also observe small-scale (10 s km) accumulation variations linked to snow redistribution at the surface, due to changes in its slope and curvature in the prevailing wind direction that remain spatially stationary since the last glacial.

Creating a market-oriented product innovation process : A contingency approach

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kok, R.A.W.; Biemans, W.G.

This study analyzes how and why a firm's change program to create a market-oriented innovation process depends on its environmental, innovational and organizational context. Based on an organizational-learning capabilities framework, the results from a multiple case study indicate how a firm's

Creating high energy density in nuclei with energetic antiparticles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gibbs, W.R.

1986-01-01

The possibility of creating a phase change in nuclear matter using energetic antiprotons and antideuterons is examined. It is found that energy densities of the order of 2 GeV/c can be obtained for periods of approx.2 fm/c with the proper experimental selection of events. 10 refs., 7 figs

Modified Tumescent Solution for Creating Working Space During Endoscopic Thyroidectomy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Li-Yong; Zhao, Wen-Xin; Wang, Bo; Yan, Shou-Yi; Wen, Jia

2018-04-01

To study the feasibility of gas-liquid mixing tumescent solution for creating a working space (WS) in endoscopic thyroidectomy (ET). A prospective study was performed on 186 patients with thyroid tumor who had undergone ET via chest and breast approach. Patients were randomly divided into 2 groups to receive traditional tumescent solution as group A and modified tumescent solution (gas-liquid mixing tumescent solution) as group B. This study compares the following surgical outcome parameters between the 2 groups, including changes of blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation before and after creating a WS, time for creating a WS, operative time, hemorrhage volume for creating a WS, overall hemorrhage volume, overall postoperative drainage volume, postoperative pain score, postoperative hospitalization, number of retrieved lymph nodes, total serum calcium, serum parathyroid hormone, and cases of transient and permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy. No postoperative bleeding, permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, incision and surgical site infection, air embolism, flap injury occurred in both groups. The mean time for creating a WS and the whole operation in group B was significantly shorter than that in group A ( P .05). The clinical application of gas-liquid mixing tumescent solution can effectively reduce the time for creating a WS and whole operative time, and worthy of being widely used in ET as a safe and effective technique.

Arctic Sea Level Change over the altimetry era and reconstructed over the last 60 years

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andersen, Ole Baltazar; Svendsen, Peter Limkilde; Nielsen, Allan Aasbjerg

The Arctic Ocean process severe limitations on the use of altimetry and tide gauge data for sea level studies and prediction due to the presence of seasonal or permanent sea ice. In order to overcome this issue we reprocessed all altimetry data with editing tailored to Arctic conditions, hereby m...... by Church and White (2004). We also find significant higher trend in the Beaufort Gyre region showing an increase in sea level over the last decade up to 2011....

Creating and managing a paperless health information management department.

Science.gov (United States)

Greene, Zelda B

2002-08-01

Over the last 10 to 15 years, the health care industry has experienced dramatic changes in health care delivery, consumer needs, and demands. The medical record, a recapitulation of the care patients receive, continues to be one of the most vital components of the health care delivery system. It serves as a crucial administrative, clinical, financial, and research tool. Health information managers, striving to meet ever-changing requirements, have turned to electronic record processing to meet these changes. The following article describes one hospital's journey from a cumbersome paper environment to an electronic environment that not only resulted in improved customer service but also provided employees with renewed job satisfaction and increased skill levels.

Changes of tear film after LASIK with corneal flap created by femtosecond laser and microkeratome

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuan Zhang

2014-09-01

Full Text Available AIM: To observe the changes of tear film on the patients after laser in situ keratomileusis(LASIKwith corneal flap created by femtosecond laser and microkeratome.METHODS: Totally 150 patients(300 eyeswith myopia received operation of LASIK. Patients were divided into two groups according to the methods of making corneal flap. The patients of group one were assigned to receiving LASIK with corneal flap creation by Intralase femtosecond laser(190 eyes of 95 patients, group two were assigned to receiving LASIK with corneal flap creation by microkeratome(110 eyes of 55 patients. Dry eye symptom score, tear break-up time(BUT, Schirmer Ⅰ test(S I t, corneal fluorescein staining(FLwere recorded preoperatively and postoperatively at 1wk; 1, 3 and 6mo. RESULTS: Dry eye symptom score: there existed obvious differences at 1wk; 1, 3mo between two groups(PP>0.05. BUT: there existed obvious differences at 1wk, 1, 3mo between two groups(PP>0.05. SchirmerⅠ test: there existed obvious differences in the 1wk, 1, 3mo between two groups(PP>0.05. FL: there existed obvious differences in the 1wk, 1, 3mo between two groups(PP>0.05.CONCLUSION: The early stability of tear film decrease after operation in both of the two groups. The dry eye symptoms are lighter and recover faster.

Creating the climate for diversity and race equality in health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Kingsley, S U

2001-01-01

In 1997 the Department of Health funded eight projects to demonstrate 'mainstreaming' responses to minority ethnic health in the NHS. 'Mainstreaming' is understood to require cultural, organisation and practice change; sustaining such change is a major challenge. Evaluation of the projects identified that leadership was a critical factor in encouraging change that was lasting. Other important issues were maintaining the desire changes in a turbulent organisational context and linking changes in practice with other priorities and initiatives. The agenda for the New NHS presents an opportunity for learning from this programme to be put into practice across the Department of Health and the NHS.

Open meeting on the changing publishing model Minutes

CERN Document Server

Chaney, Eliane

2005-01-01

Most of the particle physics results from the last 10 years are basically 100% freely available through arXiv.org, the CERN Document Server and SLAC SPIRES. However this availability has not significantly changed the publishing pattern of the particle physics community which is currently under pressure to change from the open access movement. Given that open access is in practice already achieved in particle physics through the freely-available electronic archives of pre- and post-prints, the peer review of publications in this field could remain within the current publishing model in the future. However, as the prices of subscription journals have been increasing at a rate higher than that of inflation and as new technologies have created alternative possibilities for the distribution of scientific results, it is clear to CERN's Scientific Information Policy Board that it is a desirable goal to modify the present publishing model towards open access and low cost journals. The open access movement simply give...

The Last Interglacial recorded in a Remouchamps cave speleothem (Belgium) -Information on seasonal changes and on the chronology of first climate deteriorations.

Science.gov (United States)

Verheyden, Sophie; Genty, Dominique; Blamart, Dominique; Cheng, Hai; Hodel, Florent; Vansteenberghe, Stef; McGavick, Matthew L.; Gillikin, David P.; Quinif, Yves

2015-04-01

A ~3m long stalagmite from the Remouchamps and ~15cm long stalagmite from the Han-sur-Lesse caves (Belgium) grew from ~124 to 100ka with growth rates going from 0.8mm/century to 30mm/century. Stable isotope (d18O and d13C) and growth-rate analyses suggest a rather stable climate from 122.0 to 115.8 ka. A clear climate deterioration is observed at ~115.8 ka and lasts until 111.2ka (±0.5ka, 2s), which corresponds well with Greenland Stadial 26. Several short-term but clear changes are observed in the stable isotopic composition at ~121.5, 119.5, 118.4, 117.6 (±0.5ka, 2s)) and are interpreted as climatic events of ~several hundred years long. They correspond with changes in stalagmite diameter and growth rate. Depending on the combination of changes in the d18O, d13C, growth rate and stalagmite diameter, the events are interpreted as corresponding to changes in rainfall amount or temperature. The RSM17 stalagmite exhibits visible seasonal layering during the entire 120-115ka period on which changes in Mg, Sr, Ba en P have been observed. This well pronounced lamination, likely annual as suggested by the U-Th data, demonstrates a strong seasonal character of the climate and/or vegetation activity during this period. We compare these MIS5 seasonality to the present day calcite layering observed in the cave. Both stalagmites, with a growth-rate increase after 125ka globally corresponding to the so-called Eemian optimum, seem to start later than other southern stalagmites from France, Italy or Spain. This observation raises the question of a possible late onset of interglacial conditions in north-west Europe and a progressive S-N advance of warmer conditions between 130 and 125ka through Western Europe.

A comparison of the present and last interglacial periods in six Antarctic ice cores

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

V. Masson-Delmotte

2011-04-01

Full Text Available We compare the present and last interglacial periods as recorded in Antarctic water stable isotope records now available at various temporal resolutions from six East Antarctic ice cores: Vostok, Taylor Dome, EPICA Dome C (EDC, EPICA Dronning Maud Land (EDML, Dome Fuji and the recent TALDICE ice core from Talos Dome. We first review the different modern site characteristics in terms of ice flow, meteorological conditions, precipitation intermittency and moisture origin, as depicted by meteorological data, atmospheric reanalyses and Lagrangian moisture source diagnostics. These different factors can indeed alter the relationships between temperature and water stable isotopes. Using five records with sufficient resolution on the EDC3 age scale, common features are quantified through principal component analyses. Consistent with instrumental records and atmospheric model results, the ice core data depict rather coherent and homogenous patterns in East Antarctica during the last two interglacials. Across the East Antarctic plateau, regional differences, with respect to the common East Antarctic signal, appear to have similar patterns during the current and last interglacials. We identify two abrupt shifts in isotopic records during the glacial inception at TALDICE and EDML, likely caused by regional sea ice expansion. These regional differences are discussed in terms of moisture origin and in terms of past changes in local elevation histories, which are compared to ice sheet model results. Our results suggest that elevation changes may contribute significantly to inter-site differences. These elevation changes may be underestimated by current ice sheet models.

Student-Created Homework Problems Based on YouTube Videos

Science.gov (United States)

Liberatore, Matthew W.; Marr, David W. M.; Herring, Andrew M.; Way, J. Douglas

2013-01-01

Inspired by YouTube videos, students created homework problems as part of a class project. The project has been successful at different parts of the semester and demonstrated learning of course concepts. These new problems were implemented both in class and as part of homework assignments without significant changes. Examples from a material and…

Ketamine produces lasting disruptions in encoding of sensory stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Maxwell, Christina R; Ehrlichman, Richard S; Liang, Yuling; Trief, Danielle; Kanes, Stephen J; Karp, Jonathan; Siegel, Steven J

2006-01-01

The current study analyzed the acute, chronic, and lasting effects of ketamine administration in four inbred mouse strains (C3H/HeHsd, C57BL/6Hsd, FVB/Hsd, and DBA/2Hsd) to evaluate vulnerability to ketamine as a drug of abuse and as a model of schizophrenia. Serum half-life of ketamine was similar between all strains (approximately 13 min). Also, the ratio of brain-to-serum ketamine levels was 3:1. Examination of multiple phases of auditory processing using auditory-evoked potentials (AEPs) following acute ketamine (0, 5, and 20 mg/kg) treatment revealed C3H/HeHsd mice to be most vulnerable to ketamine-induced alterations in AEPs, whereas FVB/Hsd mice exhibited the least electrophysiological sensitivity to ketamine. Overall, the precortical P1-evoked potential component increased in amplitude and latency, whereas the cortically generated N1 and P2 components decreased in amplitude and latency following acute ketamine across all strains. Brain catecholamine analyses indicated that ketamine decreased hippocampus epinephrine levels in C3H/HeHsd but elevated hippocampus epinephrine levels in FVB/Hsd, suggesting one potential mechanism for AEP vulnerability to ketamine. Based on results of the acute study, the immediate and lasting effects of chronic low-dose ketamine on AEPs were examined among C3H/HeHsd (sensitive) and FVB/Hsd (insensitive) mice. We observed a decrement of the N1 amplitude that persisted at least 1 week after the last exposure to ketamine across both strains. This lasting deficit in information processing occurred in the absence of acute changes among the FVB/Hsd mice. Implications for both ketamine abuse and N-methyl-D-aspartate hypofunction models of schizophrenia are discussed.

Northern Hemisphere forcing of Southern Hemisphere climate during the last deglaciation.

Science.gov (United States)

He, Feng; Shakun, Jeremy D; Clark, Peter U; Carlson, Anders E; Liu, Zhengyu; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L; Kutzbach, John E

2013-02-07

According to the Milankovitch theory, changes in summer insolation in the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere caused glacial cycles through their impact on ice-sheet mass balance. Statistical analyses of long climate records supported this theory, but they also posed a substantial challenge by showing that changes in Southern Hemisphere climate were in phase with or led those in the north. Although an orbitally forced Northern Hemisphere signal may have been transmitted to the Southern Hemisphere, insolation forcing can also directly influence local Southern Hemisphere climate, potentially intensified by sea-ice feedback, suggesting that the hemispheres may have responded independently to different aspects of orbital forcing. Signal processing of climate records cannot distinguish between these conditions, however, because the proposed insolation forcings share essentially identical variability. Here we use transient simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to identify the impacts of forcing from changes in orbits, atmospheric CO(2) concentration, ice sheets and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) on hemispheric temperatures during the first half of the last deglaciation (22-14.3 kyr BP). Although based on a single model, our transient simulation with only orbital changes supports the Milankovitch theory in showing that the last deglaciation was initiated by rising insolation during spring and summer in the mid-latitude to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere and by terrestrial snow-albedo feedback. The simulation with all forcings best reproduces the timing and magnitude of surface temperature evolution in the Southern Hemisphere in deglacial proxy records. AMOC changes associated with an orbitally induced retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is the most plausible explanation for the early Southern Hemisphere deglacial warming and its lead over Northern Hemisphere temperature; the ensuing rise in atmospheric CO(2

Health and vitality assessment of two common pine species in the context of climate change in southern Europe

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sicard, Pierre, E-mail: pierre.sicard@acri-st.fr [ACRI-ST, 260 route du Pin Montard, BP 234, 06904 Sophia Antipolis cedex (France); Dalstein-Richier, Laurence [GIEFS (Groupe International d’Etudes des Forêts Sud-européennes) – 60, Avenue des Hespérides, 06300 Nice (France)

2015-02-15

The Mediterranean Basin is expected to be more strongly affected by ongoing climate change than most other regions of the earth. The South-eastern France can be considered as case study for assessing global change impacts on forests. Based on non-parametric statistical tests, the climatic parameters (temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, global radiation) and forest-response indicators (crown defoliation, discoloration and visible foliar ozone injury) of two pine species (Pinus halepensis and Pinus cembra) were analyzed. In the last 20 years, the trend analyses reveal a clear hotter and drier climate along the coastline and slightly rainier inland. In the current climate change context, a reduction in ground-level ozone (O{sub 3}) was found at remote sites and the visible foliar O{sub 3} injury decreased while deterioration of the crown conditions was observed likely due to a drier and warmer climate. Clearly, if such climatic and ecological changes are now being detected when the climate, in South-eastern France, has warmed in the last 20 years (+0.46–1.08 °C), it can be expected that many more impacts on tree species will occur in response to predicted temperature changes by 2100 (+1.95–4.59 °C). Climate change is projected to reduce the benefits of O{sub 3} precursor emissions controls leading to a higher O{sub 3} uptake. However, the drier and warmer climate should induce a soil drought leading to a lower O{sub 3} uptake. These two effects, acting together in an opposite way, could mitigate the harmful impacts of O{sub 3} on forests. The development of coordinated emission abatement strategies is useful to reduce both climate change and O{sub 3} pollution. Climate change will create additional challenges for forest management with substantial socio-economic and biological diversity impacts. However, the development of future sustainable and adaptive forest management strategies has the potential to reduce the vulnerability of forest species to climate

Job Quality and Gender Inequality: Key Changes in Québec over the Last Decade

OpenAIRE

Diane-Gabrielle Tremblay; Luc Cloutier; Paul Bernard

2009-01-01

Using a new typology based on information available from the Labour Force Survey, the authors analyse how job quality evolved in Québec for both women and men over the last decade (1997-2007). Results show that family situation and educational attainment are two important factors in the determination of gender inequality in the labour market. The analysis emphasizes the very significant decline in gender differences with regard to job quality (from 23% to 35% according to groups), especially ...

Challenges and opportunities in ‘last mile’ logistics for on-line food retail

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trienekens, Jacques; Hvolby, Hans Henrik; Turner, Paul

2017-01-01

Conventional approaches to logistics for food retail continue to be challenged by the rapid growth of on-line food retail. At the same time, ‘last mile’ logistics optimization for on-line retail also face challenges as changing consumer expectations, habits and purchasing patterns intersect with

The Primary Care Leadership Track at the Duke University School of Medicine: creating change agents to improve population health.

Science.gov (United States)

Sheline, Barbara; Tran, Anh N; Jackson, Joseph; Peyser, Bruce; Rogers, Susan; Engle, Deborah

2014-10-01

Physicians need training in community engagement, leadership, and population health to prepare them to work with partners within the community and to adapt medical care to address population health needs. With an overall goal of training primary care practitioners to be change agents for improving population health, the Duke University School of Medicine launched the Primary Care Leadership Track (PCLT) in 2011. The four-year PCLT curriculum requires students to contribute to existing community health initiatives, perform community-engaged research, and participate in leadership training. The clinical curriculum incorporates a longitudinal approach to allow students to follow patient outcomes. In addition, students regularly interact with faculty to explore population health issues, review patient cases, and adjust individual learning opportunities as needed. The first cohort of PCLT students will graduate in 2015. Prospective comparisons with traditional track students are planned on performance on standardized tests and career choices. The authors created the PCLT as a laboratory in which students can engage with the community and explore solutions to address the health of the public and the future delivery of health care. To meet the goal of training change agents, PCLT leaders need to expand opportunities for students to learn from providers and organizations that are successfully bridging the gap between medical care and public health.

Perceptions of social and environmental changes in a Mediterranean forest during the last 100 years: the Gavarres Massif.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodríguez-Carreras, Roser; Ubeda, Xavier; Outeiro, Luís; Asperó, Francesc

2014-06-01

During the last century the landscape of the mid-Mediterranean mountains has undergone major transformations. The precipitous decline in the economic viability of forest products has engendered ever-thickening forests and agricultural lands have reverted to forest land cover. The related exodus of existing inhabitants since 1960 has led to new styles of occupancy: residential and touristic land uses have emerged while the primary and secondary sectors have largely disappeared. The object of the present study is to review how these transformations have developed in a specific area of north-eastern of Catalonia, known as the Gavarres Massif. The study applies a qualitative approach, based on interviews with stakeholders including active members of the local community and others who utilize or visit the area, all of whom are representatives of different social groups with a wide range of interests and points of view with regard to the massif. The information collected from the perspectives and opinions of the participants is coupled with objective data about the area. The result of this investigation is a rich variety of perceptions on landscape and social transformation and its current functional dynamics. Analyzing the information obtained allows us to understand the fact that the disappearance of the rural world is directly related to the collapse of an entire economic system that relied on the environment. In this study, two divergent points of view arise, one which supports recovering past landscapes and another which favours managing changes, conserving the existing landscape. Proposals for the current and future territorial management of Les Gavarres are presented. The diversity of opinions which emerges with regard to managing necessary changes in the massif emphasizes the importance of increased social dialogue. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rock magnetic signature of paleoenvironmental changes in the Izu Bonin rear arc over the last 1 Ma

Science.gov (United States)

Kars, Myriam; Vautravers, Maryline; Musgrave, Robert; Kodama, Kazuto

2015-04-01

During April and May 2014, IODP Expedition 350 drilled a 1806.5 m deep hole at Site U1437 in the Izu-Bonin rear arc, in order to understand, among other objectives, the compositional evolution of the arc since the Miocene and track the missing half of the subduction factory. The good recovery of mostly fine grained sediments at this site enables a high resolution paleontological and rock magnetic studies. Particularly, variations in magnetic properties and mineralogy are well documented. Natural remanent magnetization and magnetic susceptibility vary with a saw-tooth pattern. Routine rock magnetic measurements performed on about 400 samples in the first 120 meters of Hole U1437B showed that pseudo single domain to multidomain magnetite is the main carrier of the remanence. The origin of magnetite is likely detrital. The magnetic susceptibility variations depend on many factors (e.g. lithology, magnetic mineralogy, and also dilution by the carbonate matrix). The magnetic susceptibility is also used as a proxy, at first order, for magnetic minerals concentration. In order to highlight changes in magnetic minerals concentration, it's necessary to correct for the carbonate dilution effect. Onboard and onshore carbonate measurements by coulometry show that the carbonate content of the samples can be up to ~60%. About 70 samples were measured onshore. After correcting the susceptibility by the carbonate content measured on the same samples, it appears that the pattern of the magnetic susceptibility before and after correction is similar. Then the magnetic susceptibility variations do not result from carbonate dilution but reflect fluctuating influx of the detrital sediment component. The delta O18 variations obtained on foraminifers (N. dutertrei) show MIS 1 to MIS 25 over the studied interval covering the last 1 Ma (see Vautravers et al., this meeting). Rock magnetic properties, concentration and grain size variations of the magnetic minerals will be compared to

39 CFR 777.27 - Last resort housing.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 39 Postal Service 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Last resort housing. 777.27 Section 777.27 Postal... ACQUISITION POLICIES Uniform Relocation Assistance § 777.27 Last resort housing. (a) Basic Determination to Provide Last Resort Housing. A displaced person cannot be required to move from his or her dwelling unless...

Long-lasting changes in brain activation induced by a single REAC technology pulse in Wi-Fi bands. Randomized double-blind fMRI qualitative study.

Science.gov (United States)

Rinaldi, Salvatore; Mura, Marco; Castagna, Alessandro; Fontani, Vania

2014-07-11

The aim of this randomized double-blind study was to evaluate in healthy adult subjects, with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), long lasting changes in brain activation patterns following administration of a single, 250 milliseconds pulse emitted with radio-electric asymmetric conveyer (REAC) technology in the Wi-Fi bands. The REAC impulse was not administered during the scan, but after this, according to a protocol that has previously been demonstrated to be effective in improving motor control and postural balance, in healthy subjects and patients. The study was conducted on 33 healthy volunteers, performed with a 1.5 T unit while operating a motor block task involving cyclical and alternating flexion and extension of one leg. Subsequently subjects were randomly divided into a treatment and a sham treatment control group. Repeated fMRI examinations were performed following the administration of the REAC pulse or sham treatment. The Treated group showed cerebellar and ponto-mesencephalic activation components that disappeared in the second scan, while these activation components persisted in the Sham group. This study shows that a very weak signal, such as 250 milliseconds Wi-Fi pulse, administered with REAC technology, could lead to lasting effects on brain activity modification.

