Attachment--and loss.

Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

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Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis.

The detection of psychiatric illness by questionnaire

Abstract A two-dimensional version of the Pennsylvania State University mesoscale model has been applied to Winter Monsoon Experiment data in order to simulate the diurnally occurring convection observed over the South China Sea. The domain includes a representation of part of Borneo as well as the sea so that the model can simulate the initiation of convection. Also included in the model are parameterizations of mesoscale ice phase and moisture processes and longwave and shortwave radiation with a diurnal cycle. This allows use of the model to test the relative importance of various heating mechanisms to the stratiform cloud deck, which typically occupies several hundred kilometers of the domain. Frank and Cohen's cumulus parameterization scheme is employed to represent vital unresolved vertical transports in the convective area. The major conclusions are: Ice phase processes are important in determining the level of maximum large-scale heating and vertical motion because there is a strong anvil componen...

Numerical study of convection observed during the Winter Monsoon Experiment using a mesoscale two-dimensional model [presentation]

Fluorescent carbon nanoparticles or carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are a new class of carbon nanomaterials that have emerged recently and have garnered much interest as potential competitors to conventional semiconductor quantum dots. In addition to their comparable optical properties, CQDs have the desired advantages of low toxicity, environmental friendliness low cost and simple synthetic routes. Moreover, surface passivation and functionalization of CQDs allow for the control of their physicochemical properties. Since their discovery, CQDs have found many applications in the fields of chemical sensing, biosensing, bioimaging, nanomedicine, photocatalysis and electrocatalysis. This article reviews the progress in the research and development of CQDs with an emphasis on their synthesis, functionalization and technical applications along with some discussion on challenges and perspectives in this exciting and promising field.

Carbon quantum dots and their applications

. Eddy covariance measurements from 2012 to 2015 were used to investigate the interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange and its control over an alpine meadow on the south-east margin of the Tibetan Plateau. The annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) in the 4 years from 2012 to 2015 was −114.2, −158.5, −159.9 and −212.6 g C m−2 yr−1, and generally decreased with the mean annual air temperature (MAT). An exception occurred in 2014, which had the highest MAT. This was attributed to higher ecosystem respiration (RE) and similar gross primary production (GPP) in 2014 because the GPP increased with the MAT, but became saturated due to the limit in photosynthetic capacity. In the spring (March to May) of 2012, low air temperature (Ta) and drought events delayed grass germination and reduced GPP. In the late wet season (September to October) of 2012 and 2013, the low Ta in September and its negative effects on vegetation growth caused earlier grass senescence and significantly lower GPP. This indicates that the seasonal pattern of Ta has a substantial effect on the annual total GPP, which is consistent with results obtained using the homogeneity-of-slopes (HOS) model. The model results showed that the climatic seasonal variation explained 48.6 % of the GPP variability, while the percentages explained by climatic interannual variation and the ecosystem functional change were 9.7 and 10.6 %, respectively.

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Biophysical effects on the interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange of an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Based on eddy covariance measurements over two kinds of land surfaces (a degraded grassland and a maize cropland) in a semiarid area of China in 2005 and 2008, the effects of different gap filling methods, energy balance closure and friction velocity threshold (u*) on annual net ecosystem exchange (NEE) were analyzed. Six gap filling methods, including mean diurnal variation (MDV), marginal distribution sampling (MDS), and nonlinear regressions method, were investigated by generating secondary datasets with four different artificial gap lengths (ranging in length from single half-hours to 12 consecutive days). The MDS generally showed a good overall performance especially for long gaps, with an annual sum bias error less than 5 g C m−2 yr−1. There was a large positive annual sum bias error for nonlinear regressions, indicating an overestimate on net ecosystem respiration. The offset in the annual sum NEE for four nonlinear regressions was from 8.0 to 30.8 g C m−2 yr−1. As soil water content was a limiting factor in the semiarid area, the nonlinear regressions considering both soil temperature and soil water content as controlling variables had a better performance than others. The performance of MDV was better in daytime than in nighttime, with an annual sum bias error falling between −2.6 and −13.4 g C m−2 yr−1. Overall, the accuracy of the gap filling method was dependent on the type of the land surface, gap length, and the time of day when the data gap occurred. The energy balance ratio for the two ecosystems was nearly 80%. Turbulent intensity had a large impact on energy balance ratio. Low energy balance ratio was observed under low friction velocity during the night. When there was a large fetch distance in a wind direction, a low energy balance ratio was caused by mismatch of the footprints between the available energy and turbulent fluxes. The effect of energy balance correction on CO2 flux was evaluated by assuming the imbalance caused by the underestimation of sensible heat flux and latent heat flux. The results showed an average increase of 10 g C m−2 yr−1 for annual NEE in both ecosystems with an energy balance correction. On the other hand, the u* threshold also have a large impact on annual sum NEE. Net carbon emission increased 37.5 g C m−2 yr−1 as u* threshold increased from 0.1 to 0.2 m s−1, indicating a large impact of imposing u* threshold on net ecosystem carbon exchange.

