The neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) is a short-lived opporttmistic species widely distributed in subtropical and temperate waters in the North Pacific Ocean. The life cycle of O. bartramii from planktonic...The neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) is a short-lived opporttmistic species widely distributed in subtropical and temperate waters in the North Pacific Ocean. The life cycle of O. bartramii from planktonic eggs to nektonic adults is closely linked to oceanographic conditions. The fluctuations in O. bartramii abundance and distribution tend to increase and widen continu- ously due to the heavy influences of ocean-climate events on various spatio-temporal scales. In this study, we reviewed the interac- tion between O. bartramii and oceanography variability in the North Pacific with respect to large-scale climatic-oceanic phenomena including E1 Nifio, La Nifia, Kuroshio, Oyashio and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), as well as regional environmental variables such as sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH), sea surface salinity (SSS), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration, and plankton density. The population dynamics of O. bartramii is mediated mainly by meso- and large-scale climatic-oceanic events (e.g., Kuroshio and Oyashio Currents) rather than other local environmental conditions (e.g., SST and Chl-a concentration), because all of the oceanographic influences are imposed on the context of large-scale climate changes (e.g., PDO). An unstructured-grid finite- volume coastal ocean model coupled with an individual-based model is proposed to simulate relevant physical-biological oceano- graphic processes for identifying ocean-climate influence and predicting O. bartramii distribution and abundance in the North Pacific. Future research needs to be focused on improving the knowledge about early life history of O. bartramii and evaluating the relation- ship between marine physical environment and two separate passive drifting life stages of O. bartramii including free-floating eggs and planktonic paralarvae.展开更多
The weather has a significant influence on yield fluctuations in Nepal, particularly for grains. This study examined the effect of seasonal precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures and extreme climatic variable...The weather has a significant influence on yield fluctuations in Nepal, particularly for grains. This study examined the effect of seasonal precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures and extreme climatic variables on yield levels and variability of rice, maize and wheat yields. The authors applied a stochastic production function approach as suggested by Just-Pope for panel data at the district level. The estimation results indicated that climate trends in Nepal had a significant influence on crop yield levels and variances in various magnitudes and directions. The results showed an increase in precipitation negatively influenced maize yield levels and positively influenced wheat yield levels; however, a positive influence was found to reduce yield variability in rice and wheat. Similarly, an increase in maximum temperature apparently led to decreased maize and increased wheat yield levels, respectively, and also led to increased yield variability in rice and maize. Likewise, the minimum temperature was helpful to increase yield levels for all crops and to decrease the yield variability in rice and maize. Moreover, the extreme climates such as low precipitation and high maximum temperatures significantly influenced the reduction in yield levels of rice and maize, respectively that could be used to design an index insurance product for Nepal.展开更多
Traffic congestion has caused many detrimental effects including higher fuel consumption, more vehicle emissions, increased accidents, as well as greater tension due to uncertain travel time. In addition to delay, the...Traffic congestion has caused many detrimental effects including higher fuel consumption, more vehicle emissions, increased accidents, as well as greater tension due to uncertain travel time. In addition to delay, the variability and reliability of travel time has been of concern to motorists on their daily travel, especially during peak periods. The objective of this study is to examine freeway travel time variability and reliability under different traffic and weather conditions with the use of TRANSMIT data collected by roadside readers deployed on a 40-mile segment of the Interstate Highway 1-287 in New Jersey. Travel time variability and reliability measures including mean travel time, the 95th percentile travel time, travel time index, buffer index, and planning time index under recurring and non-recurring congestion (adverse weather) are investigated. It was found that the standard deviation of travel time increased, due to the weather condition varying from dry to rain and to snow, while the buffer index increased from 29% to 45% and to 94%.展开更多