Creating a safe operating space for wetlands in a changing climate

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Green, Andy J; Alcorlo, Paloma; Peeters, Edwin THM; Morris, Edward P; Espinar, José L; Bravo-Utrera, Miguel Angel; Bustamante, Javier; Díaz-Delgado, Ricardo; Koelmans, Albert A; Mateo, Rafael; Mooij, Wolf M; Rodríguez-Rodríguez, Miguel; van Nes, Egbert H; Scheffer, Marten

2017-01-01

Many of the world's wetlands may be profoundly affected by climate change over the coming decades. Although wetland managers may have little control over the causes of climate change, they can help to counteract its effects through local measures. This is because direct anthropogenic impacts, such

The Comparison of the Baroque and Renaissance Aesthetics Paintings of “The Last Supper” by Caravaggio and Leonardo da Vinci

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I Wayan Kun Adnyana

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The paintings of Caravaggio’s and Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper are two iconic artworks from two maestros in a different era. Caravaggio is one of the fame Baroque’s artists and da Vinci is the most famous Renaissance man, who created the same theme of a painting, The Last Supper. The theme represents the story of Christ’s supper. Through an inductive view, this comparative study analyzes the aesthetic structures of both paintings, by using Feldman’s perspective in Art as Image and Idea (1967. The analysis includes visual structures, including line, form, darkness-lightness; elements of the organization, including unity, balance, rhythm, and proportion; and elements of perception and aesthetic, inclu- ding empathy and a psychic distance. The result of this research discovers two different perspectives of aesthetic characteristics of Baroque and Renaissance paintings.   Keywords: baroque, Caravaggio, Leonardo da Vinci, renaissance, the last supper

An overview of climate change

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Masson-Delmotte, V.; Paillard, D.

2004-01-01

We describe briefly here the main mechanisms and time scales involved in natural and anthropogenic climate variability, based on quantitative paleo-climatic reconstructions from natural archives and climate model simulations: the large glacial-interglacial cycles of the last million years (the Quaternary), lasting typically a hundred thousand years, triggered by changes in the solar radiation received by the Earth due to its position around the Sun; the century-long climatic changes occurring during last glacial period and triggered by recurrent iceberg discharges of the large northern hemisphere ice caps, massive freshwater flux to the north Atlantic, and changes in the ocean heat transport. We show the strong coupling between past climatic changes and global biogeochemical cycles, namely here atmospheric greenhouse gases. We also discuss the decadal climatic fluctuations during the last thousand years, showing an unprecedented warming attributed to the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. We show the range of atmospheric greenhouse concentrations forecasted for the end of the 21. century and the climate model predictions for global temperature changes during the 21. century. We also discuss the possible climatic changes at longer time scales involving the possibility of north Atlantic heat transport collapse (possibility of abrupt climate change), and the duration of the current interglacial period. (author)

Ecological shift and resilience in China's lake systems during the last two centuries

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Ke; Dong, Xuhui; Yang, Xiangdong; Kattel, Giri; Zhao, Yanjie; Wang, Rong

2018-06-01

The worldwide decline of wetland ecosystems calls for an urgent reassessment of their current status from a resilience perspective. Understanding the trajectories of changes that have produced the current situation is fundamental for assessing system resilience. Here, we examine long-term dynamics of wetland ecosystem change by reviewing paleoecological records from 11 representative lakes in China. We identify unprecedented change in alga communities in the context of last two centuries. Striking ecological shifts have occurred in all lakes, yet with spatial and temporal differences. The long-term trajectories of change in diatom species composition and structure indicate gradually eroded system resilience. These ecological shifts were shaped by socio-economic activities as China transformed from a rural agricultural to an industrialized society within the last several decades, during which multiple drivers have accumulated and acted synergistically. The balance between ecosystem and society, which appeared to exist for thousands of years, was broken by increasing population, new technology, and urbanization since the 1980s. The consequences are the emergence of new positive feedbacks with the potential to drive the coupled systems into undesirable states. By linking long-term social and ecological change at a regional scale, our study provides a novel contribution to the understanding of lake ecosystems resilience in present-day China. We argue that sustaining wetland ecosystems requires integrated approaches that incorporate a deeper understanding of social-ecological dynamics over decadal-centennial timescales to address the complex underlying mechanisms leading to the current degradation.

Creating the optimized international marketing mix

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grubor Aleksandar

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In the international practice of Serbian companies still dominant approach is based on traditional foreign trade approach, which in the significant dimension ballast effective inclusion of domestic companies in the contemporary business. Such practice is a result of the modality of international trading evolved and stimulated recently including long lasting period of self managing socialism-business as well international orientation in trading was originated by the state support, which procured in the edification of so-called national corporations as a chief exporter. Long-time existing of that modality of the international trading procured in the shrinking and limitation possibilities for comprehensive development of the international orientation of domestic i.e local companies, which is an argument of objectively difficult international position of Serbian firms in the moment. Paper discuss different issues including assessment that incoming presence of regional or international investors on the domestic market will proffer possibilities for enhancement a domestic management and marketing know - how among others. So, this is a way how local management circles could make substantial progress in creating the optimized international marketing mix within domestic companies following on-going business experience.

Creating Agent-Based Energy Transition Management Models That Can Uncover Profitable Pathways to Climate Change Mitigation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Auke Hoekstra

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The energy domain is still dominated by equilibrium models that underestimate both the dangers and opportunities related to climate change. In reality, climate and energy systems contain tipping points, feedback loops, and exponential developments. This paper describes how to create realistic energy transition management models: quantitative models that can discover profitable pathways from fossil fuels to renewable energy. We review the literature regarding agent-based economics, disruptive innovation, and transition management and determine the following requirements. Actors must be detailed, heterogeneous, interacting, learning, and strategizing. Technology should be represented as a detailed and heterogeneous portfolio that can develop in a bottom-up manner, using endogenous feedback loops. Assumptions about discount rates and the social cost of carbon should be configurable. The model should contain interactions between the global, national, local, and individual level. A review of modelling techniques shows that equilibrium models are unsuitable and that system dynamics and discrete event simulation are too limited. The agent-based approach is found to be uniquely suited for the complex adaptive sociotechnical systems that must be modelled. But the choice for agent-based models does not mean a rejection of other approaches because they can be accommodated within the agent-based framework. We conclude with practical guidelines.

What topology could be the Universe created with?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gurzadyan, V.G.; Kocharyan, A.A.

1987-01-01

In the framework of Hawking quantum cosmology the topological and geometrical properties of a created Universe with cosmological constant are considered. Probabilities for the Universe creation with different topologies (including torus, sphere, hyperbolic space) are calculated. These topologies turned out to be equally probable for the case of inflationary Universe. For the considered model the probability for the quantum change of topology during the Universe evolution is calculated

Climate change in Eastern Taimyr over the last 80 years and the warming impact on biodiversity and ecosystem processes in its territory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elena B. Pospelova

2017-10-01

Full Text Available The analysis of long-term changes of mean annual temperatures and the active temperature sum over 80 years was carried out using data of the Khatanga meteorological station. Since the 1990s, an essential warming was observed, especially after 2000. The warming influence on vegetation takes place immediately (the ecosystem composition changes due to the degradation of cryogenic processes as well as directly by increasing the time of the vegetation period and the total amount of heat on plants. As a result, in the last few years, the lead of phenological phenomena terms is observed – the time of foliage expansion and efflorescence of plants-indicators, geese arriving, mosquitos appearance, ice thawing. By long term monitoring data, the moving of some north-taiga plant species to forest tundra and tundra is observed, as well as their establishing in vegetation communities. However, at this moment, the character of the vegetation is stable. The occurrence of taiga animals is increased in tundra and forest tundra. An active revival of larch is observed in forest tundra and north sparse forests. A removing forest border to the north is not observed, but in the southern mountains of Taimyr its replacing on higher levels could be seen. A decreasing summer precipitation quantity increases the possibility of forest fires, spring and bog drying. It influences negatively on bog flora and near-water fauna. It is possible, that the main reason of the local climate change at the East of Taimyr is less connected to the global planet change, but much more to pulsations of the strong Siberian anticyclone.

NATURE OF THE LAST CONTACT WITH A MEDICAL DOCTOR BEFORE SUICIDE

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Urša Mars Bitenc

2018-01-01

Full Text Available A relevant number of suicide decedents visit medical doctors (MDs in a short period before death. This study aimed to learn about MDs’ attitudes towards suicide prevention, their previous education on suicide, the experience with suicide, and eventually the nature of the last visit with a patient that died by suicide. 159 Slovenian MDs participated in an online survey covering previously mentioned topics. More than a third of MDs have never been trained on suicide prevention and reported lack of knowledge in this area. More than half experienced suicide of a patient or close one. During the last contact before suicide, MDs frequently noticed symptoms of mental health problems, hopelessness, sleep problems, somatic pain and suicidal ideation. More seldom they observed stocking pills, giving away values, gaining access to firearms, and changing a will. At the time of the last visit, main diagnoses were depression (54.5%, schizophrenia (22.7%, bipolar disorder (12.5%, alcohol use disorder (9.6%, and dementia (4.5%. To improve risk assessment and suicide prevention in health-care settings, a specific training would be a highly desirable option for educating MD's.

Comparative carbon cycle dynamics of the present and last interglacial

Science.gov (United States)

Brovkin, Victor; Brücher, Tim; Kleinen, Thomas; Zaehle, Sönke; Joos, Fortunat; Roth, Raphael; Spahni, Renato; Schmitt, Jochen; Fischer, Hubertus; Leuenberger, Markus; Stone, Emma J.; Ridgwell, Andy; Chappellaz, Jérôme; Kehrwald, Natalie; Barbante, Carlo; Blunier, Thomas; Dahl Jensen, Dorthe

2016-04-01

Changes in temperature and carbon dioxide during glacial cycles recorded in Antarctic ice cores are tightly coupled. However, this relationship does not hold for interglacials. While climate cooled towards the end of both the last (Eemian) and present (Holocene) interglacials, CO2 remained stable during the Eemian while rising in the Holocene. We identify and review twelve biogeochemical mechanisms of terrestrial (vegetation dynamics and CO2 fertilization, land use, wildfire, accumulation of peat, changes in permafrost carbon, subaerial volcanic outgassing) and marine origin (changes in sea surface temperature, carbonate compensation to deglaciation and terrestrial biosphere regrowth, shallow-water carbonate sedimentation, changes in the soft tissue pump, and methane hydrates), which potentially may have contributed to the CO2 dynamics during interglacials but which remain not well quantified. We use three Earth System Models (ESMs) of intermediate complexity to compare effects of selected mechanisms on the interglacial CO2 and δ13CO2 changes, focusing on those with substantial potential impacts: namely carbonate sedimentation in shallow waters, peat growth, and (in the case of the Holocene) human land use. A set of specified carbon cycle forcings could qualitatively explain atmospheric CO2 dynamics from 8 ka BP to the pre-industrial. However, when applied to Eemian boundary conditions from 126 to 115 ka BP, the same set of forcings led to disagreement with the observed direction of CO2 changes after 122 ka BP. This failure to simulate late-Eemian CO2 dynamics could be a result of the imposed forcings such as prescribed CaCO3 accumulation and/or an incorrect response of simulated terrestrial carbon to the surface cooling at the end of the interglacial. These experiments also reveal that key natural processes of interglacial CO2 dynamics - shallow water CaCO3 accumulation, peat and permafrost carbon dynamics - are not well represented in the current ESMs. Global

Changing the world is easy. Changing the Academy is hard

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Husted, Mia; Tofteng, Ditte Maria Børglum; Brydon-Miller, Mary

models of higher education. In fact, Action Research is already engaged with notions of utopia (Nielsen & Svensson, 2006) and with creating alternative ways of understanding and enacting teaching and learning with the goal of creating positive social, economic, and political change within the context...... of organizations and communities. What is needed now is a way of bringing these efforts at effecting change within higher education together in order that they might inform, support, and challenge one another and to speak more coherently and forcefully to the larger higher education community. Systemic action...... research provides a strategy for linking existing and emerging action research projects aimed at fundamentally reshaping higher education by creating an international network focused on creating “whole system change” (Burns, 2007, p. 1) in higher education. As Danny Burns describes the process, “effective...

Climate change and violent conflict in Europe over the last millennium

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tol, R.S.J.; Wagner, S.

2010-01-01

We investigate the relationship between a thousand-year history of violent conflict in Europe and various reconstructions of temperature and precipitation. We find that conflict was more intense during colder period, just like Zhang et al. (Clim Change 76:459-477, 2006) found for China. This

Paleoceanographic Changes Since the Last Glacial as Revealed by Analysis of Alkenone Organic Biomarkers from the Northwest Pacific (Core LV 63-41-2)

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, P. S.; Liao, C. J.; Chen, M. T.; Zou, J. J.; Shi, X.; Bosin, A. A.; Gorbarenko, S. A.

2017-12-01

Sea surface temperature (SST) records from the subarctic Northwestern (NW) Pacific are ideal for reconstructing regional paleoceanographic changes sensitive to global climate change. Core LV 63-41-2 (52.56°N, 160.00° E; water depth 1924 m) retrieved from a high sedimentation site, in which the interactions of the Bering Sea and the warm water mass from the NW Pacific are highly dynamic. Here we reported high-resolution last glacial alkenone-based records from Core LV 63-41-2. Prior to 27-16 ka BP high glacial C37:4 alkenone concentrations indicate large amount of fresh water influencing the surface water of the NW Pacific with a reaching to the Site LV 63-41-2. We further inferred that during the last glacial the low salinity water may be formed from the ice-melting water on site and/or brought by the surface current from the Bering Sea, and are efficient in producing strong water stratification condition. The stratification weakens vertical mixing of the upper water column, that in turn decreases the nutrients upwelled from deep to the surface therefore causes low productivity of coccolithophorids. During the early Bølling-Allerød (B/A) period, a gradual increasing alkenone-SST and associated with high C37:4 alkenone concentrations, implying that a weakened stratification and much stronger nutrient upwelling of the early B/A period than that of the glacial. The late B/A period is characterized by an abrupt warming with possibly more melting sea ices in the Bering Sea and the coast near the Kamchatka Peninsula. The large amount of fresh water lens formed during the ice melting might have ceased vertical mixing and upwelling in the upper water column as evidenced by a decline of biological productivity of both calcerous and soliceous organism during late B/A. We suggest an early warming and low productivity in the NW Pacific that is coincident with a rapid cooling in most of the Northern Hemisphere high latitudes during the Younger Dryas.

The role of the Asian winter monsoon in the rapid propagation of abrupt climate changes during the last deglaciation

Science.gov (United States)

Chu, Guoqiang; Sun, Qing; Zhu, Qingzeng; Shan, Yabing; Shang, Wenyu; Ling, Yuan; Su, Youliang; Xie, Manman; Wang, Xishen; Liu, Jiaqi

2017-12-01

High-resolution temperature records spanning the last deglaciation from low latitudes are scarce; however, they are important for understanding the rapid propagation of abrupt climate events throughout the Northern Hemisphere and the tropics. Here, we present a branched GDGTs-based temperature reconstruction from the sediments of Maar Lake Huguangyan in tropical China. The record reveals that the mean temperature during the Oldest Dryas was 17.8 °C, which was followed by a two-step increase of 2-3 °C to the Bølling-Allerød, a decrease to 19.8 °C during the Younger Dryas, and a rapid warming at the onset of the Holocene. The Oldest Dryas was about 2 °C warmer than the Younger Dryas. The reconstructed temperature was weighted towards the wintertime since the lake is monomictic and the mixing process in winter supplies nutrients from the lake bottom to the entire water column, greatly promoting biological productivity. In addition, the winter-biased temperature changes observed in the study are more distinctive than the summer-biased temperature records from extra-tropical regions of East Asia. This implies that the temperature decreases during abrupt climatic events were mainly a winter phenomenon. Within the limits of the dating uncertainties, the broadly similar pattern of winter-weighted temperature change observed in both tropical Lake Huguangyan and in Greenland ice cores indicates the occurrence of tightly-coupled interactions between high latitude ice sheets and land areas in the tropics. We suggest that the winter monsoon (especially cold surges) could play an important role in the rapid transmission of the temperature signal from the Arctic to the tropics.

Climate change and human occupations in the Lake Daihai basin, north-central China over the last 4500 years: A geo-archeological perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Lichen; Liu, Yan; Sun, Qianli; Chen, Jing; Cheng, Peng; Chen, Zhongyuan

2017-05-01

High-resolution climate variations since the last 4500 years in the monsoonal-arid transition zone of north-central China were revealed through the integration of proxies from sediment cores in the Lake Daihai basin. Human occupations in the lake basin deduced from archeological findings and historical literatures were then incorporated into the climate sequence to demonstrate the patterns of human responses to the climate changes, and the recent anthropogenic effects. It indicated that: (1) Climate dominated human-environment adaptations prevailed prior to ∼2700 cal yr BP. An amicable climate setting before ∼4100 cal yr BP would facilitate the growth of the Laohushan Culture (LC) in the lake basin, while a pronounced deterioration of water thermal condition after that had led to human exodus and the collapse of the LC. The reduced human activity in the lake basin indicated at ∼3800-3500 cal yr BP and a subsequent cultural blank at ∼3500-2700 cal yr BP, were both in response to the climate and lake level fluctuations during ∼3800-2800 cal yr BP. (2) Transition to a positive human adaptation was seen at ∼2700-1100 cal yr BP, represented by the exploitation of arable land for cultivation and animal husbandry as the lake contracted. (3) An increasing human presence that affected environmental processes became more severe over the last ∼1100 cal yr BP. This was basically due to the ongoing lake shore reclamation for cropping, and more recently heavy metals emissions from fossil fuel combustion and local industries.

Applying Andragogical Concepts in Creating a Sustainable Lifelong Learning Society

Science.gov (United States)

Charungkaittikul, Suwithida; Henschke, John A.

2017-01-01

Today, the world is changing, re-establishing the role of education to have a developed society. This article aims to explore the practical application of Andragogy as a key element for creating a sustainable lifelong learning society, to propose strategies for developing a lifelong learning society using andragogical concepts, to enhance…

Changes in sea ice cover and ice sheet extent at the Yermak Plateau during the last 160 ka - Reconstructions from biomarker records

Science.gov (United States)

Kremer, A.; Stein, R.; Fahl, K.; Ji, Z.; Yang, Z.; Wiers, S.; Matthiessen, J.; Forwick, M.; Löwemark, L.; O'Regan, M.; Chen, J.; Snowball, I.

2018-02-01

The Yermak Plateau is located north of Svalbard at the entrance to the Arctic Ocean, i.e. in an area highly sensitive to climate change. A multi proxy approach was carried out on Core PS92/039-2 to study glacial-interglacial environmental changes at the northern Barents Sea margin during the last 160 ka. The main emphasis was on the reconstruction of sea ice cover, based on the sea ice proxy IP25 and the related phytoplankton - sea ice index PIP25. Sea ice was present most of the time but showed significant temporal variability decisively affected by movements of the Svalbard Barents Sea Ice Sheet. For the first time, we prove the occurrence of seasonal sea ice at the eastern Yermak Plateau during glacial intervals, probably steered by a major northward advance of the ice sheet and the formation of a coastal polynya in front of it. Maximum accumulation of terrigenous organic carbon, IP25 and the phytoplankton biomarkers (brassicasterol, dinosterol, HBI III) can be correlated to distinct deglaciation events. More severe, but variable sea ice cover prevailed at the Yermak Plateau during interglacials. The general proximity to the sea ice margin is further indicated by biomarker (GDGT) - based sea surface temperatures below 2.5 °C.

TARGET2 Imbalances and the ECB as Lender of Last Resort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francesco Purificato

2015-10-01

Full Text Available This paper analyses the issue of the dynamics of the TARGET2 system balances during the sovereign debt crisis, when some countries registered a decisive inflow of the central bank liquidity and others showed an outflow. The dynamics in the TARGET2 are here explained as being due to a fall in the level of confidence in the capacity of the Economic and Monetary Union to survive, rather than to disparities in the level of competitiveness among countries of the Eurozone. This crisis of confidence has to be considered as the consequence of the implicit refusal of the European institutions to create a mechanism working as lender of last resort for the euro area member States; indeed, only when the ECB took this responsibility by launching the Outright Monetary Transactions clear signs of improvement were observed in the sovereign debt crisis.

Last Interglacial climate and sea-level evolution from a coupled ice sheet-climate model

Science.gov (United States)

Goelzer, Heiko; Huybrechts, Philippe; Loutre, Marie-France; Fichefet, Thierry

2016-12-01

As the most recent warm period in Earth's history with a sea-level stand higher than present, the Last Interglacial (LIG, ˜ 130 to 115 kyr BP) is often considered a prime example to study the impact of a warmer climate on the two polar ice sheets remaining today. Here we simulate the Last Interglacial climate, ice sheet, and sea-level evolution with the Earth system model of intermediate complexity LOVECLIM v.1.3, which includes dynamic and fully coupled components representing the atmosphere, the ocean and sea ice, the terrestrial biosphere, and the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In this setup, sea-level evolution and climate-ice sheet interactions are modelled in a consistent framework.Surface mass balance change governed by changes in surface meltwater runoff is the dominant forcing for the Greenland ice sheet, which shows a peak sea-level contribution of 1.4 m at 123 kyr BP in the reference experiment. Our results indicate that ice sheet-climate feedbacks play an important role to amplify climate and sea-level changes in the Northern Hemisphere. The sensitivity of the Greenland ice sheet to surface temperature changes considerably increases when interactive albedo changes are considered. Southern Hemisphere polar and sub-polar ocean warming is limited throughout the Last Interglacial, and surface and sub-shelf melting exerts only a minor control on the Antarctic sea-level contribution with a peak of 4.4 m at 125 kyr BP. Retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet at the onset of the LIG is mainly forced by rising sea level and to a lesser extent by reduced ice shelf viscosity as the surface temperature increases. Global sea level shows a peak of 5.3 m at 124.5 kyr BP, which includes a minor contribution of 0.35 m from oceanic thermal expansion. Neither the individual contributions nor the total modelled sea-level stand show fast multi-millennial timescale variations as indicated by some reconstructions.

