Probabilistic parameterisation of the surface mass balance--elevation feedback in regional climate model simulations of the Greenland ice sheet

We present a new parameterisation that relates surface mass balance (SMB: the sum of surface accumulation and surface ablation) to changes in surface elevation of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) for the MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional: Fettweis, 2007) regional climate model. The motivation is to dynamically adjust SMB as the GrIS evolves, allowing us to force ice sheet models with SMB simulated by MAR while incorporating the SMB–elevation feedback, without the substantial technical challenges of coupling ice sheet and climate models. This also allows us to assess the effect of elevation feedback uncertainty on the GrIS contribution to sea level, using multiple global climate and ice sheet models, without the need for additional, expensive MAR simulations. We estimate this relationship separately below and above the equilibrium line altitude (ELA, separating negative and positive SMB) and for regions north and south of 77� N, from a set of MAR simulations in which we alter the ice sheet surface elevation. These give four “SMB lapse rates”, gradients that relate SMB changes to elevation changes. We assess uncertainties within a Bayesian framework, estimating probability distributions for each gradient from which we present best estimates and credibility intervals (CI) that bound 95% of the probability. Below the ELA our gradient estimates are mostly positive, because SMB usually increases with elevation: 0.56 (95% CI: −0.22 to 1.33) kgm−3 a−1 for the north, and 1.91 (1.03 to 2.61) kgm−3 a−1 for the south. Above the ELA, the gradients are much smaller in magnitude: 0.09 (−0.03 to 0.23) kgm−3 a−1 in the north, and 0.07 (−0.07 to 0.59) kgm−3 a−1 in the south, because SMB can either increase or decrease in response to increased elevation. Our statistically founded approach allows us to make probabilistic assessments for the effect of elevation feedback uncertainty on sea level projections (Edwards et al., 2014).

Effect of uncertainty in surface mass balance--elevation feedback on projections of the future sea level contribution of the Greenland ice sheet

We apply a new parameterisation of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) feedback between surface mass balance (SMB: the sum of surface accumulation and surface ablation) and surface elevation in the MAR regional climate model (Edwards et al., 2014) to projections of future climate change using five ice sheet models (ISMs). The MAR (Modèle Atmosphérique Régional: Fettweis, 2007) climate projections are for 2000–2199, forced by the ECHAM5 and HadCM3 global climate models (GCMs) under the SRES A1B emissions scenario. The additional sea level contribution due to the SMB– elevation feedback averaged over five ISM projections for ECHAM5 and three for HadCM3 is 4.3% (best estimate; 95% credibility interval 1.8–6.9 %) at 2100, and 9.6% (best estimate; 95% credibility interval 3.6–16.0 %) at 2200. In all results the elevation feedback is significantly positive, amplifying the GrIS sea level contribution relative to the MAR projections in which the ice sheet topography is fixed: the lower bounds of our 95% credibility intervals (CIs) for sea level contributions are larger than the “no feedback” case for all ISMs and GCMs. Our method is novel in sea level projections because we propagate three types of modelling uncertainty – GCM and ISM structural uncertainties, and elevation feedback parameterisation uncertainty – along the causal chain, from SRES scenario to sea level, within a coherent experimental design and statistical framework. The relative contributions to uncertainty depend on the timescale of interest. At 2100, the GCM uncertainty is largest, but by 2200 both the ISM and parameterisation uncertainties are larger. We also perform a perturbed parameter ensemble with one ISM to estimate the shape of the projected sea level probability distribution; our results indicate that the probability density is slightly skewed towards higher sea level contributions.