In January 2013,a severe fog and haze event(FHE)of strong intensity,long duration,and extensive coverage occurred in eastern China.The present study investigates meteorological conditions for this FHE by diagnosing bo...In January 2013,a severe fog and haze event(FHE)of strong intensity,long duration,and extensive coverage occurred in eastern China.The present study investigates meteorological conditions for this FHE by diagnosing both its atmospheric background fields and daily evolution in January 2013.The results show that a weak East Asian winter monsoon existed in January2013.Over eastern China,the anomalous southerly winds in the middle and lower troposphere are favorable for more water vapor transported to eastern China.An anomalous high at 500 hPa suppresses convection.The weakened surface winds are favorable for the fog and haze concentrating in eastern China.The reduction of the vertical shear of horizontal winds weakens the synoptic disturbances and vertical mixing of atmosphere.The anomalous inversion in near-surface increases the stability of surface air.All these meteorological background fields in January 2013 were conducive to the maintenance and development of fog and haze over eastern China.The diagnosis of the daily evolution of the FHE shows that the surface wind velocity and the vertical shear of horizontal winds in the middle and lower troposphere can exert dynamic effects on fog and haze.The larger(smaller)they are,the weaker(stronger)the fog and haze are.The thermodynamic effects include stratification instability in middle and lower troposphere and the inversion and dew-point deficit in near-surface.The larger(smaller)the stratification instability and the inversion are,the stronger(weaker)the fog and haze are.Meanwhile,the smaller(larger)the dewpoint deficit is,the stronger(weaker)the fog and haze are.Based on the meteorological factors,a multi-variate linear regression model is set up.The model results show that the dynamic and thermodynamic effects on the variance of the fog and haze evolution are almost the same.The contribution of the meteorological factors to the variance of the daily fog and haze evolution reaches 0.68,which explains more than 2/3 of the variance.展开更多
Urine is an important source of biomarkers. This article reviews current advances, major challenges, and future prospects in the field of urinary proteorrfics. Because the practical clinical problem is to distinguish ...Urine is an important source of biomarkers. This article reviews current advances, major challenges, and future prospects in the field of urinary proteorrfics. Because the practical clinical problem is to distinguish diseases with similar symptoms, merely comparing samples from patients of a particular disease to those of healthy individuals is inadequate for finding biomarkers with sufficient diagnostic power. In addition, the variation of expression levels of urinary proteins among healthy individuals and individuals under different physiological conditions adds to the difficulty in identifying biomarkers. We propose that es- tablishing the natural variation in urinary protein expression among a healthy population can serve as a reference to help iden- tify protein abundance changes that are caused by disease, not by individual variations or physiological changes. We also dis- cuss that comparing protein expression levels between urine and plasma may reveal the physiological function of the kidney and that may facilitate biomarker discovery. Finally, we propose that establishing a data-sharing platform for data collection and integrating results from all urinary biomarker studies will help promote the development of urinary proteomics.展开更多
基金financially supported by the National High-Tech R&D Program(863 Program)of China(2012AA092303)the Project of Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation(12231203900)+3 种基金the Industrialization Program of National Development and Reform Commission(2159999)the National Key Technologies R&D Program of China(2013BAD13B00)the Shanghai Universities First-Class Disciplines Project(Fisheries A)the Funding Program for Outstanding Dissertations in Shanghai Ocean University
文摘The neon flying squid (Ommastrephes bartramii) is a short-lived opporttmistic species widely distributed in subtropical and temperate waters in the North Pacific Ocean. The life cycle of O. bartramii from planktonic eggs to nektonic adults is closely linked to oceanographic conditions. The fluctuations in O. bartramii abundance and distribution tend to increase and widen continu- ously due to the heavy influences of ocean-climate events on various spatio-temporal scales. In this study, we reviewed the interac- tion between O. bartramii and oceanography variability in the North Pacific with respect to large-scale climatic-oceanic phenomena including E1 Nifio, La Nifia, Kuroshio, Oyashio and Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), as well as regional environmental variables such as sea surface temperature (SST), sea surface height (SSH), sea surface salinity (SSS), chlorophyll-a (Chl-a) concentration, and plankton density. The population dynamics of O. bartramii is mediated mainly by meso- and large-scale climatic-oceanic events (e.g., Kuroshio and Oyashio Currents) rather than other local environmental conditions (e.g., SST and Chl-a concentration), because all of the oceanographic influences are imposed on the context of large-scale climate changes (e.g., PDO). An unstructured-grid finite- volume coastal ocean model coupled with an individual-based model is proposed to simulate relevant physical-biological oceano- graphic processes for identifying ocean-climate influence and predicting O. bartramii distribution and abundance in the North Pacific. Future research needs to be focused on improving the knowledge about early life history of O. bartramii and evaluating the relation- ship between marine physical environment and two separate passive drifting life stages of O. bartramii including free-floating eggs and planktonic paralarvae.