Eesti õpetajate roll laste internetikasutuse sotsiaalses vahendamises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kadri Soo

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Õpetajatel on oluline roll laste ettevalmistamisel internetimaailmas toimetulekuks. Artiklis analüüsitakse Eesti õpetajate tegevust 9–16aastaste laste internetikasutuse sotsiaalses vahendamises, mille mõõtmiseks kasutati kaheksat tunnust EU Kids Online’i uuringust. Tulemused näitavad, et enamik Eesti õpetajatest on õpilaste internetikasutust sotsiaalselt vahendanud: üksnes 13% lastest ei suutnud meenutada, et nad oleks õpetajatelt kunagi juhiseid või informatsiooni saanud. Peamised erinevused Eesti õpetajate tegevuses ilmnesid keele ja asula suuruse puhul. Uuring lubab väita, et eesti keelt rääkivate ja väikestest asulatest pärit laste õpetajad vahendavad laste internetitegevusi aktiivsemalt ja mitmekülgsemalt ning pakuvad internetiohtude korral rohkem nõuandeid. See, kuidas on õpetajate tegevus ja laste kokkupuude internetiohtudega omavahel seotud, erineb vanuseja keelerühmiti. Internetis kahju kogemine ei ole seotud õpetajatepoolse sotsiaalse vahendamisega.  Summary

Potential Role of the Last Half Repeat in TAL Effectors Revealed by a Molecular Simulation Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hua Wan

2016-01-01

Full Text Available TAL effectors (TALEs contain a modular DNA-binding domain that is composed of tandem repeats. In all naturally occurring TALEs, the end of tandem repeats is invariantly a truncated half repeat. To investigate the potential role of the last half repeat in TALEs, we performed comparative molecular dynamics simulations for the crystal structure of DNA-bound TALE AvrBs3 lacking the last half repeat and its modeled structure having the last half repeat. The structural stability analysis indicates that the modeled system is more stable than the nonmodeled system. Based on the principle component analysis, it is found that the AvrBs3 increases its structural compactness in the presence of the last half repeat. The comparison of DNA groove parameters of the two systems implies that the last half repeat also causes the change of DNA major groove binding efficiency. The following calculation of hydrogen bond reveals that, by stabilizing the phosphate binding with DNA at the C-terminus, the last half repeat helps to adopt a compact conformation at the protein-DNA interface. It further mediates more contacts between TAL repeats and DNA nucleotide bases. Finally, we suggest that the last half repeat is required for the high-efficient recognition of DNA by TALE.

A Randomized Controlled Trial for Veterans with PTSD and Substance Use Disorder: Creating Change versus Seeking Safety.

Science.gov (United States)

Najavits, Lisa M; Krinsley, Karen; Waring, Molly E; Gallagher, Matthew W; Skidmore, Christopher

2018-02-20

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and substance use disorder (SUD) co-occur in military veterans and other populations. To conduct a randomized controlled trial to compare a new past-focused treatment (Creating Change; CC), to a well-established, evidence-based present-focused treatment for PTSD/SUD (Seeking Safety; SS), on symptoms of both disorders. CC guides patients to process the past through exploration of PTSD/SUD life themes and memories whereas SS focuses on coping skills in the present. Fifty-two male and female veterans with current PTSD/SUD were randomized (n = 26 per treatment) and assessed at baseline, end-of-treatment and 3-month follow-up. They received 17 individual one-hour sessions. Intent-to-treat analyses indicated that both conditions improved over time, with no difference between conditions, on PTSD, alcohol use, and drug use (our primary outcomes) as well as mental health symptoms, quality of life, self-efficacy, and SUD cognitions. Effect sizes were medium except for alcohol use, which was large. Change over time reflected improvement from baseline to end-of-treatment, with gains sustained at follow-up, although alcohol use showed continued improvement from end-of-treatment to follow-up. Both treatments evidenced a strong safety profile; and attendance, alliance, and treatment satisfaction were also very strong. Conclusions/importance: CC has promise as a PTSD/SUD therapy with strong public health relevance and the potential to fill important gaps in the field. We used minimal exclusionary criteria to obtain a real-world sample, which was severe-predominantly substance-dependent with chronic PTSD and additional psychiatric diagnoses. Future research is warranted, especially on nonveteran samples and treatment mechanisms of action.

Changing Professional Practice Requires Changing Beliefs

Science.gov (United States)

Guerra, Patricia L.; Nelson, Sarah W.

2009-01-01

Creating schools that are culturally responsive and successful with all students requires doing basic work with educators to uncover their beliefs about children. If school leaders believe, like many people do, that changed behavior will result in changed beliefs, they are mistaken. Leaders must be proactive in identifying what teachers believe…

Erivajadustega laste koolitee toob erilisi takistusi / Anu Mõistlik

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Mõistlik, Anu

2003-01-01

Puudega laste vanemate probleemidest oma laste koolitamisel-kasvatamisel. Lisa: Arvamus [Tartu Descartes℗þi Lütseumi direktori Jaan Reinsoni ja Noorteklubi Händikäpp juhatuse esimehe Margit Rosentali seisukohad liikumispuudega laste kooli valiku võimalustest

Creating more effective graphs

CERN Document Server

Robbins, Naomi B

2012-01-01

A succinct and highly readable guide to creating effective graphs The right graph can be a powerful tool for communicating information, improving a presentation, or conveying your point in print. If your professional endeavors call for you to present data graphically, here's a book that can help you do it more effectively. Creating More Effective Graphs gives you the basic knowledge and techniques required to choose and create appropriate graphs for a broad range of applications. Using real-world examples everyone can relate to, the author draws on her years of experience in gr

Land-use change affects water recycling in Brazil's last agricultural frontier.

Science.gov (United States)

Spera, Stephanie A; Galford, Gillian L; Coe, Michael T; Macedo, Marcia N; Mustard, John F

2016-10-01

Historically, conservation-oriented research and policy in Brazil have focused on Amazon deforestation, but a majority of Brazil's deforestation and agricultural expansion has occurred in the neighboring Cerrado biome, a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry forests, woodland savannas, and grasslands. Resilience of rainfed agriculture in both biomes likely depends on water recycling in undisturbed Cerrado vegetation; yet little is known about how changes in land-use and land-cover affect regional climate feedbacks in the Cerrado. We used remote sensing techniques to map land-use change across the Cerrado from 2003 to 2013. During this period, cropland agriculture more than doubled in area from 1.2 to 2.5 million ha, with 74% of new croplands sourced from previously intact Cerrado vegetation. We find that these changes have decreased the amount of water recycled to the atmosphere via evapotranspiration (ET) each year. In 2013 alone, cropland areas recycled 14 km(3) less (-3%) water than if the land cover had been native Cerrado vegetation. ET from single-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans) is less than from natural vegetation in all years, except in the months of January and February, the height of the growing season. In double-cropping systems (e.g., soybeans followed by corn), ET is similar to or greater than natural vegetation throughout a majority of the wet season (December-May). As intensification and extensification of agricultural production continue in the region, the impacts on the water cycle and opportunities for mitigation warrant consideration. For example, if an environmental goal is to minimize impacts on the water cycle, double cropping (intensification) might be emphasized over extensification to maintain a landscape that behaves more akin to the natural system. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

New York County Dental Society: leaders creating change through leadership.

Science.gov (United States)

Sukmonowski, Patricia

2011-01-01

The New York County Dental Society has recently worked through a transformation focusing on leadership that is responsive to membership needs. This article describes this leadership philosophy, organizational structure changes, new program activity, and communication strategies.

The place of knowledge management in influencing lasting health change in Africa: an analysis of AMREF's progress.

Science.gov (United States)

Shoo, Rumishael; Matuku, Willy; Ireri, Jane; Nyagero, Josephat; Gatonga, Patrick

2012-01-01

AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation) developed a Knowledge Management Strategy that focused on creating, capturing and applying health knowledge to close the gap between communities and health systems in Africa. There was need to identify AMREF's current Knowledge Management implementation status, problems and constraints encountered after two years of enforcement of the strategy and suggest the way forward. This study was conducted between October 2011 and February 2012. Quantitative data on number and foci of AMREF research publications were collected using a questionnaire. Focus group discussions and in-depth interviews were used to gather data on explanations for the trend of publications and the status of the implementation of the 2010-2014 Knowledge Management Strategy. Quantitative data was analysed using SPSS computer software whereas content analysis of themes was employed on qualitative data. Between 1960 and 2011, AMREF produced 257 peer reviewed publications, 158 books and manuals and about 1,188 technical publications including evaluations, guidelines and technical reports. However, the numbers of publications declined from around the year 2000. Large quantities of unpublished and unclassified materials are also in the custody of Heritage. Barriers to Knowledge Management included: lack of incentives for documentation and dissemination; limited documentation and use of good practices in programming; and superficial attention to results or use of evidence. Alternative ways of reorganizing Knowledge Management will enable AMREF to use evidence-based knowledge to advocate for appropriate changes in African health policies and practices.

Incentives to create and sustain healthy behaviors: technology solutions and research needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Teyhen, Deydre S; Aldag, Matt; Centola, Damon; Edinborough, Elton; Ghannadian, Jason D; Haught, Andrea; Jackson, Theresa; Kinn, Julie; Kunkler, Kevin J; Levine, Betty; Martindale, Valerie E; Neal, David; Snyder, Leslie B; Styn, Mindi A; Thorndike, Frances; Trabosh, Valerie; Parramore, David J

2014-12-01

Health-related technology, its relevance, and its availability are rapidly evolving. Technology offers great potential to minimize and/or mitigate barriers associated with achieving optimal health, performance, and readiness. In support of the U.S. Army Surgeon General's vision for a "System for Health" and its Performance Triad initiative, the U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center hosted a workshop in April 2013 titled "Incentives to Create and Sustain Change for Health." Members of government and academia participated to identify and define the opportunities, gain clarity in leading practices and research gaps, and articulate the characteristics of future technology solutions to create and sustain real change in the health of individuals, the Army, and the nation. The key factors discussed included (1) public health messaging, (2) changing health habits and the environmental influence on health, (3) goal setting and tracking, (4) the role of incentives in behavior change intervention, and (5) the role of peer and social networks in change. This report summarizes the recommendations on how technology solutions could be employed to leverage evidence-based best practices and identifies gaps in research where further investigation is needed. Reprint & Copyright © 2014 Association of Military Surgeons of the U.S.

The evolution of nutritional information and communication about food and beverages the last 50 years

Science.gov (United States)

Quirós-Villegas, Deyanira; Estévez-Martínez, Isabel; Perales-García, Aránzazu; Urrialde, Rafael

2017-10-15

Nutritional information directed to consumers has evolved in some key aspects such as nutritional parameters, qualitative characteristics of the product and the necessary requirements for their communication. To provide a general overview of legislative developments in nutrition communication in the last 50 years. Literature review of available literature and European and Spanish Regulations. The main changes have occurred on the two key regulations. Regulation 1924/2006 covering for the first times in Europe the characteristics that must be declared by foods and beverages to make certain nutritional claims and their commercial communications. Additionally, Regulation 432/2012 provides a positive list of health claims. On the other hand, Regulation 1169/2011 offers an updated view of the information provided to the consumer, the compulsory and voluntary aspects of it and its application in the labeling, presentation and advertising of food and beverage products. In addition, there are other regulations and initiatives, at the non-institutional level, to promote this communication with the consumer, such as GDAs or color schemes, based on the dietary reference intakes of different nutrients included in Regulation 1169/2011. Food legislation has tried to regulate the existing situation in the market by creating a harmonized framework to guarantee the consumer protection, offering nutritional information based in the scientific evidence and increasingly comprehensive and understandable.

The last glacial cycle: transient simulations with an AOGCM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Smith, Robin S. [University of Reading, NCAS-Climate, Department of Meteorology, Reading (United Kingdom); Gregory, Jonathan [University of Reading, NCAS-Climate, Department of Meteorology, Reading (United Kingdom); Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter (United Kingdom)

2012-04-15

A number of transient climate runs simulating the last 120 kyr have been carried out using FAMOUS, a fast atmosphere-ocean general circulation model (AOGCM). This is the first time such experiments have been done with a full AOGCM, providing a three-dimensional simulation of both atmosphere and ocean over this period. Our simulation thus includes internally generated temporal variability over periods from days to millennia, and physical, detailed representations of important processes such as clouds and precipitation. Although the model is fast, computational restrictions mean that the rate of change of the forcings has been increased by a factor of 10, making each experiment 12 kyr long. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHGs), northern hemisphere ice sheets and variations in solar radiation arising from changes in the Earth's orbit are treated as forcing factors, and are applied either separately or combined in different experiments. The long-term temperature changes on Antarctica match well with reconstructions derived from ice-core data, as does variability on timescales longer than 10 kyr. Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) cooling on Greenland is reasonably well simulated, although our simulations, which lack ice-sheet meltwater forcing, do not reproduce the abrupt, millennial scale climate shifts seen in northern hemisphere climate proxies or their slower southern hemisphere counterparts. The spatial pattern of sea surface cooling at the LGM matches proxy reconstructions reasonably well. There is significant anti-correlated variability in the strengths of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC) on timescales greater than 10 kyr in our experiments. We find that GHG forcing weakens the AMOC and strengthens the ACC, whilst the presence of northern hemisphere ice-sheets strengthens the AMOC and weakens the ACC. The structure of the AMOC at the LGM is found to be sensitive to the details of the ice

Palaeoenvironments in the Skagerrak-Kattegat basin in the eastern North Sea during the last deglaciation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, K.L.; Conradsen, Keld; Heier-Nielsen, S.

1996-01-01

The study of a c. 18 m thick Late Weichseltan - Early Holocene (isotope stage 2/1) marine succession (original water depth 100-150 m) from the Skagen 3 borehole, northern Denmark, has led to a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes during the last deglaciation. The palaeoenvironm......The study of a c. 18 m thick Late Weichseltan - Early Holocene (isotope stage 2/1) marine succession (original water depth 100-150 m) from the Skagen 3 borehole, northern Denmark, has led to a better understanding of the palaeoenvironmental changes during the last deglaciation......-Holocene transition after the Younger Dryas occurred in two stages. Arctic/subarctic deep-water assemblages persisted continuously at Skagen after the first stage at 10 100 BP, while cold boreal assemblages existed in shallower water environments in the Kattegat-Skagerrak basin during the same period of time...

From a Moment of Totality to a Lasting Community

Science.gov (United States)

Gay, Pamela; Murph, Susan; Astronomy Cast

2018-01-01

The 2017 Great American Eclipse provided a reason for people from around the world to come together in one place and share their passion for astronomy. The Astronomy Cast podcast provided an opportunity and organizational structure for 100 people from more than 10 nations to come together for 3 days. These people are all listeners of the Astronomy Cast podcast, or family members of listeners. The majority of attendees did not know one another prior to this event. In this poster, we look at what organizational structure was provided to attendees before, during, and after this event, and how important different factors have been in building a lasting community from this group of attendees.The primary goals in hosting the Astronomy Cast event was to build a lasting community of people willing to attend real-world learning opportunities, and to facilitate the formation of social relationships between attendees that would encourage continued engagement. In order to meet these goals, we needed to construct an event that both met attendee expectations for science lectures and events, and also facilitated communications between attendees. We recognized that attendees would largely be introverts, and that this would present challenges to community building. Our strategy for success included: building a Facebook group well in advance of the event and using regular communications to build excitement; providing a space for community building as well as food and board games to communicate around; and following up the event with opportunities for participants to share the photos, experiences, and ways to connect.This work includes analysis of attendee surveys and commentaries that are used to study which aspects of this program were most (and least successful), and to see what self-maintaining community has been created.

Plantar pressure and foot pain in the last trimester of pregnancy.

Science.gov (United States)

Karadag-Saygi, Evrim; Unlu-Ozkan, Feyza; Basgul, Alin

2010-02-01

Back and foot pain are common complaints during pregnancy. Progression of symptoms is seen especially in the third trimester as the center of gravity (COP) is altered due to weight gain. The aim of the study was to evaluate plantar pressure changes and postural balance differences of pregnant women. Thirty-five last trimester pregnant women with complaints of foot pain were included. The control group consisted of 35 non-pregnant women who were age and body mass index (BMI) matched volunteers. All selected cases were overweight. Foot pain in pregnancy was measured by Visual analogue scale (VAS). Percentages of pressure on forefoot and hindfoot were measured using static pedobarography and peak pressures at forefoot, midfoot and hindfoot were measured using dynamic pedobarography. As a measurement of balance, COP sway length and width were also analyzed. Compared to overweight individuals, pregnant patients had higher forefoot pressure on the right side with standing and walking. Also, significant increases in contact times under the forefoot and longer floor contact times were found. VAS scores were correlated with forefoot contact times during walking. Although the sway length from COP was higher than controls, no significant correlation was found in sway length and weight gain. These data suggest that forefoot pressures increase in the last trimester of pregnancy during standing and walking. There is prominent increased postural sway in anterior-posterior direction in this period. We believe that based on the observed pressure changes, foot pain in pregnancy due to changes in body mass and distribution may be relieved by exercise and shoewear modifications.

Change in terrestrial ecosystem water-use efficiency over the last three decades.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Mengtian; Piao, Shilong; Sun, Yan; Ciais, Philippe; Cheng, Lei; Mao, Jiafu; Poulter, Ben; Shi, Xiaoying; Zeng, Zhenzhong; Wang, Yingping

2015-06-01

Defined as the ratio between gross primary productivity (GPP) and evapotranspiration (ET), ecosystem-scale water-use efficiency (EWUE) is an indicator of the adjustment of vegetation photosynthesis to water loss. The processes controlling EWUE are complex and reflect both a slow evolution of plants and plant communities as well as fast adjustments of ecosystem functioning to changes of limiting resources. In this study, we investigated EWUE trends from 1982 to 2008 using data-driven models derived from satellite observations and process-oriented carbon cycle models. Our findings suggest positive EWUE trends of 0.0056, 0.0007 and 0.0001 g C m(-2)  mm(-1)  yr(-1) under the single effect of rising CO2 ('CO2 '), climate change ('CLIM') and nitrogen deposition ('NDEP'), respectively. Global patterns of EWUE trends under different scenarios suggest that (i) EWUE-CO2 shows global increases, (ii) EWUE-CLIM increases in mainly high latitudes and decreases at middle and low latitudes, (iii) EWUE-NDEP displays slight increasing trends except in west Siberia, eastern Europe, parts of North America and central Amazonia. The data-driven MTE model, however, shows a slight decline of EWUE during the same period (-0.0005 g C m(-2)  mm(-1)  yr(-1) ), which differs from process-model (0.0064 g C m(-2)  mm(-1)  yr(-1) ) simulations with all drivers taken into account. We attribute this discrepancy to the fact that the nonmodeled physiological effects of elevated CO2 reducing stomatal conductance and transpiration (TR) in the MTE model. Partial correlation analysis between EWUE and climate drivers shows similar responses to climatic variables with the data-driven model and the process-oriented models across different ecosystems. Change in water-use efficiency defined from transpiration-based WUEt (GPP/TR) and inherent water-use efficiency (IWUEt , GPP×VPD/TR) in response to rising CO2 , climate change, and nitrogen deposition are also discussed. Our analyses will

Changes in snow cover over Northern Eurasia in the last few decades

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bulygina, O N; Razuvaev, V N; Korshunova, N N

2009-01-01

Daily snow depth (SD) and snow cover extent around 820 stations are used to analyse variations in snow cover characteristics in Northern Eurasia, a region that encompasses the Russian Federation. These analyses employ nearly five times more stations than in the previous studies and temporally span forty years. A representative judgement on the changes of snow depth over most of Russia is presented here for the first time. The number of days with greater than 50% of the near-station territory covered with snow, and the number of days with the snow depth greater than 1.0 cm, are used to characterize the duration of snow cover (SCD) season. Linear trends of the number of days and snow depth are calculated for each station from 1966 to 2007. This investigation reveals regional features in the change of snow cover characteristics. A decrease in the duration of snow cover is demonstrated in the northern regions of European Russia and in the mountainous regions of southern Siberia. An increase in SCD is found in Yakutia and in the Far East. In the western half of the Russian Federation, the winter-averaged SD is shown to increase, with the maximum trends being observed in Northern West Siberia. In contrast, in the mountainous regions of southern Siberia, the maximum SD decreases as the SCD decreases. While both snow cover characteristics (SCD and SD) play an important role in the hydrological cycle, ecosystems dynamics and societal wellbeing are quite different roles and the differences in their systematic changes (up to differences in the signs of changes) deserve further attention.

Estimation of changes in maternal mortality in a rural district of northern Tanzania during the last 50 years

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Melkert, P.; Melkert, D.; Kahema, L.; van der Velden, K.; van Roosmalen, J.