Effects of different gap filling methods and land surface energy balance closure on annual net ecosystem exchange in a semiarid area of China

Dibenzothiophene (DBT) degradation mechanisms and the transformation of pathways during the incubation of three types of coastal sediments with C/N ratios ranging from 1 to 9 were investigated. The DBT degradation efficiencies were clearly improved with increasing C/N ratio in reed wetland sediments, tidal wetlands sediments and estuary wetland sediments. The quantitative response relationships between DBT degradation rates and related functional genes demonstrate that the Kodama pathway-related gene groups were dominant factors at low C/N ratios, while the 4S-related gene groups mainly determined the degradation rate when the C/N ratio was up to 5. Network analysis also shows that the pathway shifts from the Kodama pathway to the 4S pathway occurred through changes in the connections between functional genomes and rates. Furthermore, there were competition and collaboration between the Kodama and 4S pathways. The 4S pathway-related bacteria were more active in estuary wetland sediments compared with reed wetland sediments and tidal wetland sediments. The higher degradation efficiency in estuary wetland sediments may indicate the greater participation of the 4S pathway in the DBT biodegradation reaction. And the effects of ring cleavage of Kodama pathway caused more complete metabolizing of DBT.

Contribution of the Kodama and 4S pathways to the dibenzothiophene biodegradation in different coastal wetlands under different C/N ratios.

The higher magnetic field is an everlasting goal for researchers in the field of high-field superconducting magnets, for its vital significance to modern science and technology. After achieving our goal of 25 T superconducting magnet project, we set a more ambitious goal to obtain a central field of 27 T, by upgrading the previous 10 T REBCO (REBa2Cu3Ox, RE = rare earth) insert to 12 T. On the basis of the previous 10 T REBCO insert, the newly designed 12 T REBCO insert has an outer REBCO coil, which has the inner and outer diameters of 125 and 150 mm, respectively, and a height of 85 mm. The current grading method and the detailed stress analysis were employed in the design of the added REBCO coil. Stress analysis showed that the maximum hoop stress was reduced from 470 to 438 MPa after employing winding tension, overbanding, and cooldown. The designed highest engineering current density in this added REBCO coil is 383 A/mm2, much higher compared with the previous REBCO insert, the highest of which is only around 300 A/mm2. The rough operation margin for the previous REBCO coil and the added REBCO coil is 42.6% and 43.7%, respectively. This article mainly introduces the design, fabrication, and test results of the 27 T all-superconducting magnet in detail.

Design, Fabrication, and Test of a 12 T REBCO Insert for a 27 T All-Superconducting Magnet

Although most neurones in the PMLS of the cat are selective for direction of motion, whether the preferred directions are organized into cortical columns, as they are in the MT area of the monkey, is not certain. We have quantitatively investigated the organization of direction selectivity of PMLS neurones. The results showed that adjacent neurones have similar direction selectivity. The preferred direction of neurones sampled successively in a tangential penetration changed continually, occasionally with an approximately 180 degrees reversal, and neurones with bidirectional selectivity tended to be located in the reversal region. It is spectulated that direction selectivity in the PMLS is organized on the basis of preferred axis of motion in such a way that one column with bidirectional preference lies between two columns with opposite unidirectional preferences, a unidirectional column is always adjacent to a bidirectional column and these adjacent columns share a common preferred axis-of-motion.

Lei Wang

Papers

Biophysical effects on the interannual variation in carbon dioxide exchange of an alpine meadow on the Tibetan Plateau

Effects of different gap filling methods and land surface energy balance closure on annual net ecosystem exchange in a semiarid area of China

Contribution of the Kodama and 4S pathways to the dibenzothiophene biodegradation in different coastal wetlands under different C/N ratios.

Design, Fabrication, and Test of a 12 T REBCO Insert for a 27 T All-Superconducting Magnet

How is direction selectivity organized in the extrastriate visual area PMLS of the cat