The excitation of ionospheric convection

This review presents recent observations of high-latitude ionospheric plasma convection, obtained using the EISCAT radar in the 'Polar' experiment mode. The paper is divided into two main parts. Firstly, the delay in the response of dayside high-latitude flows to changes in the interplanetary magnetic field is discussed. The results show the importance for the excitation of dayside convection of the transfer of magnetic flux from the dayside into the tail lobe. Consequently, ionospheric convection should be thought of as the sum of two intrinsically time-dependent flow patterns. The first of these patterns is directly driven by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling, dominates ionospheric flows on the dayside, is associated with an expanding polar cap area and is the F-region flow equivalent of the DP-2 E-region current system. The second of the two patterns is driven by the release of energy stored in the geomagnetic tail, dominates ionospheric flows on the nightside, is associated with a contracting polar cap and is equivalent to the DP-1, or substorm, current system. In the second half of the paper, various transient flow bursts observed in the vicinity of the dayside cusp are studied. These radar data, combined with simultaneous optical observations of transient dayside aurorae, strongly suggest that momentum is transferred across the magnetopause and into the ionosphere in a series of bursts, each associated with voltages of 30-80 kV. Similarities between these bursts and flux transfer events observed at the magnetopause are discussed.

The excitation of plasma convection in the high-latitude ionosphere

Recent observations of ionospheric flows by ground-based radars, in particular by the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT) facility using the “Polar” experiment, together with previous analyses of the response of geomagnetic disturbance to variations of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), suggest that convection in the high-latitude ionosphere should be considered to be the sum of two intrinsically time-dependent patterns, one driven by solar wind-magnetosphere coupling at the dayside magnetopause, the other by the release of energy in the geomagnetic tail (mainly by dayside and nightside reconnection, respectively). The flows driven by dayside coupling are largest on the dayside, where they usually dominate, are associated with an expanding polar cap area, and are excited and decay on ∼10-min time scales following southward and northward turnings of the IMF, respectively. The latter finding indicates that the production of new open flux at the dayside magnetopause excites magnetospheric and ionospheric flow only for a short interval, ∼10 min, such that the flow driven by this source subsequently decays on this time scale unless maintained by the production of more open flux tubes. Correspondingly, the flows excited by the release of energy in the tail, mainly during substorms, are largest on the nightside, are associated with a contracting polar cap boundary, and are excited on ∼1-hour time scales following a southward turn of the IMF. In general, the total ionospheric flow will be the sum of the flows produced by these two sources, such that due to their different response times to changes in the IMF, considerable variations in the flow pattern can occur for a given direction and strength of the IMF. Consequently, the ionospheric electric field cannot generally be regarded as arising from a simple mapping of the solar wind electric field along open flux tubes.

Metrics for linking emissions of gases and aerosols to global precipitation changes

Recent advances in understanding have made it possible to relate global precipitation changes directly to emissions of particular gases and aerosols that influence climate. Using these advances, new indices are developed here called the Global Precipitation-change Potential for pulse (GPP_P) and sustained (GPP_S) emissions, which measure the precipitation change per unit mass of emissions. The GPP can be used as a metric to compare the effects of different emissions. This is akin to the global warming potential (GWP) and the global temperature-change potential (GTP) which are used to place emissions on a common scale. Hence the GPP provides an additional perspective of the relative or absolute effects of emissions. It is however recognised that precipitation changes are predicted to be highly variable in size and sign between different regions and this limits the usefulness of a purely global metric. The GPP_P and GPP_S formulation consists of two terms, one dependent on the surface temperature change and the other dependent on the atmospheric component of the radiative forcing. For some forcing agents, and notably for CO2, these two terms oppose each other – as the forcing and temperature perturbations have different timescales, even the sign of the absolute GPP_P and GPP_S varies with time, and the opposing terms can make values sensitive to uncertainties in input parameters. This makes the choice of CO2 as a reference gas problematic, especially for the GPP_S at time horizons less than about 60 years. In addition, few studies have presented results for the surface/atmosphere partitioning of different forcings, leading to more uncertainty in quantifying the GPP than the GWP or GTP. Values of the GPP_P and GPP_S for five long- and short-lived forcing agents (CO2, CH4, N2O, sulphate and black carbon – BC) are presented, using illustrative values of required parameters. The resulting precipitation changes are given as the change at a specific time horizon (and hence they are end-point metrics) but it is noted that the GPPS can also be interpreted as the time-integrated effect of a pulse emission. Using CO2 as a references gas, the GPP_P and GPP_S for the non-CO2 species are larger than the corresponding GTP values. For BC emissions, the atmospheric forcing is sufficiently strong that the GPP_S is opposite in sign to the GTP_S. The sensitivity of these values to a number of input parameters is explored. The GPP can also be used to evaluate the contribution of different emissions to precipitation change during or after a period of emissions. As an illustration, the precipitation changes resulting from emissions in 2008 (using the GPP_P) and emissions sustained at 2008 levels (using the GPP_S) are presented. These indicate that for periods of 20 years (after the 2008 emissions) and 50 years (for sustained emissions at 2008 levels) methane is the dominant driver of positive precipitation changes due to those emissions. For sustained emissions, the sum of the effect of the five species included here does not become positive until after 50 years, by which time the global surface temperature increase exceeds 1 K.

