On the variability of the surface environment response to synoptic forcing over complex terrain: a multivariate data analysis approach

Synoptic climatology relates the atmospheric circulation with the surface environment. The aim of this study is to examine the variability of the surface meteorological patterns, which are developing under different synoptic scale categories over a suburban area with complex topography. Multivariate Data Analysis techniques were performed to a data set with surface meteorological elements. Three principal components related to the thermodynamic status of the surface environment and the two components of the wind speed were found. The variability of the surface flows was related with atmospheric circulation categories by applying Correspondence Analysis. Similar surface thermodynamic fields develop under cyclonic categories, which are contrasted with the anti-cyclonic category. A strong, steady wind flow characterized by high shear values develops under the cyclonic Closed Low and the anticyclonic H–L categories, in contrast to the variable weak flow under the anticyclonic Open Anticyclone category.

Analysis of floristic composition and structure as an aid to monitoring protected areas of dense rain forest in southeastern Brazil

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Analysis of rain quality data from the South African interior

Rain acidity may be ascribed to emissions from power station stacks, as well as emissions from other industry, biomass burning, maritime influences, agricultural influences, etc. Rain quality data are available for 30 sites in the South African interior, some from as early as 1985 for up to 14 rainfall seasons, while others only have relatively short records. The article examines trends over time in the raw and volume weighted concentrations of the parameters measured, separately for each of the sites for which sufficient data are available. The main thrust, however, is to examine the inter-relationship structure between the concentrations within each rain event (unweighted data), separately for each site, and to examine whether these inter-relationships have changed over time. The rain events at individual sites can be characterized by approximately eight combinations of rainfall parameters (or rain composition signatures), and these are common to all sites. Some sites will have more events from one signature than another, but there appear to be no signatures unique to a single site. Analysis via factor and cluster analysis, with a correspondence analysis of the results, also aid interpretation of the patterns. This spatio-temporal analysis, performed by pooling all rain event data, irrespective of site or time period, results in nine combinations of rainfall parameters being sufficient to characterize the rain events. The sites and rainfall seasons show patterns in these combinations of parameters, with some combinations appearing more frequently during certain rainfall seasons. In particular, the presence of the combination of low acetate and formate with high magnesium appears to be increasing in the later rainfall seasons, as does this combination together with calcium, sodium, chloride, potassium and fluoride. As expected, sites close together exhibit similar signatures. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Sporomorphs and quantitative analysis of the Eocene record from IODP Hole 318-U1356A

The early Eocene epoch was characterized by extreme global warmth, which in terrestrial settings was characterized by an expansion of near-tropical vegetation belts into the high latitudes. During the middle to late Eocene, global cooling caused the retreat of tropical vegetation to lower latitudes. In high-latitude settings, near-tropical vegetation was replaced by temperate floras. This floral change has recently been traced as far south as Antarctica, where along the Wilkes Land margin paratropical forests thrived during the early Eocene and temperate Nothofagus forests developed during the middle Eocene. Here we provide both qualitative and quantitative palynological data for this floral turnover based on a sporomorph record recovered at Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Site U1356 off the Wilkes Land margin. Following the nearest living relative concept and based on a comparison with modern vegetation types, we examine the structure and diversity patterns of the Eocene vegetation along the Wilkes Land margin. Our results indicate that the early Eocene forests along the Wilkes Land margin were characterized by a diverse canopy composed of plants that today occur in tropical settings; their richness pattern was similar to that of present-day forests from New Caledonia. The middle Eocene forests were characterized by a canopy dominated by Nothofagus and exhibited richness patterns similar to modern Nothofagus forests from New Zealand.