2015-01-01

Objective Maternal mortality remains a major challenge worldwide. Reliable information concerning ratios and trends is essential for resource mobilization and assessment of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. Design Assessment of levels and trends in maternal mortality during the last

A dynamic continental runoff routing model applied to the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Goelzer

2012-05-01

Full Text Available We describe and evaluate a dynamical continental runoff routing model for the Northern Hemisphere that calculates the runoff pathways in response to topographic modifications due to changes in ice thickness and isostatic adjustment. The algorithm is based on the steepest gradient method and takes as simplifying assumption that depressions are filled at all times and water drains through the lowest outlet points. It also considers changes in water storage and lake drainage in post-processing mode that become important in the presence of large ice dammed proglacial lakes. Although applicable to other scenarios as well, the model was conceived to study the routing of freshwater fluxes during the last Northern Hemisphere deglaciation. For that specific application we simulated the Northern Hemisphere ice sheets with an existing 3-D thermomechanical ice sheet model, which calculates changes in topography due to changes in ice cover and isostatic adjustment, as well as the evolution of freshwater fluxes resulting from surface ablation, iceberg calving and basal melt. The continental runoff model takes this input, calculates the drainage pathways and routes the freshwater fluxes to the surface grid points of an existing ocean model. This results in a chronology of temporally and spatially varying freshwater fluxes from the Last Glacial Maximum to the present day. We analyse the dependence of the runoff routing to grid resolution and parameters of the isostatic adjustment module of the ice sheet model.

Land degradation and improvement trends over Iberia in the last three decades

Science.gov (United States)

Gouveia, Célia M.; Páscoa, Patrícia; Russo, Ana; Trigo, Ricardo

2017-04-01

Land degradation and desertification are recognised as an important environmental and social problem in arid and semiarid regions, particularly within a climate change context. In the last three decades the entire Mediterranean basin has been affected by more frequent droughts, covering large sectors and often lasting several months. Simultaneously, the stress imposed by land management practices, such as land abandonment and intensification, highlights the need of a continuous monitoring and early detection of degradation. The Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from GIMMS dataset was used as an indicator of land degradation or improvement over Iberia between 1982 and 2012. The precipitation influence on NDVI was previously removed and the negative/positive trends of the obtained residuals were presumed to indicate land degradation/improvement. Overall the Iberian Peninsula is dominated by widespread land improvement with only a few hot spots of land degradation located in central and southern sectors and also in east Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Less than 20% of the area presenting land degradation is located within regions where land cover changes were observed, being the new land cover types associated with transitional woodland-shrub, permanent and annual crops and permanently irrigated land areas. Although being a very small fraction, the pixels of land degradation are mainly located on a semi-arid region. The monotonic changes and trend shifts present in the NDVI dataset were also assessed. The major shifts in vegetation trends and the corresponding year of occurrence were associated with the main disturbances observed in Iberia, namely the major wildfires' seasons in Portugal, and also to land abandonment and to new agricultural practices that resulted from the construction of new dams. The results obtained provide a new outlook of the real nature of degradation or improvement of vegetation in Iberia in the last three decades

Bottom water oxygenation changes in the northern Okinawa Trough since the last 88ka: Controlled by local hydrology and climate

Science.gov (United States)

Zou, Jianjun; Shi, Xuefa; Zhu, Aimei; Bai, Yazhi; Selvaraj, Kandasamy

2014-05-01

Dissolved oxygen content in oceanic bottom water is closely related to the surface organic carbon export and subsurface water stratification, regulating the biogeochemical cycles of some key nutrients and trace elements in intermediate and deep water columns. Further, the rate of organic carbon flux to sediments and bottom water oxygen concentration together determine the intensity of reducing conditions in sediments. In this study, we obtain high-resolution geochemical elements (TOC, TN, TS, CaCO3, Cd, U, Mn and Mo) in a radiocarbon (14C) and δ18O dated, sediment core CSH1 collected from the northern Okinawa Trough to reconstruct the history of bottom water redox conditions over 88 ka. Our data revealed the presence of hypoxic bottom water in the northern Okinawa Trough during late MIS5a-early MIS4, Last Glacial Maximum, and the early Last Deglacial intervals. During the Holocene and the early MIS5a, the dissolved oxygen content in bottom water has increased with decreasing water stratification, which was probably caused by the increased upwelling from the bottom in tandem with the climbing of Kuroshio Current and subdued freshwater effect in the northern Okinawa Trough. The reasons that caused the change of dissolved oxygen content in bottom water in the northern Okinawa Trough varied during different periods. The main factors are related to sea level, strengths of East Asian monsoon and the Kuroshio Current, and the shift of Westerly Jet Axis. The semi-closed topography in the northern Okinawa Trough provides a space framework for the presence of anoxia, while the sea level together with the Kuroshio Current, the East Asian monsoon and the Westerly Jet Axis seems to affect the strength of water stratification and the nutrient supply; thereby, regulating the dissolved oxygen exchange between surface and bottom waters. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.:40906035,40710069004) and by basic scientific fund for

Land uplift and relative sea-level changes in the Loviisa area, southeastern Finland, during the last 8000 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miettinen, A.; Eronen, M.; Hyvaerinen, H.

1999-09-01

Southeastern Finland belongs to the area covered by the Weichselian ice sheet, where the release of the ice load caused a rapid isostatic rebound during the postglacial time. While the mean overall apparent uplift is of the order of 2 mm/yr today, in the early Holocene time it was several times higher. A marked decrease in the rebound rate occurred around 8500 BP, however, since then the uplift rate has remained high until today, with a slightly decreasing trend towards the present time. According to current understanding there have neither been temporary increases nor decreases in the rate of uplift during the postglacial time. Even so, it is not known for sure whether there are regional irregularities on the rebound in Finland. Concurrently with land uplift, relative sea-level changes in the Baltic basin were also strongly affected by the global eustatic rise of sea-level. During the early Litorina Sea stage on the southern coast of Finland around 7000 BP, the rise in sea-level exceeded the rate of land uplift, and resulted in a short-lived transgression. The most accurate information on relative sea-level changes in an uplifting area may be obtained from radiocarbon dated events of isolation in small lake basins, as they were cut off from larger bodies of water. The isolations of such basins from the sea may be reliably determined by the recorded changes in the diatom flora in the sediment sequences, at horizons which may be radiometrically dated. In the present study, the isolation-horizons of 13 basins were dated by 26 conventional and 2 AMS radiocarbon dates. According to the available sets of dates, the time span of emergence extends from 8300 BP to the past few hundred years, for lakes from c. 30 m to 1.1 m above the present sea-level. Due to the global rise in sea-level, during the period of 7500-6500 BP, the sea-level rise clearly exceeded the rate of uplift, and resulted in the Litorina transgression, which had an amplitude of around one metre. The

Land uplift and relative sea-level changes in the Loviisa area, southeastern Finland, during the last 8000 years

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miettinen, A.; Eronen, M.; Hyvaerinen, H. [Helsinki Univ. (Finland). Dept. of Geology

1999-09-01

Southeastern Finland belongs to the area covered by the Weichselian ice sheet, where the release of the ice load caused a rapid isostatic rebound during the postglacial time. While the mean overall apparent uplift is of the order of 2 mm/yr today, in the early Holocene time it was several times higher. A marked decrease in the rebound rate occurred around 8500 BP, however, since then the uplift rate has remained high until today, with a slightly decreasing trend towards the present time. According to current understanding there have neither been temporary increases nor decreases in the rate of uplift during the postglacial time. Even so, it is not known for sure whether there are regional irregularities on the rebound in Finland. Concurrently with land uplift, relative sea-level changes in the Baltic basin were also strongly affected by the global eustatic rise of sea-level. During the early Litorina Sea stage on the southern coast of Finland around 7000 BP, the rise in sea-level exceeded the rate of land uplift, and resulted in a short-lived transgression. The most accurate information on relative sea-level changes in an uplifting area may be obtained from radiocarbon dated events of isolation in small lake basins, as they were cut off from larger bodies of water. The isolations of such basins from the sea may be reliably determined by the recorded changes in the diatom flora in the sediment sequences, at horizons which may be radiometrically dated. In the present study, the isolation-horizons of 13 basins were dated by 26 conventional and 2 AMS radiocarbon dates. According to the available sets of dates, the time span of emergence extends from 8300 BP to the past few hundred years, for lakes from c. 30 m to 1.1 m above the present sea-level. Due to the global rise in sea-level, during the period of 7500-6500 BP, the sea-level rise clearly exceeded the rate of uplift, and resulted in the Litorina transgression, which had an amplitude of around one metre. The

POSSIBILITY TO CREATE A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE IN TODAY’S WORKING ENVIRONMENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anca BRATU

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Purpose – This paper aims to debate the possibility of creating a social enterprise in a certain region of Romania. Design/methodology/approach – In the first section there is a theoretical approach of some aspects of societal change processes and seven trends which indicate the change processes within the working environment. From the same point of view, there are also mentioned different types of entrepreneurial activities. The paper ends with a case study which is dealing with the study of the potential to create social enterprises to support rural communities in Bistrita Nasaud. Findings – The data provides an array of social problems that are facing the people of this region: the lack of jobs, of qualifications required by the market, poverty, social exclusion of vulnerable groups. Practical implications/originality/value – The presentation of a case study specific to social entrepreneurship within a larger theoretical framework triggers a complex approach in compliance with the specified theoretical aspects.

Outcome for children with metastatic solid tumors over the last four decades.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephanie M Perkins

Full Text Available Outcomes for pediatric solid tumors have significantly improved over the last 30 years. However, much of this improvement is due to improved outcome for patients with localized disease. Here we evaluate overall survival (OS for pediatric patients with metastatic disease over the last 40 years.The United States Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER database was used to conduct this study. Patients diagnosed between 0 and 18 years of age with metastatic Ewings sarcoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma or Wilms tumor were included in the analysis.3,009 patients diagnosed between 1973-2010 met inclusion criteria for analysis. OS at 10 years for patients diagnosed between 1973-1979, 1980-1989, 1990-1999 and 2000-2010 was 28.3%, 37.2%, 44.7% and 49.3%, respectively (p<0.001. For patients diagnosed between 2000-2010, 10-year OS for patients with Ewing sarcoma, neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and Wilms tumor was 30.6%, 54.4%, 29.3%, 27.5%, and 76.6%, respectively, as compared to 13.8%, 25.1%, 13.6%, 17.9% and 57.1%, respectively, for patients diagnosed between 1973-1979. OS for neuroblastoma significantly increased with each decade. For patients with osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma, there was no improvement in OS over the last two decades. There was no improvement in outcome for patients with rhabdomyosarcoma or Wilms tumor over the last 30 years.OS for pediatric patients with metastatic solid tumors has significantly improved since the 1970s. However, outcome has changed little for some malignancies in the last 20-30 years. These data underscore the importance of continued collaboration and studies to improve outcome for these patients.

Utilisation of strategic communication to create willingness to change work practices among primary care staff: a long-term follow-up study.

Science.gov (United States)

Morténius, Helena; Fridlund, Bengt; Marklund, Bertil; Palm, Lars; Baigi, Amir

2012-04-01

To evaluate the long-term utilisation of strategic communication as a factor of importance when changing work practices among primary care staff. In many health care organisations, there is a gap between theory and practice. This gap hinders the provision of optimal evidence-based practice and, in the long term, is unfavourable for patient care. One way of overcoming this barrier is systematically structured communication between the scientific theoretical platform and clinical practice. This longitudinal evaluative study was conducted among a primary care staff cohort. Strategic communication was considered to be the intervention platform and included a network of ambassadors who acted as a component of the implementation. Measurements occurred 7 and 12 years after formation of the cohort. A questionnaire was used to obtain information from participants. In total, 846 employees (70%) agreed to take part in the study. After 12 years, the 352 individuals (60%) who had remained in the organisation were identified and followed up. Descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis were used to analyse the data. Continuous information contributed to significant improvements over time with respect to new ideas and the intention to change work practices. There was a statistically significant synergistic effect on the new way of thinking, that is, willingness to change work practices. During the final two years, the network of ambassadors had created a distinctive image for itself in the sense that primary care staff members were aware of it and its activities. This awareness was associated with a positive change with regard to new ways of thinking. More years of practice was inversely associated with willingness to change work practices. Strategic communication may lead to a scientific platform that promotes high-quality patient care by means of new methods and research findings.

Municipal solid waste management in Tehran: Changes during the last 5 years.

Science.gov (United States)

Malmir, Tahereh; Tojo, Yasumasa

2016-05-01

The situation of waste management in Tehran was a typical example of it in developing countries. The amount of municipal solid waste has been increasing and the city has depended on landfill for municipal solid waste management. However, in recent years, various measures have been taken by the city, such as collecting recyclables at the source and increasing the capacity of waste-processing facilities. As a result, significant changes in the waste stream are starting to occur. This study investigated the nature of, and reasons for, the marked changes in the waste stream from 2008 to 2012 by analysing the municipal solid waste statistics published by the Tehran Waste Management Organization in 2013 and survey data on the physical composition of the municipal solid waste. The following trends were identified: Although the generation of municipal solid waste increased by 10% during the 5-year period, the amount of waste directly disposed of to landfill halved and resource recovery almost doubled. An increase in the capacity of a waste-processing facility contributed significantly to these changes. The biodegradable fraction going to landfill was estimated by using the quantity and the composition of each input to the landfill. The estimated result in 2012 decreased to 49% of its value in 2008. © The Author(s) 2016.

Simulated climate change during the last 1,000 years: comparing the ECHO-G general circulation model with the MAGICC simple climate model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Osborn, Timothy J.; Briffa, Keith R. [University of East Anglia, Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich (United Kingdom); Raper, Sarah C.B. [University of East Anglia, Climatic Research Unit, School of Environmental Sciences, Norwich (United Kingdom); Manchester Metropolitan University, Dalton Research Institute, Manchester (United Kingdom)

2006-08-15

An intercomparison of eight climate simulations, each driven with estimated natural and anthropogenic forcings for the last millennium, indicates that the so-called ''Erik'' simulation of the ECHO-G coupled ocean-atmosphere climate model exhibits atypical behaviour. The ECHO-G simulation has a much stronger cooling trend from 1000 to 1700 and a higher rate of warming since 1800 than the other simulations, with the result that the overall amplitude of millennial-scale temperature variations in the ECHO-G simulation is much greater than in the other models. The MAGICC (Model for the Assessment of Greenhouse-gas-Induced Climate Change) simple climate model is used to investigate possible causes of this atypical behaviour. It is shown that disequilibrium in the initial conditions probably contributes spuriously to the cooling trend in the early centuries of the simulation, and that the omission of tropospheric sulphate aerosol forcing is the likely explanation for the anomalously large recent warming. The simple climate model results are used to adjust the ECHO-G Erik simulation to mitigate these effects, which brings the simulation into better agreement with the other seven models considered here and greatly reduces the overall range of temperature variations during the last millennium simulated by ECHO-G. Smaller inter-model differences remain which can probably be explained by a combination of the particular forcing histories and model sensitivities of each experiment. These have not been investigated here, though we have diagnosed the effective climate sensitivity of ECHO-G to be 2.39{+-}0.11 K for a doubling of CO{sub 2}. (orig.)

Peptic ulcer complications requiring surgery: what has changed in the last 50 years in Turkey.

Science.gov (United States)

Güzel, Hakan; Kahramanca, Sahin; Şeker, Duray; Özgehan, Gülay; Tunç, Gündüz; Küçükpınar, Tevfik; Kargıcı, Hülagü

2014-04-01

The incidence and prevalence of peptic ulcer disease has decreased in recent years, but it is not so easy to make the same conclusion when complications of peptic ulcer are taken into consideration. The aim of this study is to determine the time trends in complicated peptic ulcer disease and to state the effects of H2 receptor blockers, proton pump inhibitors (PPI), and H. pylori eradication therapies on these complications. This study retrospectively evaluated the patients who were operated on for complications (perforation, bleeding, and obstruction) of peptic ulcer for the last 50 years. Patients were grouped into four groups (G1-G4) according to the dates in which H2 receptor blockers, PPIs, and eradication regimens for H. pylori were introduced The time periods that were studied were: (G1) 1962-1980, (G2) 1981-1990, (G3) 1991-1997, and (G4) 1998-2012. In total, 2953 patients were operated on for complications of peptic ulcer disease, of which 86% of the patients were male. In G1, perforation and obstruction were significantly the most frequent complications (p<0.001), followed by bleeding. In groups G2 and G3, obstruction was still the most frequent complication requiring surgery (p<0.001). In G2 and G3, obstruction was followed by perforation and bleeding, respectively. In G4, perforation was significantly the most frequent complication (p<0.001). From 1962 to 1990 obstruction was the most common complication requiring surgery. In the last decade, perforation became the most common complication. In contrast to reports in the literature, bleeding was the least common complication requiring surgery in Turkey.

Cryogenic air separation: the last twenty years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grenier, M.; Petit, P.

1986-01-01

In the last 20 years cryogenic air separation plant sizes have increased from 150 tons per day to 2800 tons per day. Progressively reversing heat exchangers have replaced regenerators. However, with this arrangement, the quantity of pure product output is limited to about 50% of the air input. With the appearance on the market of molecular sieve, another arrangement was developed, which allows one to produce a combined pure product flow equivalent to 85% of the air input. Recently, there has been a strong tendency for the reversing exchangers to be superseded by this arrangement. Due to the ever increasing cost of energy, optimization studies are today pushed much further than they used to be; as a consequence there have been major changes in the size of equipment, improvements in the machinery, and simultaneous developments in instrumentation

Register of the last 1000 years of environmental, climatic and anthropogenic change in Isla Grande de Chiloé, inferred through a multi-proxy approach: Lake Pastahué, Chile-South Center (42°S)

Science.gov (United States)

Troncoso, Jose; Alvarez, Denisse; Díaz, Gustavo; Fierro, Pablo; Araneda, Alberto; Torrejón, Fernando; Rondanelli, Mauricio; Fagel, Nathalie; Urrutia, Roberto

2017-04-01

Knowledge of the past environmental and climatic conditions of the lake ecosystems of the Isla Grande de Chiloé and its relationship with the anthropic effect, on a high temporal resolution scale, is scarcely known. Specifically, multi-proxy studies provide a better understanding of the context in which changes occurred in the past. This insular region is particularly interesting because environmental conditions (pre and post-Hispanic) and knowledge about the impacts generated in the ecosystems during the Spanish colonization process have so far been little studied, compared to the rest of Chile continental. This research is a new contribution to the scarce information existing for the last millennium of the Isla Grande de Chiloé. The objective of this work was to reconstruct the environmental and climatic history of the last 1000 years, from the Lake Pastahué, in the Isla Grande de Chiloé through a multi-proxy analysis and compare them with other records for the region. The core sediment was sub-sampled to perform sedimentological analysis (organic matter, carbonates, magnetic susceptibility and granulometry) and biological indicators (pollen, chironomids). The age model was constructed from the activity of 210Pb,137Cs and 14C. The pollen results reveal a composition of nordpatagónico forest represented by Nothofagus, Weinmannia, Drimys, Tepualia, Myrtaceae, Poaceae and Pteridophyta, while the anthropic effect for the last cm of the profile is represented by Rumex and Pinus. The results show a significant increase in magnetic susceptibility since the middle of the 20th century, suggesting an increase in allochthonous material to the lake. The sedimentological parameters and the chironomid assembly show similar variations along the profile, which also shows changes in the trophic state of the lake. The changes recorded in lake Pastahue are directly related to past climatic phenomena occurring in the last millennium, such as the medieval climatic anomaly (MCA

Lasting effects of soil health improvements with management changes in cotton-based cropping systems in a sandy soil

Science.gov (United States)

The soil microbial component is essential for sustainable agricultural systems and soil health. This study evaluated the lasting impacts of 5 years of soil health improvements from alternative cropping systems compared to intensively tilled continuous cotton (Cont. Ctn) in a low organic matter sandy...

Study of PIN diode energy traps created by neutrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sopko, V; Dammer, J; Sopko, B; Chren, D

2013-01-01

Characterization of radiation defects is still ongoing and finds greater application in the increasing radiation doses on semiconductor detectors in experiments. Studying the changes of silicon PIN diode for high doses of radiation is the fundamental motivation for our measurements. In this article we describe the behavior of the PIN diode and development of the disorder caused by neutrons from a 252Cf and doses up to 8 Gy. The calibration curve for PIN diode shows the effect of disorders as the changes of the voltampere characteristics depending on the dose of neutron irradiation. The measured values for defects are in good agreement with created energy traps.

Stable isotopes in emu and genyornis eggshell and changes in moisture source delivery to the Australian interior over the last 70 ka

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johnson, B.J.; Miller, G.H.; Fogel, M.L.

1997-01-01

Moisture delivery to the northern and southern margins of the Australian continent is largely seasonal. Northern Australia receives almost all of its precipitation from the Australian monsoon in the summer months, and southern Australia receives most of its precipitation from the northward expansion fo the westerlies in the winter months. Central Australia is semi-arid to arid, and receives its moisture throughout the year, from convective disturbances arising from either the Australian monsoon or the Westerlies. Geologic evidence from central Australia indicates that the Lake Eyre Basin (LEB) has been both wetter and drier than it is today throughout the late Quaternary. Information on the nature of these climatic changes is derived from the stable isotope composition of late Quaternary fossil avian eggshell collected from the LEB. The eggshells analyzed were laid by two large flightless birds indigenous to Australia: the emu (extant) and Genyornis newtoni (extinct), and span the last 70 ka. (author)

Black and blue gas, the Gaz de France story during the last forty years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Beltran, A.; Williot, J.P.

1992-01-01

This book narrates Gaz de France story during the last forty years. The author describes the great events such change from coal gas to methane (black and blue gas), building of a national distribution network, natural gas promoting, negotiating on great supply contracts, research programs. 61 refs., 12 figs., 29 photos

Response of methane emissions from wetlands to the Last Glacial Maximum and an idealized Dansgaard-Oeschger climate event: insights from two models of different complexity

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ringeval, B.; Hopcroft, P.O.; Valdes, P.J.; Ciais, P.; Ramstein, G.; Dolman, A.J.; Kageyama, M.