Neuromotor tolerability and behavioural characterisation of cannabidiolic acid, a phytocannabinoid with therapeutic potential for anticipatory nausea

Rationale: Anticipatory nausea (AN) is a poorly controlled side-effect experienced by chemotherapy patients. Currently, pharmacotherapy is restricted to benzodiazepine anxiolytics, which have limited efficacy, significant sedative effects, and induce dependency. The non-psychoactive phytocannabinoid, cannabidiolic acid (CBDA), has shown considerable efficacy in pre-clinical AN models, however determination of its neuromotor tolerability profile is crucial to justify clinical investigation. Provisional evidence for appetite-stimulating properties also requires detailed investigation. Objectives: To assess the tolerability of CBDA in locomotor activity, motor coordination and muscular strength tests, and additionally for ability to modulate feeding behaviours. Methods: Male Lister hooded rats administered CBDA (0.05-5 mg/kg; p.o.) were assessed in habituated open field (for locomotor activity), static beam and grip strength tests. A further study investigated whether these CBDA doses modulated normal feeding behaviour. Finally, evidence of anxiolytic-like effects in the habituated open field prompted testing of 5 mg/kg CBDA for anxiolytic-like activity in unhabituated open field, light/dark box and novelty-supressed feeding (NSF) tests. Results: CBDA had no adverse effects upon performance in any neuromotor tolerability test, however anxiolytic-like behaviour was observed in the habituated open field. Normal feeding behaviours were unaffected by any dose. CBDA (5 mg/kg) abolished the increased feeding latency in the NSF test induced by the 5-HT1AR antagonist, WAY-100,635, indicative of anxiolytic-like effects, but had no effect on anxiety-like behaviour in the novel open field or light/dark box. Conclusions: CBDA is very well tolerated and devoid of the sedative side-effect profile of benzodiazepines, justifying its clinical investigation as a novel AN treatment.

Verbs in space: axis and direction of motion norms for 299 English verbs

A strong body of work has explored the interaction between visual perception and language comprehension; for example, recent studies exploring predictions from embodied cognition have focused particularly on the common representation of sensory—motor and semantic information. Motivated by this background, we provide a set of norms for the axis and direction of motion implied in 299 English verbs, collected from approximately 100 native speakers of British English. Until now, there have been no freely available norms of this kind for a large set of verbs that can be used in any area of language research investigating the semantic representation of motion. We have used these norms to investigate the interaction between language comprehension and low-level visual processes involved in motion perception, validating the norming procedure’s ability to capture the motion content of individual verbs. Supplemental materials for this study may be downloaded from brm.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Physical and sensory properties of regular and reduced-fat pound cakes with added amaranth flour

The sum of wheat flour and corn starch was replaced by 10, 20, or 30% whole amaranth flour in both conventional (C) and reduced fat (RF) pound cakes. and the effects on physical and sensory properties of the cakes were investigated. RF presented 33% fat reduction. The increasing amaranth levels darkened crust and crumb of cakes, which decreased color acceptability. Fresh amaranth-containing cakes had similar texture characteristics to (he controls, evaluated both instrumentally and sensorially. Sensory evaluation revealed that replacement by 30% amaranth flour decreased C cakes overall acceptability scores, clue to its lower specific volume and darker color. Amaranth flour levels had no significant effect on overall acceptability of RF cakes. Hence, the sum of wheat flour and corn starch could be successfully replaced by up to 20% amaranth flour in C and up to 30% in RF pound cakes without negatively affecting sensory quality in fresh cakes. Moisture losses for all the cakes were similar, approximate to 1% per day during storage. After six days of storage, both C and RF amaranth-containing cakes had higher hardness and chewiness values than control cakes. Further experiments involving sensory evaluation during storage are necessary to determine the exact limit of amaranth flour replacement.