(Appendix) Analysis of benthic foraminifera from ODP Leg 181 and DSDP Leg 90

Canonical correspondence analysis indicates that the distribution of Neogene benthic foraminiferal faunas (>63 µm) in seven DSDP and ODP sites (500-4500 m water depth) east of New Zealand (38-51°S, 170°E-170°W) is most strongly influenced by depth (water mass stratification), and secondly by age (palaeoceanographic changes influencing faunal composition and biotic evolution). Stratigraphic faunal changes are interpretted in terms of the pulsed sequential development of southern, and later northern, polar glaciation and consequent cooling of bottom waters, increased vertical and lateral stratification of ocean water masses, and increased overall and seasonal surface water productivity. Oligocene initiation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and Deep Western Boundary Current (DWBC), flowing northwards past New Zealand, resulted in extensive hiatuses throughout the Southwest Pacific, some extending through into the Miocene. Planktic foraminiferal fragmentation index values indicate that carbonate dissolution was significant at abyssal depths throughout most of the Neogene, peaking at upper abyssal depths in the late Miocene (11-7 Ma), with the lysocline progressively deepened thereafter. Miocene abyssal faunas are dominated by Globocassidulina subglobosa and Oridorsalis umbonatus, with increasing Epistominella exigua after 16 Ma at upper abyssal depths. Peak abundances of Epistominella umbonifera indicate increased input of cold Southern Component Water to the DWBC at 7-6 Ma. Faunal association changes imply establishment of the modern Oxygen Minimum Zone (upper Circumpolar Deep Water) in the latest Miocene. Significant latitudinal differences between the benthic foraminiferal faunas at lower bathyal depths indicate the existence of an oceanic front along the Chatham Rise (location of present Subtropical Front), since the early late Miocene at least, with more pulsed productivity (higher E. exigua) along the south side. Modern Antarctic Intermediate Water faunal associations were established north of the Chatham Rise at 10-9 Ma, and south of it at 3-1.5 Ma. Middle-upper bathyal faunas on the Campbell Plateau are dominated by reticulate bolivinids during the early and middle Miocene, indicative of sustained productivity above relatively sluggish, suboxic bottom waters. Faunal changes and hiatuses indicate increased current vigour over the Campbell Plateau from the latest Miocene on. Surface water productivity (food supply) appears to have increased in three steps (at times of enhanced global cooling) marked by substantially increased relative abundance of: (1) Abditodentrix pseudothalmanni, Alabaminella weddellensis, Cassidulina norvangi (16-15 Ma, increased pulsed productivity); (2) Bulimina marginata f. aculeata, Nonionella auris, Trifarina angulosa, Uvigerina peregrina (3-1.5 Ma, increased overall productivity); and (3) Cassidulina carinata (1-0.5 Ma, increased overall productivity). Three intervals of deep-sea benthic foraminiferal taxonomic turnover are recognised (16-15, 11.5-10, 2-0.5 Ma) corresponding to intervals of enhanced global cooling and possible productivity changes. The late Pliocene-middle Pleistocene extinction, associated with increasing Northern Hemisphere glaciation, culminating in the middle Pleistocene climatic transition, was more significant in the study area than the earlier Neogene turnovers.

(Table B2) Relative abundances of diatom species used in the Canoco analysis at sediment surface samples from the Chinese inshore waters

Canonical correspondence analysis has been used to analyze and to visualize the relationships between the main species and selected environmental variables in a study of diatoms from surface sediment samples in Chinese inshore waters. The result shows that the diatom distribution in Chinese inshore waters is closely correlated with the environmental variables and that the measured environmental variables account for the major changes of the diatom composition. Winter sea-surface temperature (WST), winter sea-surface salinity (WSS), water depth and summer sea-surface salinity (SSS) play an important role for the diatom distribution. Among the environmental factors, winter sea-surface temperature is the most important, controlling the distribution of diatoms in the surface sediments in Chinese inshore waters, and therefore, it may be potentially reconstructed in palaeoceanographic studies. Three diatom assemblages are distinguished, representing environments with different hydrological characteristics. The temperate-water diatom assemblage may be used as an indicator of the coastal circulation system of Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. While the warm-temperate water diatom assemblage is closely related to Shanghai-Zhejiang-Fujian coastal currents and Northern Bay coastal currents of South China Sea. The deep water diatom assemblage is a response to that the waters are less controlled by coastal currents, but are more influenced by open sea currents, such as Kuroshio.

Exploring Hidden Coherent Feature Groups and Temporal Semantics for Multimedia Big Data Analysis