2013-01-01

The role of different sources and sinks of CH4 in changes in atmospheric methane ([CH4]) concentration during the last 100 000 yr is still not fully understood. In particular, the magnitude of the change in wetland CH4 emissions at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) relative to the pre-industrial period

The Last Big Bang

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McGuire, Austin D. [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Meade, Roger Allen [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

2016-09-13

As one of the very few people in the world to give the “go/no go” decision to detonate a nuclear device, Austin “Mac” McGuire holds a very special place in the history of both the Los Alamos National Laboratory and the world. As Commander of Joint Task Force Unit 8.1.1, on Christmas Island in the spring and summer of 1962, Mac directed the Los Alamos data collection efforts for twelve of the last atmospheric nuclear detonations conducted by the United States. Since data collection was at the heart of nuclear weapon testing, it fell to Mac to make the ultimate decision to detonate each test device. He calls his experience THE LAST BIG BANG, since these tests, part of Operation Dominic, were characterized by the dramatic displays of the heat, light, and sounds unique to atmospheric nuclear detonations – never, perhaps, to be witnessed again.

Gestational Exposure to a Viral Mimetic Poly(I:C Results in Long-Lasting Changes in Mitochondrial Function by Leucocytes in the Adult Offspring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cecilia Giulivi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Maternal immune activation (MIA is a potential risk factor for autism spectrum disorder (ASD and schizophrenia (SZ. In rodents, MIA results in changes in cytokine profiles and abnormal behaviors in the offspring that model these neuropsychiatric conditions. Given the central role that mitochondria have in immunity and other metabolic pathways, we hypothesized that MIA will result in a fetal imprinting that leads to postnatal deficits in the bioenergetics of immune cells. To this end, splenocytes from adult offspring exposed gestationally to the viral mimic poly(I:C were evaluated for mitochondrial outcomes. A significant decrease in mitochondrial ATP production was observed in poly(I:C-treated mice (45% of controls mainly attributed to a lower complex I activity. No differences were observed between the two groups in the coupling of electron transport to ATP synthesis, or the oxygen uptake under uncoupling conditions. Concanavalin A- (ConA- stimulated splenocytes from poly(I:C animals showed no statistically significant changes in cytokine levels compared to controls. The present study reports for the first time that MIA activation by poly(I:C at early gestation, which can lead to behavioral impairments in the offspring similar to SZ and ASD, leads to long-lasting effects in the bioenergetics of splenocytes of adult offspring.

Sedimentary changes on the Southeastern Brazilian upper slope during the last 35,000 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michel M. Mahiques

2007-03-01

Full Text Available A first evaluation of the sedimentary changes, including accumulation of inorganic and organic carbon on the upper slope off Southeastern Brazil under different climatic conditions, based on the analysis of a sedimentary core, is here presented. Results indicate that sedimentation rate as well sedimentary characteristics, including the nature of the organic carbon deposited during the LGM (Last Glacial Maximum, were different from the present deposition, indicating higher primary productivity during the LGM, to be accounted for by the higher values of marine organic carbon. Nevertheless, the higher values of Accumulation Rate of calcium carbonate and organic carbon can be credited to the higher values of the sedimentation rates. Conditions prevailing during Isotope Stage 3 may be considered intermediate as between the LGM and the present day. The conditions for a higher primary productivity associated with the deposition of finer terrigenous sediments may be explained as a response to the off shoreward displacement of the main flow of the Brazil Current.Este trabalho apresenta uma primeira avaliação das mudanças sedimentares, incluindo a acumulação de carbono orgânico e inorgânico, no talude continental superior do Brasil, sob diferentes condições climáticas, baseadas em análises de um testemunho. Os resultados indicam que a taxa de sedimentação, assim como as características sedimentares, incluindo a natureza do carbono orgânico depositado durante o UMG (Último Máximo Glacial, foram diferentes dos processos deposicionais atuais, indicando maior produtividade primária durante o UMG, como determinado pelos maiores valores de carbono orgânico marinho. Entretanto, os maiores valores de Taxa de Acumulação de carbonato de cálcio e carbono orgânico podem ser creditados aos valores mais altos de taxas de sedimentação. As condições prevalentes durante o Estágio Isotópico 3 podem ser consideradas intermediárias entre o UMG e

Hybrid membrane contactor system for creating semi-breathing air

Science.gov (United States)

Timofeev, D. V.

2012-02-01

Typically, the equipment to create an artificial climate does not involve changing the composition of the respiratory air. In particular in medical institutions assumes the existence of plant of artificial climate and disinfection in operating rooms and intensive care wards. The use of a hybrid membrane-absorption systems for the generation of artificial atmospheres are improving the respiratory system, blood is enriched or depleted of various gases, resulting in increased stamina, there is a better, faster or slower metabolism, improves concentration and memory. Application of the system contributes to easy and rapid recovery after the operation. By adding a special component, with drug activity, air ionization, and adjust its composition, you can create a special, more favorable for patients with the atmosphere. These factors allow for the treatment and rehabilitation of patients and reduce mortality of heavy patients.

An overview of prescribed fire in Arkansas and Oklahoma over the last 40 years

Science.gov (United States)

Roger D. Fryar

2012-01-01

Over the last 40 years, prescribed fire programs on National Forest lands have grown from relatively insignificant to a major emphasis area of natural resource management. During this same period, social, economic, and cultural values have greatly changed. The public's environmental awareness has likewise grown. How prescribed fire programs in Arkansas and...

A reconstruction of global agricultural areas and land cover for the last millennium

Science.gov (United States)

Pongratz, J.; Reick, C.; Raddatz, T.; Claussen, M.

2008-09-01

Humans have substantially modified the Earth's land cover, especially by transforming natural ecosystems to agricultural areas. In preindustrial times, the expansion of agriculture was probably the dominant process by which humankind altered the Earth system, but little is known about its extent, timing, and spatial pattern. This study presents an approach to reconstruct spatially explicit changes in global agricultural areas (cropland and pasture) and the resulting changes in land cover over the last millennium. The reconstruction is based on published maps of agricultural areas for the last three centuries. For earlier times, a country-based method is developed that uses population data as a proxy for agricultural activity. With this approach, the extent of cropland and pasture is consistently estimated since AD 800. The resulting reconstruction of agricultural areas is combined with a map of potential vegetation to estimate the resulting historical changes in land cover. Uncertainties associated with this approach, in particular owing to technological progress in agriculture and uncertainties in population estimates, are quantified. About 5 million km2 of natural vegetation are found to be transformed to agriculture between AD 800 and 1700, slightly more to cropland (mainly at the expense of forested area) than to pasture (mainly at the expense of natural grasslands). Historical events such as the Black Death in Europe led to considerable dynamics in land cover change on a regional scale. The reconstruction can be used with global climate and ecosystem models to assess the impact of human activities on the Earth system in preindustrial times.

Creating visual explanations improves learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Bobek, Eliza; Tversky, Barbara

2016-01-01

Many topics in science are notoriously difficult for students to learn. Mechanisms and processes outside student experience present particular challenges. While instruction typically involves visualizations, students usually explain in words. Because visual explanations can show parts and processes of complex systems directly, creating them should have benefits beyond creating verbal explanations. We compared learning from creating visual or verbal explanations for two STEM domains, a mechanical system (bicycle pump) and a chemical system (bonding). Both kinds of explanations were analyzed for content and learning assess by a post-test. For the mechanical system, creating a visual explanation increased understanding particularly for participants of low spatial ability. For the chemical system, creating both visual and verbal explanations improved learning without new teaching. Creating a visual explanation was superior and benefitted participants of both high and low spatial ability. Visual explanations often included crucial yet invisible features. The greater effectiveness of visual explanations appears attributable to the checks they provide for completeness and coherence as well as to their roles as platforms for inference. The benefits should generalize to other domains like the social sciences, history, and archeology where important information can be visualized. Together, the findings provide support for the use of learner-generated visual explanations as a powerful learning tool.

Deep aquifers: last resort water resources in case of major pollution crisis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesny, M.; Comte, J.P.

1996-01-01

Within the framework of a reflection dealing with the possibility to insure sufficient drinking water supply in case of major crisis, the Ministry of the Environment undertook an inventory of the aquiferous systems on the whole French (continental) territory. In case of a generalized surface water and groundwater contamination, these aquifers could provide substitution water, qualified as 'a last resorted water' because of its temporary - fast definitive - protection statute. A scale of value relative to the protection level was created, which enables the researchers to identify three levels of protection and to draw up a 1/1,500,000 scale map of France, on which the limits of 98 phreatic water-tables, identified as protected, have been reported. The great majority of the aquifers corresponds to confined waters. A statistical analysis on the existence of protected resources reveals that 16 departments out of 96 have got protected resources on the whole territory, and that 22 others haven't got any that are registered at national scale. Otherwise, 61 towns out of 103 which count more that 50,000 inhabitants have got protected resources, which correspond to 61 % of the urban population. In a second time, the cases of the urban centres of Paris and Lyon will be looked into more in detail, stating precisely the protected resources which could be mobilized and the existing collecting equipments which could possibility be integrated in a device used as a last resort. (authors). 3 figs

North Atlantic ocean circulation and abrupt climate change during the last glaciation.

Science.gov (United States)

Henry, L G; McManus, J F; Curry, W B; Roberts, N L; Piotrowski, A M; Keigwin, L D

2016-07-29

The most recent ice age was characterized by rapid and hemispherically asynchronous climate oscillations, whose origin remains unresolved. Variations in oceanic meridional heat transport may contribute to these repeated climate changes, which were most pronounced during marine isotope stage 3, the glacial interval 25 thousand to 60 thousand years ago. We examined climate and ocean circulation proxies throughout this interval at high resolution in a deep North Atlantic sediment core, combining the kinematic tracer protactinium/thorium (Pa/Th) with the deep water-mass tracer, epibenthic δ(13)C. These indicators suggest reduced Atlantic overturning circulation during every cool northern stadial, with the greatest reductions during episodic Hudson Strait iceberg discharges, while sharp northern warming followed reinvigorated overturning. These results provide direct evidence for the ocean's persistent, central role in abrupt glacial climate change. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The origin of life and the last universal common ancestor: do we need a change of perspective?

Science.gov (United States)

Glansdorff, Nicolas; Xu, Ying; Labedan, Bernard

2009-09-01

A complete tree with roots, trunk and crown remains an appropriate model to represent all steps of life's development, from the emergence of a unique genetic code up to the last universal common ancestor and its further radiation. Catalytic closure of a mixture of prebiotic polymers is a heuristic alternative to the RNA world. Conjectures about emergence of life in an infinite multiverse should not confuse probability with possibility.

Creating School Change: Discovering a Choice of Lenses for the School Administrator.

Science.gov (United States)

Amatea, Ellen S.; And Others

1996-01-01

Proposes a variety of epistemological lenses for viewing the school change process for school administrators' use. Applies these lenses in an actual case study depicting school change, illustrating how administrators can shift focus, position, and mode of inquiry from their usual rational viewpoint. Analyzes implications of using such lenses for…

The separatrix response of diverted TCV plasmas compared to the CREATE-L model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vyas, P.; Lister, J.B.; Villone, F.; Albanese, R.

1997-11-01

The response of Ohmic, single-null diverted, non-centred plasmas in TCV to poloidal field coil stimulation has been compared to the linear CREATE-L MHD equilibrium response model. The closed loop responses of directly measured quantities, reconstructed parameters, and the reconstructed plasma contour were all examined. Provided that the plasma position and shape perturbation were small enough for the linearity assumption to hold, the model-experiment agreement was good. For some stimulations the open loop vertical position instability growth rate changed significantly, illustrating the limitations of a linear model. A different model was developed with the assumption that the flux at the plasma boundary is frozen and was also compared with experimental results. It proved not to be as reliable as the CREATE-L model for some simulation parameters showing that the experiments were able to discriminate between different plasma response models. The closed loop response was also found to be sensitive to changes in the modelled plasma shape. It was not possible to invalidate the CREATE-L model despite the extensive range of responses excited by the experiments. (author) figs., tabs., 5 refs

Comparison of the CREATE-L plasma response model with TCV limited discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villone, F.; Vyas, P.; Lister, J.B.; Albanese, R.

1997-01-01

Experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to evaluate the response of ohmic, L mode, limited, vertically unstable plasmas to changes in all the poloidal field coil voltages. The resulting closed loop plasma responses have been compared with the CREATE-L linearized MHD equilibrium model of the TCV tokamak. All the responses in both the time domain and the frequency domain show excellent agreement both for directly measured quantities and for derived parameters. No modifications to the CREATE-L model were made to achieve this quality of agreement, indicating that the underlying physical assumptions are appropriate. (author). 17 refs, 20 figs

Last crystals for the CMS chandelier

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

In March, the last crystals for CMS’s electromagnetic calorimeter arrived from Russia and China. Like dedicated jewellers crafting an immense chandelier, the CMS ECAL collaborators are working extremely hard to install all the crystals before the start-up of the LHC. One of the last CMS end-cap crystals, complete with identification bar code. Lead tungstate crystals mounted onto one section of the CMS ECAL end caps. Nearly 10 years after the first production crystal arrived at CERN in September 1998, the very last shipment has arrived. These final crystals will be used to complete the end-caps of the electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) at CMS. All in all, there are more than 75,000 crystals in the ECAL. The huge quantity of CMS lead tungstate crystals used in the ECAL corresponds to the highest volume ever produced for a single experiment. The excellent quality of the crystals, both in ter...

Last-position elimination-based learning automata.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Junqi; Wang, Cheng; Zhou, MengChu

2014-12-01

An update scheme of the state probability vector of actions is critical for learning automata (LA). The most popular is the pursuit scheme that pursues the estimated optimal action and penalizes others. This paper proposes a reverse philosophy that leads to last-position elimination-based learning automata (LELA). The action graded last in terms of the estimated performance is penalized by decreasing its state probability and is eliminated when its state probability becomes zero. All active actions, that is, actions with nonzero state probability, equally share the penalized state probability from the last-position action at each iteration. The proposed LELA is characterized by the relaxed convergence condition for the optimal action, the accelerated step size of the state probability update scheme for the estimated optimal action, and the enriched sampling for the estimated nonoptimal actions. The proof of the ϵ-optimal property for the proposed algorithm is presented. Last-position elimination is a widespread philosophy in the real world and has proved to be also helpful for the update scheme of the learning automaton via the simulations of well-known benchmark environments. In the simulations, two versions of the LELA, using different selection strategies of the last action, are compared with the classical pursuit algorithms Discretized Pursuit Reward-Inaction (DP(RI)) and Discretized Generalized Pursuit Algorithm (DGPA). Simulation results show that the proposed schemes achieve significantly faster convergence and higher accuracy than the classical ones. Specifically, the proposed schemes reduce the interval to find the best parameter for a specific environment in the classical pursuit algorithms. Thus, they can have their parameter tuning easier to perform and can save much more time when applied to a practical case. Furthermore, the convergence curves and the corresponding variance coefficient curves of the contenders are illustrated to characterize their

Climate change: Conflict of observational science, theory, and politics

Science.gov (United States)

Gerhard, L.C.

2004-01-01

Debate over whether human activity causes Earth climate change obscures the immensity of the dynamic systems that create and maintain climate on the planet. Anthropocentric debate leads people to believe that they can alter these planetary dynamic systems to prevent that they perceive as negative climate impacts on human civilization. Although politicians offer simplistic remedies, such as the Kyoto Protocol, global climate continues to change naturally. Better planning for the inevitable dislocations that have followed natural global climate changes throughout human history requires us to accept the fact that climate will change, and that human society must adapt to the changes. Over the last decade, the scientific literature reported a shift in emphasis from attempting to build theoretical models of putative human impacts on climate to understanding the planetwide dynamic processes that are the natural climate drivers. The current scientific literature is beginning to report the history of past climate change, the extent of natural climate variability, natural system drivers, and the episodicity of many climate changes. The scientific arguments have broadened from focus upon human effects on climate to include the array of natural phenomena that have driven global climate change for eons. However, significant political issues with long-term social consequences continue their advance. This paper summarizes recent scientific progress in climate science and arguments about human influence on climate. ?? 2004. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

Last tango in mid-air for CMS

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

TheYE-1 end-cap is the last CMS component to wave goodbye to the green grass of Cessy and plunge into the depths of the CMS cavern, bringing to an end a procession of spectacular descents lasting 15 months. See the video at the end of the article!

Neonatal oxytocin manipulations have long-lasting, sexually dimorphic effects on vasopressin receptors.

Science.gov (United States)

Bales, K L; Plotsky, P M; Young, L J; Lim, M M; Grotte, N; Ferrer, E; Carter, C S

2007-01-05

Developmental exposure to oxytocin (OT) or oxytocin antagonists (OTAs) has been shown to cause long-lasting and often sexually dimorphic effects on social behaviors in prairie voles (Microtus ochrogaster). Because regulation of social behavior in monogamous mammals involves central receptors for OT, arginine vasopressin (AVP), and dopamine, we examined the hypothesis that the long-lasting, developmental effects of exposure to neonatal OT or OTA might reflect changes in the expression of receptors for these peptides. On postnatal day 1, prairie voles were injected intraperitoneally with either OT (1 mg/kg), an OTA (0.1 mg/kg), saline vehicle, or were handled only. At approximately 60 days of age, vasopressin V1a receptors, OT receptors (OTR) and dopamine D2 receptor binding were quantified using receptor autoradiography in brain tissue taken from males and females. Significant treatment effects on V1a binding were found in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST), cingulate cortex (CgCtx), mediodorsal thalamus (MdThal), medial preoptic area of the hypothalamus (MPOA), and lateral septum (LS). The CgCtx, MPOA, ventral pallidum, and LS also showed significant sex by treatment interactions on V1a binding. No significant treatment or sex differences were observed for D2 receptor binding. No significant treatment difference was observed for OTR receptor binding, and only a marginal sex difference. Changes in the neuropeptide receptor expression, especially the V1a receptor, may help to explain sexually dimorphic changes in behavior that follow comparable neonatal manipulations.

Challenges in Incorporating Climate Change Adaptation into Integrated Water Resources Management

Science.gov (United States)

Kirshen, P. H.; Cardwell, H.; Kartez, J.; Merrill, S.

2011-12-01

Over the last few decades, integrated water resources management (IWRM), under various names, has become the accepted philosophy for water management in the USA. While much is still to be learned about how to actually carry it out, implementation is slowly moving forward - spurred by both legislation and the demands of stakeholders. New challenges to IWRM have arisen because of climate change. Climate change has placed increased demands on the creativities of planners and engineers because they now must design systems that will function over decades of hydrologic uncertainties that dwarf any previous hydrologic or other uncertainties. Climate and socio-economic monitoring systems must also now be established to determine when the future climate has changed sufficiently to warrant undertaking adaptation. The requirements for taking some actions now and preserving options for future actions as well as the increased risk of social inequities in climate change impacts and adaptation are challenging experts in stakeholder participation. To meet these challenges, an integrated methodology is essential that builds upon scenario analysis, risk assessment, statistical decision theory, participatory planning, and consensus building. This integration will create cross-disciplinary boundaries for these disciplines to overcome.

Creating effective social marketing: let your customer be your guide.

Science.gov (United States)

Brookes, R

2000-02-01

Social marketing uses commercial marketing techniques to change behaviors that benefit individuals or society in general. Unlike conventional marketing, which seeks to sell products or services, social marketing aims to promote voluntary behavior change. Some examples of behaviors that have changed due to social marketing are: using seat belts, wearing bike helmets, child immunizations, and smoking cessation. Although good social marketing campaigns use the same techniques as that of commercial marketers, by letting the customer be the guide for all major decisions, it is not primarily advertising and is not about top-down planning and decisions. Instead, it is about having a consumer orientation, which means understanding the target audience very well. An effective social marketer must be committed to ongoing communication with the audience in order to create programs, products, or practice that enable them to make the changes desired.

Diagnosing resistance to change in the change management process

OpenAIRE

Tetiana Kuzhda

2016-01-01

This article explains the change management process and resistance to organizational change through examining causes of resistance to change, diagnosing them, and finding the ways to deal with resistance to change. In business environment, the one thing any company can be assured of is change. If an organization experiences change it may also need to implement new business strategies, which can create resistance among employees. Managers need to know in which phase they have to expect unusual...

Creating photo-realistic works in a 3D scene using layers styles to create an animation

Science.gov (United States)

Avramescu, A. M.

2015-11-01

Creating realist objects in a 3D scene is not an easy work. We have to be very careful to make the creation very detailed. If we don't know how to make these photo-realistic works, by using the techniques and a good reference photo we can create an amazing amount of detail and realism. For example, in this article there are some of these detailed methods from which we can learn the techniques necessary to make beautiful and realistic objects in a scene. More precisely, in this paper, we present how to create a 3D animated scene, mainly using the Pen Tool and Blending Options. Indeed, this work is based on teaching some simple ways of using the Layer Styles to create some great shadows, lights, textures and a realistic sense of 3 Dimension. The present work involves also showing how some interesting ways of using the illuminating and rendering options can create a realistic effect in a scene. Moreover, this article shows how to create photo realistic 3D models from a digital image. The present work proposes to present how to use Illustrator paths, texturing, basic lighting and rendering, how to apply textures and how to parent the building and objects components. We also propose to use this proposition to recreate smaller details or 3D objects from a 2D image. After a critic art stage, we are able now to present in this paper the architecture of a design method that proposes to create an animation. The aim is to create a conceptual and methodological tutorial to address this issue both scientifically and in practice. This objective also includes proposing, on strong scientific basis, a model that gives the possibility of a better understanding of the techniques necessary to create a realistic animation.

The impact of healthcare costs in the last year of life and in all life years gained on the cost-effectiveness of cancer screening

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

de Kok, I M C M; Polder, J J; Habbema, J D F

2009-01-01

life year. We calculated the change in cost-effectiveness ratios (CERs) if unrelated healthcare costs in the LastYL or in LYsG would be included. Costs in the LastYL were on average 33% higher for persons dying from cancer than from any cause. Including costs in LysG increased the CER by 4040 euro...... in women, and by 4100 euro in men. Of these, 660 euro in women, and 890 euro in men, were costs in the LastYL. Including unrelated healthcare costs in the LastYL or in LYsG will change the comparative cost-effectiveness of healthcare programmes. The CERs of cancer screening programmes will clearly increase......, with approximately 4000 euro. However, because of the favourable CER's, including unrelated healthcare costs will in general have limited policy implications....