High intake of fruits and vegetables predicts weight loss in Brazilian overweight adults

To determine whether changes in dietary intakes predict weight loss, we studied 80 overweight adults who attended a nutritional counseling program during 6 months of follow-up at a primary health care center in Brazil. Habitual diet was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire at baseline and after 6 months. The mean age (+/-SD) of the participants was 46.5 +/- 9.5 years, and their mean body mass index was 29 +/- 3 kg/m(2) at baseline. After 6 months, the differences in body weight and fruit/vegetable intake were -1.4 +/- 3 kg and 109 +/- 320 g daily, respectively. Using multiple linear regression models adjusted for age, sex, changes in walking time, and total energy intake, the increased intake of dietary fiber from fruits/vegetables was associated with a greater weight loss (beta 1 [95% confidence interval (CI)] = -0.180 [-0.269, -0.0911) after 6 months of follow-up. Similar results were observed for increased intake of vegetables (beta 1 [95% CI] = -0.00497 [-0.008, -0.0021) and fruits (beta 1 [95% CI] = -0.00290 [-0.005, -0.001]) as predictors of weight loss. The increase of 100 g/d of vegetables and fruits represented a body weight loss of 500 and 300 g after 6 months, respectively (P <.05). Our findings support the relevance of increased intakes of fruits and vegetables that may help avoid weight gain in overweight adults. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Nuclear and extended spectra of NGC 1068-I. Hints from near-infrared spectroscopy

We report the first simultaneous zJHK spectroscopy on the archetypical Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068 covering the wavelength region 0.9-2.4 mu m. The slit, aligned in the north-south direction and centred in the optical nucleus, maps a region 300 pc in radius at subarcsec resolution, with a spectral resolving power of 360 km s-1. This configuration allows us to study the physical properties of the nuclear gas including that of the north side of the ionization cone, map the strong excess of continuum emission in the K band and attributed to dust and study the variations, both in flux and profile, in the emission lines. Our results show the following. (1) Mid- to low-ionization emission lines are split into two components, whose relative strengths vary with the position along the slit and seem to be correlated with the jet. (2) The coronal lines are single-peaked and are detected only in the central few hundred of pc from the nucleus. (3) The absorption lines indicate the presence of intermediate age stellar population, which might be a significant contributor to the continuum in the near-IR spectra. (4) Through some simple photoionization models we find photoionization as the main mechanism powering the emitting gas. (5) Calculations using stellar features point to a mass concentration inside the 100-200 pc of about 1010 M(circle dot).

Nuclear and extended spectra of NGC 1068-II. Near-infrared stellar population synthesis

We performed stellar population synthesis on the nuclear and extended regions of NGC 1068 by means of near-infrared spectroscopy to disentangle their spectral energy distribution components. This is the first time that such a technique is applied to the whole 0.8-2.4 mu m wavelength interval in this galaxy. NGC 1068 is one of the nearest and probably the most studied Seyfert 2 galaxy, becoming an excellent laboratory to study the interaction between black holes, the jets that they can produce and the medium in which they propagate. Our main result is that traces of young stellar population are found at similar to 100 pc south of the nucleus. The contribution of a power-law continuum in the centre is about 25 per cent, which is expected if the light is scattered from a Seyfert 1 nucleus. We find peaks in the contribution of the featureless continuum about 100-150 pc from the nucleus on both sides. They might be associated with regions where the jet encounters dense clouds. Further support to this scenario is given by the peaks of hot dust distribution found around these same regions and the H(2) emission-line profile, leading us to propose that the peaks might be associated to regions where stars are being formed. Hot dust also has an important contribution to the nuclear region, reinforcing the idea of the presence of a dense, circumnuclear torus in this galaxy. Cold dust appears mostly in the south direction, which supports the view that the south-west emission is behind the plane of the galaxy and is extinguished very likely by dust in the plane. Intermediate-age stellar population contributes significantly to the continuum, especially in the inner 200 pc.

