The formation mechanism of the Bonin high in August

The Bonin high is a subtropical anticyclone that is predominant near Japan in the summer. This anticyclone is associated with an equivalent-barotropic structure, often extending throughout the entire troposphere. Although the equivalent-barotropic structure of the Bonin high has been known for years among synopticians because of its importance to the summer climate in east Asia, there are few dynamical explanations for such a structure. The present paper attempts to provide a formation mechanism for the deep ridge near Japan. We propose a new hypothesis that this equivalent-barotropic ridge near Japan is formed as a result of the propagation of stationary Rossby waves along the Asian jet in the upper troposphere (‘the Silk Road pattern’). First, the monthly mean climatology is examined in order to demonstrate this hypothesis. It is shown that the enhanced Asian jet in August is favourable for the propagation of stationary Rossby waves and that the regions of descent over the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Aral Sea act as two major wave sources. Second, a primitive-equation model is used to simulate the climatology of August. The model successfully simulates the Bonin high with an equivalent-barotropic structure. The upper-tropospheric ridge is found to be enhanced by a height anomaly of more than 80 m at 200 hPa, when a wave packet arrives. Sensitivity experiments are conducted to show that the removal of the diabatic cooling over the Asian jet suppresses the Silk Road pattern and formation of an equivalent-barotropic ridge near Japan, while the removal of the diabatic heating in the western Pacific does not. Copyright © 2003 Royal Meteorological Society

The taxonomic status of pest species of Coptotermes in Southeast Asia: Resolving the paradox in the pest status of the termites, Coptotermes gestroi, C-havilandi and C-travians (Isoptera : Rhinotermitidae)

The taxonomic status of Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann), C. havilandi Holmgren, C. travians (Haviland) and C. borneensis Oshima (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) is revised. The apparent discrepancy between the reported importance of C. havitandi in countries to which it has been introduced and the region from which it originated is shown to be due to misidentification and taxonomic confusion between C. travians, C. havilandi and C. gestroi. Based on an examination of specimens from Southeast Asia, two species are recognized, namely C. gestroi and C. travians. Coptotermes havilandi, described from imagos, is shown to be the same species as C. gestro described earlier from the soldier caste, and is designated a junior synonym. Coptotermes gestroi occurs from Assam through Burma and Thailand to Malaysia and the Indonesian archipelago, and has been introduced into other geographic regions, including parts of North and South America and the Caribbean. It is frequently found damaging wood in buildings, and is often intercepted outside its range in cargo onboard ships and sailing vessels, which is a likely mechanism for its spread to new geographical areas. Coptotermes gestroi has been misidentified in much literature as C. travians. Conversely, C. travians has been misidentified in recent literature in Peninsular Malaysia as C. havilandi and was redescribed from Borneo as C. borneensis, which is here designated a junior synonym of C. travians. It has a known distribution from Peninsular Malaysia to Borneo, and has not been found infesting wood in buildings. It is envisaged that the resolution of this taxonomic problem will enable the deployment of common pest management strategies for C. gestro the primary pest species of Coptotermes originating from Southeast Asia.

Design considerations for the multiband OFDM physical layer in consumer electronic products

The creation of Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs) offers the Consumer Electronics industry a mechanism to truly unwire consumer products, leading to portability and ease of installation as never seen before. WPAN's can offer data-rates exceeding those that are required to convey high quality broadcast video, thus users can easily connect to high quality video for multimedia presentations in education, libraries, advertising, or have a wireless connection at home. There have been many WPAN proposals, but this paper concentrates on ECMA-368 as this standard has the largest industrial and implementers' forum backing. This paper discusses the technology behind ECMA-368, the required numerical bandwidth, buffer memory requirements and implementation considerations while concentrating on supporting all the offered data-rates'.