Climatic and environmental events over the Last Termination, as recorded in The Netherlands: a review

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoek, W.Z.; Bohncke, S.J.P.

The Last Termination, or Weichselian Lateglacial (ca 15-10 ka cal. BP), is a time period with rapid changes in climate and environment. The oxygen-isotope records of the Greenland ice-cores are regarded as the most complete climate proxy for the North Atlantic region. In The Netherlands several

The last 1000 years of ocean change in Monterey Bay, California: insights from the marine sedimentary record

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, V.; Addison, J. A.; Carlin, J.; Wagner, A. J.; Barron, J. A.

2017-12-01

In Monterey Bay, seasonal upwelling of cold nutrient-rich waters from the California Current sustains a diverse and abundant marine phytoplankton community, serving as the base of the local marine ecosystem, and contributing to atmospheric CO2 fixation. The response of this productive area to future climate change remains uncertain, thus this study looks to examine the Monterey Bay sediment record over the last millennia to provide perspective on future changes. To accomplish this, we examined biogenic sediment as a proxy for upwelling. While there is no existing sea surface temperature (SST) record for this time frame in Monterey Bay as an independent proxy of upwelling, we compare our data against the Santa Barbara Basin (SBB) alkenone SST record, and the global PAGES Ocean2K SST synthesis products to examine variability associated with the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA), the Little Ice Age (LIA), and the recent onset of industrial-era warming. Utilizing a pair of newly acquired sediment cores from the southern nearshore sector of Monterey Bay, PS1410-08GC (36.42°N, 121.54°W, depth 85 m) and PS1410-09GC (36.46°N, 121.51°W, depth 71 m), we performed sedimentological and geochemical analyses including multi-sensor core logging, computerized tomography (CT) scans, X-ray fluorescence (XRF), biogenic silica (opal), and HCNS elemental analysis. Age control for each core was determined by linearly interpolating basal 14C dates, and both sites represent high sedimentation rate areas (PS1410-08GC: 0.75 mm/yr, PS1410-09GC: 1.2 mm/yr). Despite being from a highly productive region, both cores contain relatively low concentrations of TOC, opal, and CaCO3, with total mean biogenic fractions of 7.38% and 6.67% for PS1410-08GC and -09GC, respectively, indicating significant terrigenous input throughout both records. Both cores show a decrease in bulk density and an increase in biogenic material from the MCA into the LIA at 1500 CE. A sharp increase in Monterey Bay bulk

Creating a family health history

Science.gov (United States)

... this page: //medlineplus.gov/ency/patientinstructions/000947.htm Creating a family health history To use the sharing ... Many health problems tend to run in families. Creating a family history can help you and your ...

The ghosts of trees past: savanna trees create enduring legacies in plant species composition.

Science.gov (United States)

Stahlheber, Karen A; Crispin, Kimberly L; Anton, Cassidy; D'Antonio, Carla M

2015-09-01

Isolated trees in savannas worldwide are known to modify their local environment and interact directly with neighboring plants. Less is known about how related tree species differ in their impacts on surrounding communities, how the effects of trees vary between years, and how composition might change following loss of the tree. To address these knowledge gaps, we explored the following questions: How do savanna trees influence the surrounding composition of herbaceous plants? Is the influence of trees consistent across different species and years? How does this change following the death of the tree? We surveyed herbaceous species composition and environmental attributes surrounding living and dead evergreen and deciduous Quercus trees in California (USA) savannas across several years that differed in their total precipitation. Oak trees of all species created distinct, homogenous understory communities dominated by exotic grasses across several sites. The composition of the low-diversity understory communities showed less interannual variation than open grassland, despite a two-fold difference in precipitation between the driest and wettest year. Vegetation composition was correlated with variation in soil properties, which were strongly affected by trees. Oaks also influenced the communities beyond the edge of the crown, but this depended on site and oak species. Low-diversity understory communities persisted up to 43 years following the death of the tree. A gradual decline in the effect of trees on the physical, environment following death did not result in vegetation becoming more similar to open grassland over time. The presence of long-lasting legacies of past tree crowns highlights the difficulty of assigning control of the current distribution of herbaceous species in grassland to their contemporary environment.

Mapping changes – from changing perspectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Bo Nissen

Changes in administrative structures over time has profound implications for the organisation of topographically ordered research data. One example could be the numerous changes in the municipal structure in Denmark the last 150 years. Mapping the huge amount of changes over the past 350 years...... context, and for instance historical censuses tied to an obsolete parish structure can now be depicted more accurately. Digitisation of historical place-name data is a key to establishing an efficient search facility, and though not fully integrated yet, the place-name data resulting from the project can...

NERIS workshop. Lasting contaminations and land development. After Fukushima: the possibility of a lasting radioactive contamination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2011-11-01

The document contains the contributions proposed during a workshop and the content of discussions after these contributions. For the first day, case studies are thus reported and commented: land contamination in Japan after the Fukushima accident, the CENTRACO plant accident, medium and long term stakes within the context of a lasting contamination by pesticides (the case of chlordecone pollution in the French West Indies), the complex and multiple actor challenges in the case of long duration radiological contamination for land agriculture, a lasting contamination in urban environment (the case of Metaleurop). The second session addressed the conditions and means for preparedness of local actors to a lasting radioactive contamination: the Norwegian approach, how to take the post-accidental perspective into account in the local safeguard plans, the PRIME project (research project on radio-ecological sensitivity indices and multi-criteria methods applied to the environment of an industrial territory), the pilot radiation protection project of the Montbeliard district, the OPAL project (to provide the local information commissions with post-accidental zoning information on the different French nuclear sites)

SWEDEN--RECENT CHANGES IN WELFARE STATE ARRANGEMENTS.

Science.gov (United States)

Burström, Bo

2015-01-01

The Swedish welfare state, once developed to create a new society based on social equality and universal rights, has taken on a partly new direction. Extensive choice reforms have been implemented in social services and an increasing proportion of tax-funded social services, including child day care, primary and secondary schools, health care, and care of the elderly, is provided by private entrepreneurs, although funded by taxes. Private equity firms have gained considerable profits from the welfare services. The changes have taken place over a 20-year period, but at an accelerated pace in the last decade. Sweden previously had very generous sickness and unemployment insurance, in terms of both duration and benefit levels, but is falling behind in terms of generosity, as indicated by increasing levels of relative poverty among those who depend on benefits and transfers. Increasing income inequality over the past 20 years further adds to increasing the gaps between population groups. In some respects, Sweden is becoming similar to other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries. The article describes some of the changes that have occurred. However, there is still widespread popular support for the publicly provided welfare state services.

Equatorial Indian Ocean productivity during the last 33 kyr and possible linkage to Westerly Jet variability

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Punyu, V.R.; Banakar, V.K.; Garg, A.

The top 1 m radiocarbon dated section of a 5.6 m long sediment core retrieved from the Equatorial Indian Ocean is studied for productivity changes in response to climate variability that have taken place during the last ~33 kyr. The robust...

Reading a book can change your mind, but only some changes last for a year: food attitude changes in readers of The Omnivore's Dilemma

OpenAIRE

Hormes, Julia M.; Rozin, Paul; Green, Melanie C.; Fincher, Katrina

2013-01-01

Attitude change is a critical component of health behavior change, but has rarely been studied longitudinally following extensive exposures to persuasive materials such as full-length movies, books, or plays. We examined changes in attitudes related to food production and consumption in college students who had read Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma as part of a University-wide reading project. Composite attitudes towards organic foods, local produce, meat, and the qualit...

Interhemispheric leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate in the eastern tropical Pacific during the last glacial period

Science.gov (United States)

Pichevin, Laetitia E.; Ganeshram, Raja S.; Francavilla, Stephen; Arellano-Torres, Elsa; Pedersen, Tom F.; Beaufort, Luc

2010-02-01

We present new high-resolution N isotope records from the Gulf of Tehuantepec and the Nicaragua Basin spanning the last 50-70 ka. The Tehuantepec site is situated within the core of the north subtropical denitrification zone while the Nicaragua site is at the southern boundary. The δ15N record from Nicaragua shows an “Antarctic” timing similar to denitrification changes observed off Peru-Chile but is radically different from the northern records. We attribute this to the leakage of isotopically heavy nitrate from the South Pacific oxygen minimum zone (OMZ) into the Nicaragua Basin. The Nicaragua record leads the other eastern tropical North Pacific (ETNP) records by about 1000 years because denitrification peaks in the eastern tropical South Pacific (ETSP) before denitrification starts to increase in the Northern Hemisphere OMZ, i.e., during warming episodes in Antarctica. We find that the influence of the heavy nitrate leakage from the ETSP is still noticeable, although attenuated, in the Gulf of Tehuantepec record, particularly at the end of the Heinrich events, and tends to alter the recording of millennial timescale denitrification changes in the ETNP. This implies (1) that sedimentary δ15N records from the southern parts of the ETNP cannot be used straightforwardly as a proxy for local denitrification and (2) that denitrification history in the ETNP, like in the Arabian Sea, is synchronous with Greenland temperature changes. These observations reinforce the conclusion that on millennial timescales during the last ice age, denitrification in the ETNP is strongly influenced by climatic variations that originated in the high-latitude North Atlantic region, while commensurate changes in Southern Ocean hydrography more directly, and slightly earlier, affected oxygen concentrations in the ETSP. Furthermore, the δ15N records imply ongoing physical communication across the equator in the shallow subsurface continuously over the last 50-70 ka.

Abrupt climate change in the computer: Is it real?

OpenAIRE

Stocker, Thomas F.; Marchal, Olivier

2000-01-01

Models suggest that dramatic changes in the ocean circulation are responsible for abrupt climate changes during the last ice age and may possibly alter the relative climate stability of the last 10,000 years.

Creating an anisotropic plasma resistivity with waves

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fisch, N.J.; Boozer, A.H.

1980-05-01

An anisotropic plasma resistivity may be created by preferential heating of electrons traveling in one direction. This can result in a steady-state toroidal current in a tokamak even in the absence of net wave momentum. In fact, at high wave phase velocities, the current associated with the change in resistivity is greater than that associated with net momentum input. An immediate implication is that other waves, such as electron cyclotron waves, may be competitive with lower-hybrid waves as a means for generating current. An analytical expression is derived for the current generated per power dissipated which agrees remarkably well with numerical calculations

Reading a book can change your mind, but only some changes last for a year: food attitude changes in readers of The Omnivore's Dilemma.

Science.gov (United States)

Hormes, Julia M; Rozin, Paul; Green, Melanie C; Fincher, Katrina

2013-01-01

Attitude change is a critical component of health behavior change, but has rarely been studied longitudinally following extensive exposures to persuasive materials such as full-length movies, books, or plays. We examined changes in attitudes related to food production and consumption in college students who had read Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma as part of a University-wide reading project. Composite attitudes toward organic foods, local produce, meat, and the quality of the American food supply, as well as opposition to government subsidies, distrust in corporations, and commitment to the environmental movement were significantly and substantially impacted, in comparison to students who had not read the book. Much of the attitude change disappeared after 1 year; however, over the course of 12 months self-reported opposition to government subsidies and belief that the quality of the food supply is declining remained elevated in readers of the book, compared to non-readers. Findings have implications for our understanding of the nature of changes in attitudes to food and eating in response to extensive exposure to coherent and engaging messages targeting health behaviors.

Tavakoolide õpetajate suhtumine kõigi laste koosõpetamisse ja nende oskused erivajadustega laste õpetamisel tavaklassis / Ene Mägi, Aina Haljaste

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Mägi, Ene, 1939-

2001-01-01

1998/99. õa. Eesti tavakoolides töötavate õpetajate seas läbi viidud küsitlusest: milline on õpetajate suhtumine kõigi laste koosõpetamisse ning missugused on õpetajate oskused ja vajadused erivajadustega laste õpetamisel tavaklassis

The changes of subtypes in pediatric diabetes and their clinical and laboratory characteristics over the last 20 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eun Byul Kwon

2016-06-01

Full Text Available PurposeWe studied the changes in subtypes of diabetes mellitus (DM in children and evaluated the characteristics of each group over the past 20 years. In addition, we also examined the correlation between the glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c values at the time of diagnosis and lipid profiles.MethodsThe patients were divided into 2 groups: there were a total of 190 patients under 20 years of age firstly diagnosed with DM in Ajou University Hospital. The patients in groups I and II were diagnosed from September 1995 to December 2004 and from January 2005 to April 2014, respectively.ResultsThe characteristics were compared between the 2 groups of patients. The result showed an increase in percentage of type 2 diabetes and maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY patients between the 2 groups. HbA1c and total cholesterol level had statistical significances to explain increasing the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol level among age, HbA1c, total cholesterol level, and z-scores of weight and body mass index (BMI in type 2 diabetes. R-square was 0.074. However, z-score of BMI and total cholesterol level, not HbA1c, had statistical significances in type 1 diabetic patients. R-square was 0.323.ConclusionThe increase in the proportions of both type 2 diabetes and MODY in the last 10 years needed to be reminded when diagnosing the subtypes of DM, and the dyslipidemia should be attended more as a common problem of pediatric diabetic patients.

Changing patterns in clinical-histological presentation and renal outcome over the last five decades in a cohort of 499 patients with lupus nephritis.

Science.gov (United States)

Moroni, Gabriella; Vercelloni, Paolo Gilles; Quaglini, Silvana; Gatto, Mariele; Gianfreda, Davide; Sacchi, Lucia; Raffiotta, Francesca; Zen, Margherita; Costantini, Gloria; Urban, Maria Letizia; Pieruzzi, Federico; Messa, Piergiorgio; Vaglio, Augusto; Sinico, Renato Alberto; Doria, Andrea

2018-05-05

To evaluate changes in demographic, clinical and histological presentation, and prognosis of lupus nephritis (LN) over time. We studied a multicentre cohort of 499 patients diagnosed with LN from 1970 to 2016. The 46-year follow-up was subdivided into three periods (P): P1 1970-1985, P2 1986-2001 and P3 2002-2016, and patients accordingly grouped based on the year of LN diagnosis. Predictors of patient and renal survival were investigated by univariate and multivariate proportional hazards Cox regression analyses. Survival curves were compared using the log-rank test. A progressive increase in patient age at the time of LN diagnosis (ppresentation progressively decreased (pClinical presentation of LN has become less severe in the last years, leading to a better long-term renal survival. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Lastesõbraliku mastaabi loomine = Creating Child-Friendly Spaces / Liina Jänes

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

Jänes, Liina, 1977-

2004-01-01

RaM Veskimöldre lasteaiast. Materjalideks raudbetoon, teras ja klaas. Välisviimistluses kasutatud servamata laudu betoonpinnal. Arhitektid Jaan Tiidemann ja Andres Lember, sisekujundaja Kristiina Voolaid. Konstruktsioonid: E-Betoonelement. Projekt 2003, valmis 2004. I ja II korruse plaan, sisevaade, 4 välisvaadet

Long Island Sound Water Temperatures During the Last Two Thousand Years

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, C. E.; Varekamp, J. C.; Thomas, E.

2010-12-01

The Long Island Sound (LIS), sometimes called the “urban sea”, is a large estuary in the heavily populated coastal zone between New York City and the Connecticut - Rhode Island border. LIS has seen dramatic environmental shifts since colonial times, including major changes in aquatic food extraction, land use, contaminant and nutrient inputs, and climate change. Annual seasonal hypoxic/anoxic events, especially common in westernmost LIS, have been identified as potentially severe stressors for LIS biota including valuable fisheries species such as lobsters and shellfish. These conditions develop when the Sound becomes stratified in midsummer and oxygen consumption from the oxidation of organic matter exceeds oxygen resupply from the atmosphere or photosynthesis. Severity, lateral extent and frequency of hypoxia/anoxia is influenced by the amount of organic matter available for oxidation, both marine organic matter (produced by algal blooms in response to influx of N-rich effluents from waste water treatment plants) and terrestrial organic matter. These events are also influenced by the severity of stratification, determined by differences in density from temperature and salinity gradients of surface and bottom waters. Studies of cores in western and central LIS, dated using Hg-pollution profiles, 210Pb - 137Cs, and 14C, indicate that eutrophication and hypoxia have occurred in LIS only over the last ~150 years, with the possible exception of the Narrows (closest to NY) where it may have occurred before colonial times. Salinity decreased as well over the last 150 years, possibly due to changes in land use or deflection of fresh water from the Hudson River. Temperature variability in LIS over the last few thousand years has not been clearly documented, as several paleotemperature proxies are difficult to use in estuarine settings. Oxygen isotope values of carbonate microfossils are influenced by salinity fluctuations, and Mg/Ca values in these shells may be

Rethinking crop diversification under changing climate, hydrology and food habit in Bangladesh

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aminul Islam Akanda

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Extreme temperature, frequent and intensive flood, cyclone and other natural disasters due to climate change became acute in Bangladesh and would be severe in future. Besides, water crisis due to shortage of upstream flow and very little rainfall in dry season would affect in a same way. Gradual higher dependency on groundwater irrigation during last few decades created pressure on groundwater even after a huge discharge during rainy season. Using secondary data, this research analyzed the changes in cropping pattern along with a forecast of area to be distributed among various crops in 2029-30 and proposed a re-distribution considering probable crop failure, water crisis and change in food habit. Inherit rice-dominated food habit and government incentive policy encouraged farmers to be concentrated highly on water-intensive rice farming. However, a recent tendency of less rice consumption would encourage crop diversification in future. An incentive policy for farming of diversified crops and their intensification in all crop seasons would be effective to reduce pressure on groundwater and to persuade a balanced food basket in Bangladesh.

The Art of Creating Attractive Consumer Experiences at the Right Time: Skills Marketers Will Need to Survive and Thrive

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lemon Katherine N.

2016-11-01

Full Text Available New technologies have made today’s marketing faster, more mobile, more location-based, more digital, more virtual, and more automatized than ever. In this new world, marketers need to be “real-time relevant” – to gain awareness, to change perceptions and to spur action. They need to have their content in the right channel, format, time and context – from a consumer’s perspective. Only then do they at least have a chance of the consumer attending to the information and being influenced by it. In such an environment new skills and competences are required. The amount of available data has virtually exploded. To gain any perspective or apparent “control” in these environments, successful managers must embrace the complexity and learn to analyze, integrate and interpret all this data. A critical skill for marketers will be to identify the metrics that best reflect the desired outcomes of the organization and that sufficiently reflect specific indicators of critical processes. Furthermore, insights from other disciplines such as architecture, design, information-processing, biology or engineering will be important for creating customer experiences. The marketer of the future will need to be supremely curious and creative and to balance and integrate different worlds. It will all come down to delivering memorable and lasting experiences in a constantly and fast changing environment.

Drought sensitivity changes over the last century at the North American savanna-forest boundary

Science.gov (United States)

Heilman, K.; McLachlan, J. S.

2017-12-01

Future environmental changes can affect the sensitivity of tree growth to climate. Theses changes are of particular concern at biome boundaries where tree distribution could shift as a result of changes in both drought and drought sensitivity. One such region is the North American savanna-forest boundary, where increased CO2 and droughts could alter savanna and forest ecosystem distributions in two contrasting ways: 1). More severe droughts may increase drought sensitivity, favoring open savanna ecosystems or, 2). Increases in water use efficiency resulting from higher atmospheric CO2 may decrease drought sensitivity, promoting forest expansion. This study sought to understand whether the past 100 years of climate and CO2 changes have impacted regional tree growth-climate sensitivity. To test for these climate sensitivity changes, we measured the sensitivity of Quercus spp. radial growth to Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). Tree growth sensitivity to climate can vary according to many factors, including: stand structure, available moisture, and tree age. To control for these factors, we sampled tree growth-climate responses at sites in both open and closed forests, and at both low and high annual precipitation. Within each site, we compared growth responses to climate between trees established under high CO2 conditions after 1950 (high CO2 young), and tree established before 1950 under low CO2 levels (low CO2 young). At most sites, low CO2 young have a higher drought sensitivity than higher CO2 young. These changes in the sensitivity to drought are consistent with CO2 enhancement of water use efficiency. Furthermore, these differences in drought sensitivity are higher at sites with high temperature and low precipitation, suggesting that the alleviation of drought is more likely in hot and dry regions. Thus, if CO2 enhancement is indeed occurring in these systems, lower growth sensitivity to drought in hot and dry regions could favor increased forest growth. If

Using multi-source satellite data to assess snow-cover change in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau in last decade

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, Y.; Chen, F.; Gao, Y.; Barlage, M. J.

2017-12-01

Snow cover in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP) is a critical component of water cycle and affects regional climate of East Asia. Satellite data from three different sources (i.e., FY3A/B/C, MODIS and IMS) were used to analyze the QTP fractional-snow-cover (FSC) change and associated uncertainties in the last decade. To reduce the high percentage of cloud in FY3A/B/C and MODIS, a four-step cloud removal procedure was applied and effectively reduced the cloud percentage from 40.8-56.1% to 2.2­-­3.3%. The averaged error introduced by the cloud removal procedure was about 2% estimated by a random sampling method. Results show that the snow cover in QTP significantly decreased in recent 5 years. Three data sets (FY3B, MODIS and IMS) showed significant decreased annual FSC at all elevation bands from 2012-2016, and a significant shorter snow season with delayed snow onset and earlier melting. Both IMS and MODIS had a slightly decline annual FSC from 2000 to 3000 m, while MODIS FSC slightly decreased in 2002-2016 and IMS FSC slightly increased from 2006-2016 in the region with elevation higher than 3000 m. Results also show significant uncertainties among the five data sets (FY3A/B/C, MODIS, IMS), although they showed similar fluctuations of daily FSC. IMS had largest snow-cover extent and highest daily FSC due to its multi data sources. FY3A/C and MODIS (observed in the morning) had around 5% higher mean FSC than FY3B (observed in the afternoon) due to the 3 hours detection time gap. The relative error of daily FSC (taking MODIS as `truth') between FY3A/B/C, IMS and MODIS is 23%, -35%, 8% and 63%, respectively, averaged in five elevation bands in 2015-2017.