New Species of Earless Lizard Genus Heterodactylus (Squamata: Gymnophthalmidae) from the Highlands of Chapada Diamantina, State of Bahia, Brazil

A new species of Heterodactylus is described based on two specimens obtained in the highlands of Chapada Diamantina, state of Bahia, Brazil. The new lizard is characterized by very elongate body and tail, absence of external ear opening, presence of moveable eyelids, absence of prefrontals and frontoparietals, a vestigial interparietal, 37-39 dorsal and 27-29 ventral transverse scale rows, 23-25 scales around midbody, six gular scale rows, and 10-11 and 14-15 fourth finger and fourth toe infradigital lamellae, respectively. The new species is most similar to Heterodactylus lundii from which it differs by the absence of contact between frontal and interparietal, by having wider than long parietals, smooth posterior dorsal scales, posterior ventral scales almost twice longer than wide, a lower number of scales around midbody, last supralabial in contact with the granules of the ear depression, and a more elongate body. The new species occurs about 1,100 km north of the northernmost known record of H. lundii. Species of Heterodactylus seem to be restricted to areas of cold climates associated with high latitudes and mountainous areas of eastern Brasil.

Na+-glucose transporter-2 messenger ribonucleic acid expression in kidney of diabetic rats correlates with glycemic levels: Involvement of hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 alpha expression and activity

Mutations in Na+-glucose transporters (SGLT)-2 and hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-1 alpha genes have been related to renal glycosuria and maturity-onset diabetes of the young 3, respectively. However, the expression of these genes have not been investigated in type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Here in kidney of diabetic rats, we tested the hypotheses that SGLT2 mRNA expression is altered; HNF-1 alpha is involved in this regulation; and glycemic homeostasis is a related mechanism. The in vivo binding of HNF-1 alpha into the SGLT2 promoter region in renal cortex was confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. SGLT2 and HNF-1 alpha mRNA expression (by Northern and RT-PCR analysis) and HNF-1 binding activity of nuclear proteins (by EMSA) were investigated in diabetic rats and treated or not with insulin or phlorizin (an inhibitor of SGLT2). Results showed that diabetes increases SGLT2 and HNF-1 alpha mRNA expression (similar to 50%) and binding of nuclear proteins to a HNF-1 consensus motif (similar to 100%). Six days of insulin or phlorizin treatment restores these parameters to nondiabetic-rat levels. Moreover, both treatments similarly reduced glycemia, despite the differences in plasma insulin and urinary glucose concentrations, highlighting the plasma glucose levels as involved in the observed modulations. This study shows that SGLT2 mRNA expression and HNF-1 alpha expression and activity correlate positively in kidney of diabetic rats. It also shows that diabetes-induced changes are reversed by lowering glycemia, independently of insulinemia. Our demonstration that HNF-1 alpha binds DNA that encodes SGLT2 supports the hypothesis that HNF-1 alpha, as a modulator of SGLT2 expression, may be involved in diabetic kidney disease.

The analytic torsion of a cone over an odd dimensional manifold

We study the analytic torsion of a cone over an orientable odd dimensional compact connected Riemannian manifold W. We prove that the logarithm of the analytic torsion of the cone decomposes as the sum of the logarithm of the root of the analytic torsion of the boundary of the cone, plus a topological term, plus a further term that is a rational linear combination of local Riemannian invariants of the boundary. We show that this last term coincides with the anomaly boundary term appearing in the Cheeger Muller theorem [3, 2] for a manifold with boundary, according to Bruning and Ma (2006) [5]. We also prove Poincare duality for the analytic torsion of a cone. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On duality of the noncommutative supersymmetric Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory

We study the possibility of establishing the dual equivalence between the noncommutative supersymmetric Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory and the noncommutative supersymmetric self-dual theory. It turns to be that whereas in the commutative case the Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory can be mapped into the sum of the self-dual theory and the Chern-Simons theory, in the noncommutative case such a mapping is possible only for the theory with modified Maxwell term. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.