Thanks to the advanced technologies and social networks that allow the data to be widely shared among the Internet, there is an explosion of pervasive multimedia data, generating high demands of multimedia services and applications in various areas for people to easily access and manage multimedia data. Towards such demands, multimedia big data analysis has become an emerging hot topic in both industry and academia, which ranges from basic infrastructure, management, search, and mining to security, privacy, and applications. Within the scope of this dissertation, a multimedia big data analysis framework is proposed for semantic information management and retrieval with a focus on rare event detection in videos. The proposed framework is able to explore hidden semantic feature groups in multimedia data and incorporate temporal semantics, especially for video event detection. First, a hierarchical semantic data representation is presented to alleviate the semantic gap issue, and the Hidden Coherent Feature Group (HCFG) analysis method is proposed to capture the correlation between features and separate the original feature set into semantic groups, seamlessly integrating multimedia data in multiple modalities. Next, an Importance Factor based Temporal Multiple Correspondence Analysis (i.e., IF-TMCA) approach is presented for effective event detection. Specifically, the HCFG algorithm is integrated with the Hierarchical Information Gain Analysis (HIGA) method to generate the Importance Factor (IF) for producing the initial detection results. Then, the TMCA algorithm is proposed to efficiently incorporate temporal semantics for re-ranking and improving the final performance. At last, a sampling-based ensemble learning mechanism is applied to further accommodate the imbalanced datasets. In addition to the multimedia semantic representation and class imbalance problems, lack of organization is another critical issue for multimedia big data analysis. In this framework, an affinity propagation-based summarization method is also proposed to transform the unorganized data into a better structure with clean and well-organized information. The whole framework has been thoroughly evaluated across multiple domains, such as soccer goal event detection and disaster information management.

[climacteric Syndrome In A Northeastern Brazilian City: A Household Survey].

To assess the prevalence of Climacteric Syndrome (CS) in women from a municipality of Northeastern Brazil which is less developed socioeconomically. A prospective household survey was performed in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil with 1,210 climacteric women aged 45 to 60 years. Interviews were applied using previously tested standard questionnaires from April to July 2008. The severity of climacteric symptoms was analyzed by circulatory and psychological indexes and the latter were associated with menopausal status. Multiple correspondence analysis was used to assess the relation among climacteric symptoms. Most patients were 55 to 60 years old (35.3%), mulatto (37.9%), with 9-11 years of schooling (39.8%), with a partner (56%), Catholic (73.9%) and belonged to the socioeconomic class C (51.1%). The prevalence of CS was 85.9%, and hot flashes (56.4%) and sweating (50.4%) were the most prevalent symptoms. The most frequent psychological symptoms were nervousness (45%) and emotional liability (44.8%). The severity of vasomotor and psychological symptoms was significantly higher during the peri and postmenopausal period (p<0.05). Vaginal dryness (62.7%) was the most prevalent urogenital complaint. The prevalence of CS was high among women from São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil.

Diversidade de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae) ao longo de um gradiente latitudinal na Mata Atlântica

A Mata Atlântica é um dos ambientes mais ricos e ameaçados do mundo, o que deveria ter estimulado em muito o estudo e a conservação do Bioma, mas a fauna de Hymenoptera permanece ainda relativamente pouco conhecida. Em especial, a fauna de abelhas da floresta ombrófila densa é pouco estudada em comparação à fauna das áreas abertas brasileiras. O projeto temático "Biodiversidade de Hymenoptera e Isoptera: riqueza e diversidade ao longo de um gradiente latitudinal na Mata Atlântica - a floresta úmida do leste do Brasil", integrante do Programa Biota-Fapesp, foi idealizado com o objetivo de catalogar térmitas, formigas e famílias selecionadas de vespas ao longo da Mata Atlântica, disponibilizando dados que permitam melhor embasar a conservação deste bioma. O protocolo de amostragem aplicada para a coleta de himenópteros (excluindo as formigas) empregou armadilhas Malaise, pratos-armadilha de cor amarela e esforço similar na varredura de vegetação ao longo de 17 localidades selecionadas, representando um gradiente de quase 20° de latitude na Mata Atlântica, dos Estados da Paraíba até Santa Catarina. Este protocolo foi definido para otimizar a coleta de vespas, sendo as abelhas um produto secundário da amostragem (levantamentos de abelhas em geral utilizam captura em flores ao longo das estações do ano). No entanto, devido à escala regional do projeto e ao grande esforço de amostragem, uma expressiva quantidade de abelhas foi coletada durante o projeto, incluindo novos registros de abelhas para a Mata Atlântica. Foi amostrado um total de 797 espécimes distribuídos em 105 espécies de abelhas; o grupo de abelhas mais rico e abundante foi Meliponina. Uma análise de correspondência "destendenciada" ('detrended correspondence analysis') aplicada à uma matriz de presença ou ausência de Meliponina revela a relativamente fraca influência do gradiente latitudinal na composição das assembléias de abelhas de Mata Atlântica. Uma listagem das espécies amostradas por localidade, com suas freqüências relativas, é apresentada e discutida.