文摘The weather has a significant influence on yield fluctuations in Nepal, particularly for grains. This study examined the effect of seasonal precipitation, maximum and minimum temperatures and extreme climatic variables on yield levels and variability of rice, maize and wheat yields. The authors applied a stochastic production function approach as suggested by Just-Pope for panel data at the district level. The estimation results indicated that climate trends in Nepal had a significant influence on crop yield levels and variances in various magnitudes and directions. The results showed an increase in precipitation negatively influenced maize yield levels and positively influenced wheat yield levels; however, a positive influence was found to reduce yield variability in rice and wheat. Similarly, an increase in maximum temperature apparently led to decreased maize and increased wheat yield levels, respectively, and also led to increased yield variability in rice and maize. Likewise, the minimum temperature was helpful to increase yield levels for all crops and to decrease the yield variability in rice and maize. Moreover, the extreme climates such as low precipitation and high maximum temperatures significantly influenced the reduction in yield levels of rice and maize, respectively that could be used to design an index insurance product for Nepal.
文摘Traffic congestion has caused many detrimental effects including higher fuel consumption, more vehicle emissions, increased accidents, as well as greater tension due to uncertain travel time. In addition to delay, the variability and reliability of travel time has been of concern to motorists on their daily travel, especially during peak periods. The objective of this study is to examine freeway travel time variability and reliability under different traffic and weather conditions with the use of TRANSMIT data collected by roadside readers deployed on a 40-mile segment of the Interstate Highway 1-287 in New Jersey. Travel time variability and reliability measures including mean travel time, the 95th percentile travel time, travel time index, buffer index, and planning time index under recurring and non-recurring congestion (adverse weather) are investigated. It was found that the standard deviation of travel time increased, due to the weather condition varying from dry to rain and to snow, while the buffer index increased from 29% to 45% and to 94%.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.41221064)the International S&T Cooperation Project othe Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2009-DFA21430)
文摘In January 2013,a severe fog and haze event(FHE)of strong intensity,long duration,and extensive coverage occurred in eastern China.The present study investigates meteorological conditions for this FHE by diagnosing both its atmospheric background fields and daily evolution in January 2013.The results show that a weak East Asian winter monsoon existed in January2013.Over eastern China,the anomalous southerly winds in the middle and lower troposphere are favorable for more water vapor transported to eastern China.An anomalous high at 500 hPa suppresses convection.The weakened surface winds are favorable for the fog and haze concentrating in eastern China.The reduction of the vertical shear of horizontal winds weakens the synoptic disturbances and vertical mixing of atmosphere.The anomalous inversion in near-surface increases the stability of surface air.All these meteorological background fields in January 2013 were conducive to the maintenance and development of fog and haze over eastern China.The diagnosis of the daily evolution of the FHE shows that the surface wind velocity and the vertical shear of horizontal winds in the middle and lower troposphere can exert dynamic effects on fog and haze.The larger(smaller)they are,the weaker(stronger)the fog and haze are.The thermodynamic effects include stratification instability in middle and lower troposphere and the inversion and dew-point deficit in near-surface.The larger(smaller)the stratification instability and the inversion are,the stronger(weaker)the fog and haze are.Meanwhile,the smaller(larger)the dewpoint deficit is,the stronger(weaker)the fog and haze are.Based on the meteorological factors,a multi-variate linear regression model is set up.The model results show that the dynamic and thermodynamic effects on the variance of the fog and haze evolution are almost the same.The contribution of the meteorological factors to the variance of the daily fog and haze evolution reaches 0.68,which explains more than 2/3 of the variance.
文摘Urine is an important source of biomarkers. This article reviews current advances, major challenges, and future prospects in the field of urinary proteorrfics. Because the practical clinical problem is to distinguish diseases with similar symptoms, merely comparing samples from patients of a particular disease to those of healthy individuals is inadequate for finding biomarkers with sufficient diagnostic power. In addition, the variation of expression levels of urinary proteins among healthy individuals and individuals under different physiological conditions adds to the difficulty in identifying biomarkers. We propose that es- tablishing the natural variation in urinary protein expression among a healthy population can serve as a reference to help iden- tify protein abundance changes that are caused by disease, not by individual variations or physiological changes. We also dis- cuss that comparing protein expression levels between urine and plasma may reveal the physiological function of the kidney and that may facilitate biomarker discovery. Finally, we propose that establishing a data-sharing platform for data collection and integrating results from all urinary biomarker studies will help promote the development of urinary proteomics.