Changes in Climate Driving Changes in Architectural Education

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maibritt Pedersen Zari

2012-09-01

Full Text Available Sustainability issues, in particular climate change, have become significant drivers of change in architectural education. It is posited that engaging in the reduction and offsetting of greenhouse gas emissions in academic institutions, particularly those responsible for the education of new generations of built environment professionals, could become an important part of creating built environments that can more effectively contribute to mitigating the causes of climate change.

Solar activity, tidal friction and the earth rotation over the last 2000 years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiselev, V.M.

1981-01-01

The tidal retardations of the Earth rotation and orbital motion of the Moon on Dynamical Time are discussed. The secular deceleration of the lunar motion deduced from an analysis of the anciept and medieval eclipses is lapger thap that obtained from recent (telescopic) observations. This discrepancy is shown to vanish if the Earth acceleration due to secular change of solar activity is taken into consideration. Therefore, one may suggest that the mean tidal friction has remained essentially constant over the last two millennia. Nontidal variations of the Earth rotation velocity in the historical past as well as at present time are shown to be caused by solar activity changes [ru

Circadian activity rhythms during the last days of Nothobranchius rachovii's life: a descriptive model of circadian system breakdown.

Science.gov (United States)

Lucas-Sánchez, Alejandro; Martínez-Nicolás, Antonio; Madrid, Juan Antonio; Almaida-Pagán, Pedro Francisco; Mendiola, Pilar; de Costa, Jorge

2015-04-01

Several studies have been performed to identify age-related changes in the circadian system (CS) but the impairment of the CS and its chronodisruption at the end of an organism life have not been studied in depth. Aging commonly affects the input pathways into the biological clock or restraints their processing, therefore simplifying the system output, the overt rhythms. The purpose of this work was to do a complete characterization of changes that occurs in the CS in the last stage of a vertebrate organism life and to develop tools able to detect in which moment of the last days of life is the animal, using an overt rhythm, the rest-activity rhythm (RAR). For that, a fish species proposed as model for aging studies, Nothobranchius rachovii, has been used. A progressive and sequential CS breakdown has been described for the last 22 d of life of N. rachovii (∼7% of total life), suffering a general RAR impairment mainly reflected by changes in phase regularity, complexity, amplitude and the ability to stay synchronized to the LD cycle. Also, an equation of days remaining of life, based on the RAR description, has been calculated and proposed as a tool to identify close-to-death individuals which could be subjected to an adequate restoring treatment to enhance the CS function and improve their well-being.

Creating and implementing a model for sustainable development in tourism enterprises

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kernel, Pernille Kern

2005-01-01

The quest for sustainable tourism presents a challenge to integrate economic, social and environmental issues in tourism planning and—in order to implement this—to change attitudes and traditions among the different stakeholders within tourism. This calls for involvement of the different stakehol......-step model for sustainable development in tourism enterprises. The question addressed is how to create a change process in the enterprises that is at the same time realistic and innovative....... stakeholders in the change processes towards sustainable tourism and, accordingly, the creation of new patterns of interaction and collaboration between the stakeholders. This paper analyses how a project on sustainable tourism development in Mid- and North Jutland, Denmark, has engaged 26 small and medium...

Comparison of the CREATE-L plasma response model with TCV limited discharges

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Villone, F.; Vyas, P.; Lister, J.B.; Albanese, R.

1997-02-01

Experiments have been performed on the TCV tokamak to evaluate the response of Ohmic-, L-Mode, limited, vertically unstable plasmas to changes in all the poloidal field coil voltages. The resulting closed loop plasma responses have been compared with the CREATE-L linearised MHD equilibrium model of TCV. All the responses in both the time domain and the frequency domain show excellent agreement both for directly measured quantities and for derived parameters which can be used as feedback variables. No modifications to the CREATE-L model were made to achieve this quality of agreement, indicating that the underlaying physical assumptions are appropriate. (author) 20 figs., 6 tabs., 16 refs

Lasting effects of short-term training on preschoolers' street-crossing behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Albert, Rachel R; Dolgin, Kim G

2010-03-01

Can short-term training improve preschoolers' knowledge of road-crossing concepts as well as behavior in a real traffic situation? Forty children, aged four to five years, were assigned to one of four conditions (game, story, song, and control). Each condition participated in four 15-min classroom-based lessons over four weeks. Two assessments measuring knowledge of street-crossing concepts and one assessment measuring behavior on a real street were used to evaluate performance at baseline and one week and six months post-training. Children in all three experimental conditions showed a significant improvement over the control on the two conceptual assessments. Only children in the game condition significantly improved their behavior on the street-crossing assessment. Furthermore, children in all three experimental conditions retained the same levels of improvement at the six-month follow-up. These results demonstrate that one hour of training can create lasting improvements on preschool children's conceptual knowledge of traffic safety and road-crossing behavior on a real street. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The changing role of the State in the expansion of electricity supply in Latin America

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Batlle, Carlos; Perez-Arriaga, Ignacio J.; Barroso, Luiz A.

2010-01-01

Throughout the history of the electricity industry, regulatory reform has been driven by the pursuit of tools able to create conditions that would favour infrastructure investment and, generally, to surmount the obstacles that hinder system expansion. This article addresses the interaction between regulatory schemes and electric power generation investment, with a review of the changing role of the State in the expansion of electricity supply in Latin America. It contains a critical assessment of changes in the regulatory framework since the outset of electric power market reform, describing the successive approaches to regulation adopted in the last three decades. The aim of this analysis is to help identify the key factors underlying the evolution of energy policies and to contribute to the formulation of a prospective view of the direction this evolution may reasonably be expected to take. (author)

Trouble Don't Last

Science.gov (United States)

Pearsall, Shelley

2004-01-01

Even as a child, Pearsall questioned social injustice and prejudice. In her own community in Ohio and, as she grew, all over the world, she saw social inequities she could neither understand nor accept. Her novel "Trouble Don't Last," takes place during the era of the Underground Railroad. The chapter included here pulls us in…

Creating Poetry.

Science.gov (United States)

Drury, John

Encouraging exploration and practice, this book offers hundreds of exercises and numerous tips covering every step involved in creating poetry. Each chapter is a self-contained unit offering an overview of material in the chapter, a definition of terms, and poetry examples from well-known authors designed to supplement the numerous exercises.…

The History of Tree and Shrub Taxa on Bol'shoy Lyakhovsky Island (New Siberian Archipelago since the Last Interglacial Uncovered by Sedimentary Ancient DNA and Pollen Data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heike H. Zimmermann

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Ecosystem boundaries, such as the Arctic-Boreal treeline, are strongly coupled with climate and were spatially highly dynamic during past glacial-interglacial cycles. Only a few studies cover vegetation changes since the last interglacial, as most of the former landscapes are inundated and difficult to access. Using pollen analysis and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA metabarcoding, we reveal vegetation changes on Bol’shoy Lyakhovsky Island since the last interglacial from permafrost sediments. Last interglacial samples depict high levels of floral diversity with the presence of trees (Larix, Picea, Populus and shrubs (Alnus, Betula, Ribes, Cornus, Saliceae on the currently treeless island. After the Last Glacial Maximum, Larix re-colonised the island but disappeared along with most shrub taxa. This was probably caused by Holocene sea-level rise, which led to increased oceanic conditions on the island. Additionally, we applied two newly developed larch-specific chloroplast markers to evaluate their potential for tracking past population dynamics from environmental samples. The novel markers were successfully re-sequenced and exhibited two variants of each marker in last interglacial samples. SedaDNA can track vegetation changes as well as genetic changes across geographic space through time and can improve our understanding of past processes that shape modern patterns.

The collision that changed the world

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wally Broecker

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract In connection with the Anthropocene, one might ask how climate is likely to evolve in the absence of man’s intervention and whether humans will be able to purposefully alter this course. In this commentary, I deal with the situation for very long time scales. I make a case that fifty million years ago, the collision between the northward drifting Indian land mass and Asia set the Earth’s climate on a new course. Ever since then, it has cooled. In the absence of some other dramatic disruption in the movement of the plates which make up our planet’s crust, on the time scale of tens of millions of years, this drift would cause the Earth to freeze over as it did during the late Precambrian. Evidence for this change in course comes from records of oxygen and lithium isotopic composition of foraminifer shells. It is reinforced by records of Mg to Ca in halite-hosted fluid inclusions and in marine CaCO3. In addition, the collision appears to have created abrupt changes in the sulfur isotope composition of marine barite and the carbon isotope composition of amber. Not only did this collision create the Himalaya, but more important, it led to a reorganization of the crustal plate motions. Through some combination of the building of mountains and lowering of sea level, these changes generated a mismatch between the supply of CO2 by planetary outgassing and that of calcium by the weathering of silicate rock. The tendency toward an oversupply of calcium has been compensated by a drawdown of the atmosphere’s CO2 content. This drawdown cooled the Earth, slowing down the supply of calcium. Although we are currently inadvertently compensating for this cooling by burning fossil fuels, the impacts of this CO2 on Earth climate will last no more than a tenth of a million years. So, if humans succeed in avoiding extinction, there will likely be a long-term effort to warm the planet.

Environmental change during the last glacial maximum (c. 25,000-16,500 years BP) at Mt Richmond, Auckland Isthmus, New Zealand

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sandiford, A.; Horrocks, M.; Newnham, R.; Ogden, J.; Alloway, B.V.

2002-01-01

A 2 m section at the base of Mt Richmond contains a palynological record of the last glacial maximum (LGM) (c. 25,000-c. 16,500 14 C years BP) vegetation of the Auckland Isthmus. Three silicic tephra layers derived from the Taupo Volcanic Centre (Okaia Tephra c. 23,500 14 C years BP, Kawakawa Tephra c. 22,500 14 C years BP) and the Okataina Volcanic Centre (Okareka Tephra c. 18,000 14 C years BP), both centres lying within the Taupo Volcanic Zone, provide the basis of the chronology supported by radiocarbon dates. The pollen diagram is divided into two pollen zones separated by the deposition of a locally derived basaltic ash. From c. 25,000-23,000 14 C years BP the site was initially a eutrophic lake fringed by Leptospermum and Typha, which altered to a Cyperaceae/Leptospermum-dominated swamp. The regional vegetation at the time was beech-dominated forest; canopy conifers were present but formed a minor part of the local forest. From c. 23,000-16,500 14 C years BP regional forest was further restricted to local patches in extensive shrubland/grassland. Temperatures may have been depressed by more than 4-5 degrees C. The eruption of a local volcano dammed the swamp outlet resulting in a return to lacustrine conditions. Local volcanism may have accelerated vegetation change already under way as a result of climate change to cooler conditions. This record provides a view of LGM vegetation of the Auckland Isthmus and a template for earlier cold stages of the Quaternary. (author). 39 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

Climate change and air pollution jointly creating nightmare for tourism industry.

Science.gov (United States)

Sajjad, Faiza; Noreen, Umara; Zaman, Khalid

2014-11-01

The objective of the study is to examine the long-run and causal relationship between climate change (i.e., greenhouse gas emissions, hydrofluorocarbons, per fluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride), air pollution (i.e., methane emissions, nitrous oxide emissions, and carbon dioxide emissions), and tourism development indicators (i.e., international tourism receipts, international tourism expenditures, natural resource depletion, and net forest depletion) in the World's largest regions. The aggregate data is used for robust analysis in the South Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, and East Asia and the Pacific regions, over a period of 1975-2012. The results show that climatic factors and air pollution have a negative impact on tourism indicators in the form of deforestation and natural resource depletion. The impact is evident, as we have seen the systematic eroding of tourism industry, due to severe changes in climate and increasing strain of air pollution. There are several channels of cause-effect relationship between the climatic factors, air pollution, and tourism indicators in the World's region. The study confirms the unidirectional, bidirectional, and causality independent relationship between climatic factors, air pollution, and tourism indicators in the World. It is conclusive that tourism industry is facing all time bigger challenges of reduce investment, less resources, and minor importance from the government agencies because of the two broad challenges, i.e., climate change and air pollution, putting them in a dismal state.

Change of PAHs with evolution of paddy soils from prehistoric to present over the last six millennia in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Jin [School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, 88 North Huancheng Rd. of Lin' an, Hangzhou 311300 (China); Institute of Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 10, 24118 Kiel (Germany); Cornelia, Mueller-Niggemann [Institute of Geosciences, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Ludewig-Meyn-Str. 10, 24118 Kiel (Germany); Wang, Minyan, E-mail: jz.zafu@gmail.com [Tianmu College of Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, 252 Yijin Str.of Lin' an, Hangzhou 311300 (China); Cao, Zhihong [Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 71 East Beijing Rd., Nanjing 210008 (China); Luo, Xiping, E-mail: luoxpzj@yahoo.com.cn [School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, 88 North Huancheng Rd. of Lin' an, Hangzhou 311300 (China); Wong, Minghung [School of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang Agricultural and Forestry University, 88 North Huancheng Rd. of Lin' an, Hangzhou 311300 (China); Croucher Institute for Environmental Sciences, and Department of Biology, Hong Kong Baptist University, 224 Waterloo Rd., Kln., Hong Kong (China); Chen, Wei [Department of Ecology and Evolution, Frankfurt University, Max-Von-Laue Str. 13, 60438 Frankfurt am Main (Germany)

2013-04-01

To evaluate the influence of hydroponics management on soil organic components with evolution of paddy soil over the last six millennia, PAHs, as a biomarker, as well as total organic carbon content were used to explore changes of paddy soil organic carbon in two entirely buried ancient paddy soil profiles. The results showed that hydroponics management can cause organic carbon deposition in rice paddy. The changing of total PAH concentrations was not always in accordance with the changing of total organic carbon contents in layers of the buried ancient paddy soils. The PAHs in 6280 BP prehistoric paddy soil layer was 3-ring > 5-ring > 4-ring > 6-ring, while in layers of the present paddy soil and the prehistoric upland were 3-ring > 4-ring > 5-ring > 6-ring. The contribution of phenanthrene to total PAHs in two profiles and the increasing ratio of phenanthrene to alkylated PAHs from parent material/6280 BP prehistoric upland to 6280 BP paddy suggested substantial increase of the anthropogenic influence of hydroponics management on rice paddy soil. And in view of the {sup 14}C age and bioremains in the two profiles, it was only possible for PAHs to be derived from hydroponics management with evolution of the paddy soils form the Neolithic age. Cadalene could be used as an indicator for biological sources of PAHs released by rice plant residues, and benzo[g,h,i]fluoranthene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene for pyrogenic sources released by field vegetation fires. - Highlights: ► Soil hydroponics management can cause SOC deposition in rice paddy. ► PAHs in buried ancient paddy soil profiles were mainly derived from anthropogenic hydroponics management. ► PAH, as a biomarker, was not suitable for tracing SOC change with evolution of paddy soil from the Neolithic age.

Change of PAHs with evolution of paddy soils from prehistoric to present over the last six millennia in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Jin; Cornelia, Mueller-Niggemann; Wang, Minyan; Cao, Zhihong; Luo, Xiping; Wong, Minghung; Chen, Wei

2013-01-01

To evaluate the influence of hydroponics management on soil organic components with evolution of paddy soil over the last six millennia, PAHs, as a biomarker, as well as total organic carbon content were used to explore changes of paddy soil organic carbon in two entirely buried ancient paddy soil profiles. The results showed that hydroponics management can cause organic carbon deposition in rice paddy. The changing of total PAH concentrations was not always in accordance with the changing of total organic carbon contents in layers of the buried ancient paddy soils. The PAHs in 6280 BP prehistoric paddy soil layer was 3-ring > 5-ring > 4-ring > 6-ring, while in layers of the present paddy soil and the prehistoric upland were 3-ring > 4-ring > 5-ring > 6-ring. The contribution of phenanthrene to total PAHs in two profiles and the increasing ratio of phenanthrene to alkylated PAHs from parent material/6280 BP prehistoric upland to 6280 BP paddy suggested substantial increase of the anthropogenic influence of hydroponics management on rice paddy soil. And in view of the 14 C age and bioremains in the two profiles, it was only possible for PAHs to be derived from hydroponics management with evolution of the paddy soils form the Neolithic age. Cadalene could be used as an indicator for biological sources of PAHs released by rice plant residues, and benzo[g,h,i]fluoranthene and benzo[g,h,i]perylene for pyrogenic sources released by field vegetation fires. - Highlights: ► Soil hydroponics management can cause SOC deposition in rice paddy. ► PAHs in buried ancient paddy soil profiles were mainly derived from anthropogenic hydroponics management. ► PAH, as a biomarker, was not suitable for tracing SOC change with evolution of paddy soil from the Neolithic age

Planktic foraminiferal responses to orbital scale oceanographic changes off the western Iberian margin over the last 900 kyr: Results from IODP site U1391

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, A. D.; Verma, K.; Jaiswal, S.; Alonso-Garcia, M.; Li, B.; Abrantes, F.

2015-12-01

This paper presents planktic foraminiferal assemblage records of the last 900 kyr from the SW Iberian margin (IODP Site U1391). The faunal records show the history of surface oceanographic changes on glacial/interglacial scales before and after the Mid-Brunhes Event (MBE), a period when a major shift in the climate pattern was recorded in other regions. Temporal variations in relative abundances of characteristic species/groups are used to infer changes in the latitudinal position of the polar/Arctic water (% Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral and Turborotalita quinqueloba), influence of the transitional subpolar water mass (% N. pachyderma dextral), and subtropical water (% tropical/subtropical species/group). Past changes in the upwelling intensity and productivity pattern associated with seasonal trade wind strength are inferred from the abundance variations of Globigerina bulloides and G. bulloides + Globigerinita glutinata, respectively. Faunal data reveal the influence of cold water masses (polar/subpolar) at the examined site was more pronounced during glacial stages except for marine isotope stage (MIS) 14 and 16. The magnitude of the polar/subpolar water mass invading the study area was at maximum before the MBE during MIS 18, 20 and 22, resulting in a situation like the present day Arctic Front. Interglacial periods prior to the MBE were also relatively colder than those of the post-MBE. Our faunal based inferences are in agreement with the ice-rafted debris (IRD) concentration and N. pachyderma sinistral records of the subpolar North Atlantic sites. Based on faunal proxies, we recorded major and rapid changes in upwelling intensity and related productivity during glacial Terminations. Both the upwelling intensity and productivity significantly increased after the MBE, particularly during the interglacials MIS 7, 9 and 11. Our productivity record parallels the EPICA CH4 record suggesting teleconnections between trade winds induced productivity and the

miR-191 and miR-135 are required for long-lasting spine remodelling associated with synaptic long-term depression

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Zhonghua; Yu, Danni; Gu, Qin-Hua; Yang, Yanqin; Tu, Kang; Zhu, Jun; Li, Zheng

2014-02-01

Activity-dependent modification of dendritic spines, subcellular compartments accommodating postsynaptic specializations in the brain, is an important cellular mechanism for brain development, cognition and synaptic pathology of brain disorders. NMDA receptor-dependent long-term depression (NMDAR-LTD), a prototypic form of synaptic plasticity, is accompanied by prolonged remodelling of spines. The mechanisms underlying long-lasting spine remodelling in NMDAR-LTD, however, are largely unclear. Here we show that LTD induction causes global changes in miRNA transcriptomes affecting many cellular activities. Specifically, we show that expression changes of miR-191 and miR-135 are required for maintenance but not induction of spine restructuring. Moreover, we find that actin depolymerization and AMPA receptor exocytosis are regulated for extended periods of time by miRNAs to support long-lasting spine plasticity. These findings reveal a miRNA-mediated mechanism and a role for AMPA receptor exocytosis in long-lasting spine plasticity, and identify a number of candidate miRNAs involved in LTD.

Create Your Plate

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Full Text Available ... October 8, 2015 Last Edited: September 14, 2016 Articles from Diabetes Forecast® magazine: wcie-meal-planning, . In ... today and help fund grants supporting next generation scientists. Donate Today We Can Help - we-can-help. ...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... October 8, 2015 Last Edited: September 14, 2016 Articles from Diabetes Forecast® magazine: wcie-meal-planning, . In ... Online Chat Closed engagement en -- Free Type 2 Education Series - 2017-06-free-type-2-education-series. ...

The last piece of the ring

CERN Multimedia

2008-01-01

In a sequel to the recent success at CMS, the last section of the LHC beam vacuum system was installed in ATLAS on Monday 16 June. The place where experiment and accelerator meet, the completion of the last part of the continuous 27 km beampipe signals how near the LHC is to the circulation of its first beam. Watch the video! The last section of the LHC beampipe being installed in ATLAS.Although a seemingly simple piece of technology in comparison with the complexity of the detectors, the beampipe is a carefully designed and essential part of both the experiments and the LHC. The section of beam pipe that completed the LHC ring on Monday 16 June is about 20 metres from the centre of ATLAS, very close to where the first magnets of the LHC are located. Unlike the central ATLAS beampipe, which is made of beryllium, the final section is made of stainless steel. An aluminium cone surrounds the stainless steel tube with the super slim...

Elevation-dependent cooling caused by volcanic eruptions during last millennium

Science.gov (United States)

Ning, L.; Liu, J.; Bradley, R. S.; Yan, M.; Sun, W.; Liu, L.