The voice of the consumer speaks forcefully in brand identity: user-generated content forces smart marketers to listen

User-generated content (UGC) is attracting a great deal of interest - some of it effective, some misguided. This article reviews the marketing-related factors that gave rise to UGC, tracing the relevant development of market orientation, social interaction, word of mouth, brand relationships, consumer creativity, co-creation, and customization, largely through the pages of the Journal of Advertising Research over the last 40 (or so) of its 50 years. The authors then discuss the characteristic features of UGC and how they differ from (and are similar to) these concepts. The insights thus gained will help practitioners and researchers understand what UGC is (and is not) and how it should (and should not) be used.

Clothing consumption in two recent EU Member States: a cross-cultural study

Marketing research efforts across Eastern European countries continue growing since the introduction of market reforms in this region. Nonetheless, questions remain unanswered as to cross-cultural differences in Eastern Europeans' consumer behavior. The present research addresses this knowledge gap by developing and testing hypotheses about cross-cultural variations in a number of clothing-related consumer behavior phenomena in the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. Our findings indicate significant differences regarding consumer interest in clothing, preference for utilitarian, self-expressive and hedonic meanings of clothing artifacts, preference for well-known clothing brands, brand loyalty, and importance of clothing attributes. The study advances research in marketing by investigating clothing value-expressive symbolism and consumption in the tworecentEUMember States. The study provides valuable insights to marketers for developing effective marketing strategies.

An investigation of QBO signals in the east Asian and Indian monsoon in GCM experiments

Observations have shown that the monsoon is a highly variable phenomenon of the tropical troposphere, which exhibits significant variance in the temporal range of two to three years. The reason for this specific interannual variability has not yet been identified unequivocally. Observational analyses have also shown that EI Niño indices or western Pacific SSTs exhibit some power in the two to three year period range and therefore it was suggested that an ocean-atmosphere interaction could excite and support such a cycle. Similar mechanisms include land-surface-atmosphere interaction as a possible driving mechanism. A rather different explanation could be provided by a forcing mechanism based on the quasi-biennial oscillation of the zonal wind in the lower equatorial stratosphere (QBO). The QBO is a phenomenon driven by equatorial waves with periods of some days which are excited in the troposphere. Provided that the monsoon circulation reacts to the modulation of tropopause conditions as forced by the QBO, this could explain monsoon variability in the quasi-biennial window. The possibility of a QBO-driven monsoon variability is investigated in this study in a number of general circulation model experiments where the QBO is assimilated to externally controlled phase states. These experiments show that the boreal summer monsoon is significantly influenced by the QBO. A QBO westerly phase implies less precipitation in the western Pacific, but more in India, in agreement with observations. The austral summer monsoon is exposed to similar but weaker mechanisms and the precipitation does not change significantly.

Statistical–dynamical downscaling of present day and future precipitation regimes in the Aksu river catchment in Central Asia

A statistical–dynamical downscaling (SDD) approach is applied to determine present day and future high-resolution rainfall distributions in the catchment of the river Aksu at the southern slopes of the Tienshan Mountains, Central Asia. First, a circulation weather type (CWT) classification is employed to define typical lower atmospheric flow regimes from ERA-40 reanalysis data. Selected representatives of each CWT are dynamically downscaled with the regional climate model COSMO-CLM 4.8 at a horizontal grid resolution of 0.0625°, using the ERA-40 reanalysis data as boundary conditions. Finally, the simulated representatives are recombined to obtain a high-resolution rainfall climatology for present day climate. The methodology is also applied to ensemble simulations of three different scenarios of the global climate model ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 to derive projections of rainfall changes until 2100. Comparisons of downscaled seasonal and annual rainfall with observational data suggest that the statistical–dynamical approach is appropriate to capture the observed present-day precipitation climatology over the low lands and the first elevations of the Tienshan Mountains. On the other hand, a strong bias is found at higher altitudes, where precipitation is clearly underestimated by SDD. The application of SDD to the ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 ensemble reveals that precipitation changes by the end of the 21st century depend on the season. While for autumn an increase of seasonal precipitation is found for all simulations, a decrease in precipitation is obtained during winter for most parts of the Aksu catchment. The spread between different ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 ensemble members is strongest in spring, where trends of opposite sign are found. The largest changes in rainfall are simulated for the summer season, which also shows the most pronounced spatial heterogeneity. Most ECHAM5/MPI-OM1 realizations indicate a decrease of annual precipitation over large parts of the Tienshan, and an increase restricted to the southeast of the study area. These results provide a good basis for downscaling present-day and future rainfall distributions for hydrological purposes.