Estádio sucessional e fatores geográficos como determinantes da similaridade florística entre comunidades florestais no Planalto Atlântico, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil

A análise das relações de similaridade florística entre comunidades geralmente conduz ao estabelecimento de padrões, condicionados por fatores diversos que determinam a ocorrência ou não das espécies em diferentes locais. Em busca de tais padrões, foram analisadas as relações de similaridade florística entre comunidades florestais localizadas na região do Planalto de Ibiúna, estado de São Paulo, Brasil. Incluíram-se na análise 21 fragmentos florestais e seis sítios em uma Reserva Florestal contínua, sendo que a composição florística e a estrutura da comunidade arbórea (DAP mínimo 5 cm) em cada local foram amostradas pelo método de quadrantes. Aplicaram-se dois métodos de análises multivariadas: 1) Análise de Correspondência Destendenciada (DCA), com base no índice de similaridade de Sørensen; e 2) Divisão Hierárquica Dicotômica (TWINSPAN). A similaridade florística foi mais elevada entre comunidades em estádios sucessionais semelhantes, especialmente se estivessem geograficamente próximas. Há um gradiente florístico associado à latitude, indicando tratar-se de uma região de transição entre biomas. Nos sítios situados na face norte da região de estudo estão presentes espécies que também ocorrem no cerradão e em floresta estacional semidecidual, enquanto nos sítios situados na face sul prevalecem espécies características da floresta ombrófila densa.

Influence of soil properties on the abundance of plant species in ferruginous rocky soils vegetation, southeastern Brazil

Ferruginous "campos rupestres" are a particular type of vegetation growing on iron-rich primary soils. We investigated the influence of soil properties on plant species abundance at two sites of ferruginous "campos rupestres" and one site of quartzitic "campo rupestre", all of them in "Quadrilátero Ferrífero", in Minas Gerais State, southeastern Brazil. In each site, 30 quadrats were sampled to assess plant species composition and abundance, and soil samples were taken to perform chemical and physical analyses. The analyzed soils are strongly acidic and presented low fertility and high levels of metallic cations; a principal component analysis of soil data showed a clear segregation among sites due mainly to fertility and heavy metals content, especially Cu, Zn, and Pb. The canonical correspondence analysis indicated a strong correlation between plant species abundance and soil properties, also segregating the sites.

A assembléia de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae) de uma área restrita de campos naturais do Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, Paraná e comparações com áreas de campos e cerrado

A assembléia de abelhas (Hymenoptera, Apidae) de uma área restrita de campos naturais do Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, Paraná e comparações com áreas de campos e cerrado. Foram realizadas coletas sistemáticas de abelhas em uma área restrita no Parque Estadual de Vila Velha, Paraná, no período de outubro de 2003 a setembro de 2004. Essa amostragem visou gerar subsídios para comparações entre áreas de campo dentro do Parque e com outras áreas de vegetação aberta brasileiras. A área de estudo possui cerca de quatro hectares e foi subdividida em quatro subáreas contínuas e com o mesmo perímetro. As abelhas em flores e em vôo foram capturadas com auxílio de rede entomológica. Foram coletados 1.459 espécimes pertencentes a 122 espécies de abelhas. Estas espécies estão distribuídas em 51 gêneros, 20 tribos e cinco subfamílias. As plantas visitadas correspondem a 93 espécies, pertencentes a 62 gêneros e 29 famílias. Neste estudo e em outro estudo realizado anteriormente em outra área do Parque foram coletadas 222 espécies sendo 74 espécies em comum as duas áreas e uma soma de 148 espécies restritas a uma ou outra área. Ainda, registros históricos de abelhas para Vila Velha elevam a riqueza conhecida para 261 espécies. O índice de similaridade de Morisita entre as áreas foi de 0,50 quando utilizadas as plantas como variáveis e 0,88 quando utilizados gêneros e espécies de abelhas, revelando uma notável heterogeneidade. Comparações entre as áreas do Parque Estadual de Vila Velha e áreas de campos e cerrado foram realizadas através do índice de similaridade e da análise de correspondência. Foram observados dois agrupamentos fortemente evidentes, referentes aos campos e ao cerrado. A análise de correspondência sugere que alguns gêneros podem ser relacionados a determinadas formações vegetais. Esse estudo indica que a fauna de abelhas de Vila Velha é composta principalmente por gêneros relacionados às áreas de campos, porém com presença de elementos de cerrado.