2017-12-01

The amplified warming over the high-elevation regions in recent decades due to the increases of greenhouse gases has attracted lots of attentions, due to the potential severe impacts on mountain hydrological systems and ecosystems and corresponding social and economic influences. Similarly, the model simulations show that the rate of cooling is also amplified with elevation after volcanic eruptions during last millennium, such that high-mountain environments experience larger decreases in temperature than environments at lower elevations. This elevation-dependent cooling (EDC) testifies two important mechanisms, i.e. snow albedo feedback and tropical deep convection mechanism, which also induce the elevation-dependent warming (EDW) found in recent decades due to the increases of greenhouse gases that accelerates the rates of changes in mountain hydrological regimes and ecosystems. It can be concluded that although the influences from natural forcing and anthropogenic forcing on the high-mountain regions are opposite, the mechanisms behind the influences are the same. This finding shows that the temperature change over high-elevation regions is more sensitive to the background climate changes, and needs more attention for adaptations and mitigations due to their bio-diversity and fragile ecosystems.

Effects of ecosystem development on benthic secondary production in restored and created mangrove habitats

Science.gov (United States)

Wetland creation, enhancement, and restoration activities are commonly implemented to compensate for wetland loss or degradation. However, functional equivalence in restored and created wetland habitats is often poorly understood. In estuarine habitats, changes in habitat qualit...

Hydrogen ion input to the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, New Hampshire, during the last decade

Science.gov (United States)

Gene E. Likens; F. Herbert Bormann; John S. Eaton; Robert S. Pierce; Noye M. Johnson

1976-01-01

Being downwind of eastern and midwestern industrial centers, the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest offers a prime location to monitor long-term trends in atmospheric chemistry. Continuous measurements of precipitation chemistry during the last 10 years provide a measure of recent changes in precipitation inputs of hydrogen ion. The weighted average pH of precipitation...

Structural Transformation, Biased Technological Change, and Employment in Vietnam

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abbott, Philip; Tarp, Finn; Wu, Ce

2015-01-01

Employment in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia has grown more slowly than GDP over the last several decades. This means GDP per capita is rising. Vietnamese policymakers, however, are concerned that ongoing structural transformation is creating too few jobs. We use data for seven aggregated sectors ...

Structural transformation, biased technological change, and employment in Vietnam

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abbott, Philip; Tarp, Finn; Wu, Ce

Employment in Vietnam and elsewhere in Asia has grown more slowly than GDP over the last several decades. This means GDP per capita is rising. Vietnamese policymakers, however, are concerned that ongoing structural transformation is creating too few jobs. We use data for seven aggregated sectors ...

FGB: A Graphical and Haptic User Interface for Creating Graphical, Haptic User Interfaces

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

ANDERSON, THOMAS G.; BRECKENRIDGE, ARTHURINE; DAVIDSON, GEORGE S.

1999-01-01

The emerging field of haptics represents a fundamental change in human-computer interaction (HCI), and presents solutions to problems that are difficult or impossible to solve with a two-dimensional, mouse-based interface. To take advantage of the potential of haptics, however, innovative interaction techniques and programming environments are needed. This paper describes FGB (FLIGHT GHUI Builder), a programming tool that can be used to create an application specific graphical and haptic user interface (GHUI). FGB is itself a graphical and haptic user interface with which a programmer can intuitively create and manipulate components of a GHUI in real time in a graphical environment through the use of a haptic device. The programmer can create a GHUI without writing any programming code. After a user interface is created, FGB writes the appropriate programming code to a file, using the FLIGHT API, to recreate what the programmer created in the FGB interface. FGB saves programming time and increases productivity, because a programmer can see the end result as it is created, and FGB does much of the programming itself. Interestingly, as FGB was created, it was used to help build itself. The further FGB was in its development, the more easily and quickly it could be used to create additional functionality and improve its own design. As a finished product, FGB can be used to recreate itself in much less time than it originally required, and with much less programming. This paper describes FGB's GHUI components, the techniques used in the interface, how the output code is created, where programming additions and modifications should be placed, and how it can be compared to and integrated with existing API's such as MFC and Visual C++, OpenGL, and GHOST

Changing Landscape

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tunby Gulbrandsen, Ib; Kamstrup, Andreas; Koed Madsen, Anders

with an analysis of the changing organizational landscape created by new ICT’s like Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, iPods, smart phones and Wi-Fi. Based on five netno- and ethno-graphic investigations of the intertwinement of ICT’s and organizational work, we point to three features that have changed the scene: new...

Create Your Plate

Medline Plus

Full Text Available ... Last Edited: September 14, 2016 Articles from Diabetes Forecast® magazine: wcie-meal-planning, . In this section Food ... Use and Privacy Policy « American Diabetes Association Diabetes Forecast Stop Diabetes Step Out: Walk to Stop Diabetes ...

Die Last mit der Lust

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lutz Sauerteig

2004-03-01

Full Text Available Robert Jütte legt mit Lust ohne Last eine umfassende, allgemeinverständliche und spannend zu lesende Geschichte der Empfängnisverhütung von der Antike bis in die unmittelbare Gegenwart vor.

Eastern Andean environmental and climate synthesis for the last 2000 years BP from terrestrial pollen and charcoal records of Patagonia

Science.gov (United States)

Sottile, G. D.; Echeverria, M. E.; Mancini, M. V.; Bianchi, M. M.; Marcos, M. A.; Bamonte, F. P.

2015-06-01

The Southern Hemisphere Westerly Winds (SWW) constitute an important zonal circulation system that dominates the dynamics of Southern Hemisphere mid-latitude climate. Little is known about climatic changes in the Southern South America in comparison to the Northern Hemisphere due to the low density of proxy records, and adequate chronology and sampling resolution to address environmental changes of the last 2000 years. Since 2009, new pollen and charcoal records from bog and lakes in northern and southern Patagonia at the east side of the Andes have been published with an adequate calibration of pollen assemblages related to modern vegetation and ecological behaviour. In this work we improve the chronological control of some eastern Andean previously published sequences and integrate pollen and charcoal dataset available east of the Andes to interpret possible environmental and SWW variability at centennial time scales. Through the analysis of modern and past hydric balance dynamics we compare these scenarios with other western Andean SWW sensitive proxy records for the last 2000 years. Due to the distinct precipitation regimes that exist between Northern (40-45° S) and Southern Patagonia (48-52° S) pollen sites locations, shifts on latitudinal and strength of the SWW results in large changes on hydric availability on forest and steppe communities. Therefore, we can interpret fossil pollen dataset as changes on paleohydric balance at every single site by the construction of paleohydric indices and comparison to charcoal records during the last 2000 cal yrs BP. Our composite pollen-based Northern and Southern Patagonia indices can be interpreted as changes in latitudinal variation and intensity of the SWW respectively. Dataset integration suggest poleward SWW between 2000 and 750 cal yrs BP and northward-weaker SWW during the Little Ice Age (750-200 cal yrs BP). These SWW variations are synchronous to Patagonian fire activity major shifts. We found an in phase

LHC Create

CERN Multimedia

CERN. Geneva

2017-01-01

LHC Create is an upcoming 2-day workshop held at IdeaSquare in November. Participants from CERN and IPAC school of design will compete to design an exhibit that explains why CERN does what it does. The winner will have their exhibit fully realised and made available to experiments, institutes, and tourism agencies around the world.

Climate Change and Health

Science.gov (United States)

... Home / News / Fact sheets / Detail WHO /A. Craggs Climate change and health 1 February 2018 ","datePublished":"2018-02- ... in improved health, particularly through reduced air pollution. Climate change Over the last 50 years, human activities – particularly ...

Creating breakthroughs at 3M.

Science.gov (United States)

von Hippel, E; Thomke, S; Sonnack, M

1999-01-01

Most senior managers want their product development teams to create break-throughs--new products that will allow their companies to grow rapidly and maintain high margins. But more often they get incremental improvements to existing products. That's partly because companies must compete in the short term. Searching for breakthroughs is expensive and time consuming; line extensions can help the bottom line immediately. In addition, developers simply don't know how to achieve breakthroughs, and there is usually no system in place to guide them. By the mid-1990s, the lack of such a system was a problem even for an innovative company like 3M. Then a project team in 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division became acquainted with a method for developing breakthrough products: the lead user process. The process is based on the fact that many commercially important products are initially thought of and even prototyped by "lead users"--companies, organizations, or individuals that are well ahead of market trends. Their needs are so far beyond those of the average user that lead users create innovations on their own that may later contribute to commercially attractive breakthroughs. The lead user process transforms the job of inventing breakthroughs into a systematic task of identifying lead users and learning from them. The authors explain the process and how the 3M project team successfully navigated through it. In the end, the team proposed three major new product lines and a change in the division's strategy that has led to the development of breakthrough products. And now several more divisions are using the process to break away from incrementalism.

Climate change impacts and adaptation : a Canadian perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lemmen, D.S.; Warren, F.J.

2004-01-01

This book summarizes the research that has been conducted in Canada over the past five years on the issue of climate change impacts on key sectors such as water resources, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, coastal zones, transportation, and human health and well-being. The book refers to the growing evidence that climate change is occurring. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) believes that these changes have already contributed to increases in annual precipitation, cloud cover and extreme temperatures over the last 50 years. It suggests that it in order to develop an effective strategy for adaptation, it is necessary to understand the vulnerability of each sector to climate change in terms of the nature of climate change, the climatic sensitivity of the region being considered, and the capacity to adapt to the changes. Adaptation will require a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in order to lower the rate of climate change. Problems associated with water resources include water quality issues that relate to water shortages from droughts, or excesses from floods. The impacts of climate change on agriculture will vary depending on precipitation changes, soil conditions, and land use. Some studies have suggested that higher temperatures would benefit the forestry sector by improving the growth rate of trees, but the increase in the frequency and severity of moisture stress and forest disturbances would create other problems. Adaptations in the fisheries sector may have implications for the water resources, transportation, tourism and human health sectors. The impact of climate change in the coastal zone may include changes in water levels, wave patterns, storm surges, and thickness of seasonal ice cover. The areas that seem most vulnerable to climate change in the transportation sector include northern ice roads, Great Lakes shipping, coastal infrastructure threatened by sea-level rise, and infrastructure located on permafrost

Create Your Plate

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Full Text Available ... critical diabetes research and support vital diabetes education services that improve the lives of those with diabetes. $50 $100 $250 $500 Other Other Ways ... Meals > Create Your Plate ...

Tissue loading created during spinal manipulation in comparison to loading created by passive spinal movements.

Science.gov (United States)

Funabashi, Martha; Kawchuk, Gregory N; Vette, Albert H; Goldsmith, Peter; Prasad, Narasimha

2016-12-01

Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) creates health benefits for some while for others, no benefit or even adverse events. Understanding these differential responses is important to optimize patient care and safety. Toward this, characterizing how loads created by SMT relate to those created by typical motions is fundamental. Using robotic testing, it is now possible to make these comparisons to determine if SMT generates unique loading scenarios. In 12 porcine cadavers, SMT and passive motions were applied to the L3/L4 segment and the resulting kinematics tracked. The L3/L4 segment was removed, mounted in a parallel robot and kinematics of SMT and passive movements replayed robotically. The resulting forces experienced by L3/L4 were collected. Overall, SMT created both significantly greater and smaller loads compared to passive motions, with SMT generating greater anterioposterior peak force (the direction of force application) compared to all passive motions. In some comparisons, SMT did not create significantly different loads in the intact specimen, but did so in specific spinal tissues. Despite methodological differences between studies, SMT forces and loading rates fell below published injury values. Future studies are warranted to understand if loading scenarios unique to SMT confer its differential therapeutic effects.

Values must be created before they are shared. Social perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lind, Even; Eriksen, Lise Haaland

2004-01-01

The petroleum industry in Norway is a high-tech locomotive with spin-offs and ripple effects that affect the entire nation. The oil and gas industry is the country's largest source of income. Thanks to its oil and natural gas, Norway has become a rich country, both in terms of money and knowledge. Oil production on the Norwegian Shelf peaked in the summer of 2000 and is now declining. We do not explore as much as we used to, and the activity level is falling. As a professional body and employer's organization for oil companies and supplier firms, one of OLF's most important tasks is to help ensure that the Norwegian Shelf is an attractive area for investment and activities. The industry needs larger exploration areas and competitive framework conditions. Fiscal changes have been proposed that will make it more profitable for the industry to increase exploration activities, while also making it more economical to extract oil and gas from the smaller fields. Measures must be implemented to stimulate more activity and good exploitation of the oil and gas resources in the years to come. On this basis, OLF has commissioned a report on social perspectives concerning the oil and gas activities. The social perspectives report addresses the significance of the petroleum industry for industrial and welfare development in Norway, exploration areas and access to resources, safety, technology and expertise, as well as environmental challenges and coexistence among marine industries. Values must be created before they can be shared. If we are to ensure a high level of welfare for generations yet to come, it is essential that the oil and gas activities last as long as possible (author) (ml)

Values must be created before they are shared. Social perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lind, Even; Eriksen, Lise Haaland

2004-01-15

The petroleum industry in Norway is a high-tech locomotive with spin-offs and ripple effects that affect the entire nation. The oil and gas industry is the country's largest source of income. Thanks to its oil and natural gas, Norway has become a rich country, both in terms of money and knowledge. Oil production on the Norwegian Shelf peaked in the summer of 2000 and is now declining. We do not explore as much as we used to, and the activity level is falling. As a professional body and employer's organization for oil companies and supplier firms, one of OLF's most important tasks is to help ensure that the Norwegian Shelf is an attractive area for investment and activities. The industry needs larger exploration areas and competitive framework conditions. Fiscal changes have been proposed that will make it more profitable for the industry to increase exploration activities, while also making it more economical to extract oil and gas from the smaller fields. Measures must be implemented to stimulate more activity and good exploitation of the oil and gas resources in the years to come. On this basis, OLF has commissioned a report on social perspectives concerning the oil and gas activities. The social perspectives report addresses the significance of the petroleum industry for industrial and welfare development in Norway, exploration areas and access to resources, safety, technology and expertise, as well as environmental challenges and coexistence among marine industries. Values must be created before they can be shared. If we are to ensure a high level of welfare for generations yet to come, it is essential that the oil and gas activities last as long as possible (author) (ml)

Scenarios of long-term farm structural change for application in climate change impact assessment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mandryk, M.; Reidsma, P.; Ittersum, van M.K.

2012-01-01

Towards 2050, climate change is one of the possible drivers that will change the farming landscape, but market, policy and technological development may be at least equally important. In the last decade, many studies assessed impacts of climate change and specific adaptation strategies. However,

Changes in wild bee fauna of a grassland in Brazil reveal negative effects associated with growing urbanization during the last 40 years

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aline C. Martins

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Bee fauna and associated flora from a grassland site in Brazil, surveyed 40 and 20 years ago, were newly surveyed with comparable methodology to evaluate changes in the bee fauna of this site, considering that human population and urbanization has exponentially increased in the last 40 years. In general, bee species richness has declined in 22%, as well as their abundance. Some of the previously abundant species are now absent, including Bombus bellicosus Smith, 1879, Gaesischia fulgurans (Holmberg, 1903 and Thectochlora basiatra (Strand, 1910. No particular trend of differential decrease among either taxonomic or functional groups was observed, except for a minor increase in the proportion of oligolectic species and a 50% reduction in the number of large species. The first two surveys were more similar to each other in species richness per bee genus, while the two most recent grouped together based on measures of anthropogenic impact. Furthermore, the number of plant species visited by bees increased, with a pronounced increase in ruderal and exotic species. Crop cultivation, competition with honeybees and climate changes may all be related to bee decline. Nevertheless, the effects of urbanization, in particular intense land occupation and few preserved natural areas can be pointed as the main causes of species decline. Due to continuing increase in human population, increased erosion in diversity is expected. Habitat protection is an additional challenge to bee conservation in the region, with no local conservation units set aside for grasslands. State and municipal agencies should urgently consider the establishment of reserves for the few remaining patches of natural grasslands.

Transformative art: art as means for long-term neurocognitive change.

Science.gov (United States)

Preminger, Son

2012-01-01

Every artwork leads to a unique experience by the observer or participant, may it be sensory, emotional, cognitive, interactive, or spiritual experience. At the neurobiological level, such experiences are manifested as activation of the corresponding neural networks. Neuroscience has demonstrated that experience, in particular repeated experience, can cause a long-term change in the involved brain circuits (experience-dependent plasticity). This review will discuss the molding and transformative aspect of arts, examining how repeated and on-going experience of arts may alter cognitive, emotional, and behavioral patterns as well as their underlying neural circuits. The application of this approach to cognitive training and neuropsychological rehabilitation methods will be addressed as well. In addition, it will be suggested that this approach to art, as a long-term transformative medium, may lead to a novel viewpoint on art and a different approach to its creation. Artists can design artworks that aspire to form, in addition to one-shot influencing experience, on-going experiences which gradually create a lasting change, possibly improving audiences' neuropsychological functions.

Transformative Art:Art as Means for Long-term Neurocognitive Change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Son ePreminger

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Every artwork leads to a unique experience by the observer or participant, may it be sensory, emotional, cognitive, interactive or spiritual experience. At the neurobiological level, such experiences are manifested as activation of the corresponding neural networks. Neuroscience has demonstrated that experience, in particular repeated experience, can cause a long-term change in the involved brain circuits (experience-dependent plasticity. This review will discuss the molding and transformative aspect of arts, examining how repeated and on-going experience of arts may alter cognitive, emotional and behavioral patterns as well as their underlying neural circuits. The application of this approach to cognitive training and neuropsychological rehabilitation methods will be addressed as well. In addition, it will be suggested that this approach to art, as long-term transformative, may lead to a novel viewpoint on art and a different approach to its creation. Artists can design artworks that aspire to form, in addition to one-shot influencing experience, on-going experiences which gradually create a lasting change, possibly improving audiences' neuropsychological functions.

Nanosystems in Ceramic Oxides Created by Means of Ion Implantation

OpenAIRE

Van Huis, M.A.

2003-01-01

The material properties of nanometer-sized clusters are dependent on the cluster size. Changing the cluster dimensions induces structural phase transformations, metal-insulator transitions, non-linear optical properties and widening of the band gap of semiconductors. In this work, nanoclusters are created by ion implantation followed by thermal annealing. The ceramic oxides MgO and Al2O3 are used as embedding materials because of their stability and optical transparency. All clusters were cre...

Social Entrepreneurship : Creating new business models to serve the poor

OpenAIRE

Mair, Johanna (Prof.); Seelos, Christian

2017-01-01

The term “social entrepreneurship” (SE) is used to refer to the rapidly growing number of organizations that have created models for efficiently catering to basic human needs that existing markets and institutions have failed to satisfy. Social entrepreneurship combines the resourcefulness of traditional entrepreneurship with a mission to change society. One social entrepreneur, Ibrahim Abouleish, recently received the “Alternative Nobel Prize” for his Sekem initiative; in 2004, e-Bay founder...

Changes in gnathosonic and tooth contact characteristics induced by experimental occlusal interferences created using a full-cast double crown.

Science.gov (United States)

Asazuma, Y; Isogai, Y; Watanabe, K; Hara, K

1995-03-01

Occlusal sounds, contact timings and time moments were measured and analysed on 10 subjects onto whom an occlusal interference was created experimentally. A full-cast double crown was unilaterally set on the upper first molar of each subject, then gradually elevated for 0.06, 0.10, 0.20 and 0.30 mm by inserting a pre-calibrated metal folio. Occlusal sound was measured with an analyser designed for the purpose. Timings and time moments were analysed with a T-scan system. All measurements were performed at least 10 times per subject. The results showed that prolonged occlusal sound duration, changes in acoustic signal waveform and increased shift of the centre of effort were observed concomitantly with crown elevation. Differences in these values at 0.06 mm as compared with those at baseline were not statistically significant. This could be explained through a physiological compensation by the periodontal ligament. The differences with baseline were statistically significant from 0.10 mm ongoing. The distribution of occlusal conacts was determined by the use of a newly developed parameter. Referred to as 'Tap Score', the parameter consists of converting contact timings occurring in seven ranges into least-square-based weighted scores. Analysis of the tap score disclosed evident imbalance between the crowned and the non-crowned side starting from 0.10 mm elevation, whereby a forward shift of the major contact point was observed on the non-crowned side. Our study demonstrated that evident changes in gnathosonic and T-scan parameters are likely to occur at a crown elevation within a 0.06-0.10 mm range.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Impact of ice sheet meltwater fluxes on the climate evolution at the onset of the Last Interglacial

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goelzer, Heiko; Huybrechts, Philippe; Loutre, Marie-France; Fichefet, Thierry

2016-01-01

Large climate perturbations occurred during the transition between the penultimate glacial period and the Last Interglacial (Termination II), when the ice sheets retreated from their glacial configuration. Here we investigate the impact of ice sheet changes and associated freshwater fluxes on the

Sleep promotes lasting changes in selective memory for emotional scenes.

Science.gov (United States)

Payne, Jessica D; Chambers, Alexis M; Kensinger, Elizabeth A

2012-01-01

Although we know that emotional events enjoy a privileged status in our memories, we still have much to learn about how emotional memories are processed, stored, and how they change over time. Here we show a positive association between REM sleep and the selective consolidation of central, negative aspects of complex scenes. Moreover, we show that the placement of sleep is critical for this selective emotional memory benefit. When testing occurred 24 h post-encoding, subjects who slept soon after learning (24 h Sleep First group) had superior memory for emotional objects compared to subjects whose sleep was delayed for 16 h post-encoding following a full day of wakefulness (24 h Wake First group). However, this increase in memory for emotional objects corresponded with a decrease in memory for the neutral backgrounds on which these objects were placed. Furthermore, memory for emotional objects in the 24 h Sleep First group was comparable to performance after just a 12 h delay containing a night of sleep, suggesting that sleep soon after learning selectively stabilizes emotional memory. These results suggest that the sleeping brain preserves in long-term memory only what is emotionally salient and perhaps most adaptive to remember.

STRATEGIC ALLIANCES – VIABLE ALTERNATIVE TO CREATE A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN A GLOBAL MARKET

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)