A dwelling-level investigation into the physical and socio-economic drivers of domestic energy consumption in England

The UK Government's Department for Energy and Climate Change has been investigating the feasibility of developing a national energy efficiency data framework covering both domestic and non-domestic buildings. Working closely with the Energy Saving Trust and energy suppliers, the aim is to develop a data framework to monitor changes in energy efficiency, develop and evaluate programmes and improve information available to consumers. Key applications of the framework are to understand trends in built stock energy use, identify drivers and evaluate the success of different policies. For energy suppliers, it could identify what energy uses are growing, in which sectors and why. This would help with market segmentation and the design of products. For building professionals, it could supplement energy audits and modelling of end-use consumption with real data and support the generation of accurate and comprehensive benchmarks. This paper critically examines the results of the first phase of work to construct a national energy efficiency data-framework for the domestic sector focusing on two specific issues: (a) drivers of domestic energy consumption in terms of the physical nature of the dwellings and socio-economic characteristics of occupants and (b) the impact of energy efficiency measures on energy consumption.

Pollen-based reconstructions of biome distributions for Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (SEAPAC region) at 0,6000 and 18,000 14C yr B.P.

Aim  This paper documents reconstructions of the vegetation patterns in Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (SEAPAC region) in the mid-Holocene and at the last glacial maximum (LGM). Methods  Vegetation patterns were reconstructed from pollen data using an objective biomization scheme based on plant functional types. The biomization scheme was first tested using 535 modern pollen samples from 377 sites, and then applied unchanged to fossil pollen samples dating to 6000 ± 500 or 18,000 ± 1000 14C yr bp. Results  1. Tests using surface pollen sample sites showed that the biomization scheme is capable of reproducing the modern broad-scale patterns of vegetation distribution. The north–south gradient in temperature, reflected in transitions from cool evergreen needleleaf forest in the extreme south through temperate rain forest or wet sclerophyll forest (WSFW) and into tropical forests, is well reconstructed. The transitions from xerophytic through sclerophyll woodlands and open forests to closed-canopy forests, which reflect the gradient in plant available moisture from the continental interior towards the coast, are reconstructed with less geographical precision but nevertheless the broad-scale pattern emerges. 2. Differences between the modern and mid-Holocene vegetation patterns in mainland Australia are comparatively small and reflect changes in moisture availability rather than temperature. In south-eastern Australia some sites show a shift towards more moisture-stressed vegetation in the mid-Holocene with xerophytic woods/scrub and temperate sclerophyll woodland and shrubland at sites characterized today by WSFW or warm-temperate rain forest (WTRF). However, sites in the Snowy Mountains, on the Southern Tablelands and east of the Great Dividing Range have more moisture-demanding vegetation in the mid-Holocene than today. South-western Australia was slightly drier than today. The single site in north-western Australia also shows conditions drier than today in the mid-Holocene. Changes in the tropics are also comparatively small, but the presence of WTRF and tropical deciduous broadleaf forest and woodland in the mid-Holocene, in sites occupied today by cool-temperate rain forest, indicate warmer conditions. 3. Expansion of xerophytic vegetation in the south and tropical deciduous broadleaf forest and woodland in the north indicate drier conditions across mainland Australia at the LGM. None of these changes are informative about the degree of cooling. However the evidence from the tropics, showing lowering of the treeline and forest belts, indicates that conditions were between 1 and 9 °C (depending on elevation) colder. The encroachment of tropical deciduous broadleaf forest and woodland into lowland evergreen broadleaf forest implies greater aridity. Main conclusions  This study provides the first continental-scale reconstruction of mid-Holocene and LGM vegetation patterns from Australia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific (SEAPAC region) using an objective biomization scheme. These data will provide a benchmark for evaluation of palaeoclimate simulations within the framework of the Palaeoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project.