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Cold Season (cold + season)
Selected AbstractsBacterial diseases of tomato in southern Spain: application of a detached tissue assay to evaluate bacterial pathogenicityEPPO BULLETIN, Issue 2 2000F. M. Cazorla Tomatoes are one of the most important crops in southern Spain, especially during the cold season. As a preliminary step in the design of an integrated disease management programme for tomato, a study on the occurrence of bacterial diseases in tomato houses of Almería (ES) was carried out during the 1993/1997 growing seasons. Sixty-four bacterial strains were isolated from tomato plants showing symptoms of bacterial diseases and 41 of them (64%) were characterized as pathogenic. The bacterial tomato pathogens most frequently isolated were Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora, Pseudomonas corrugata, Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato and Xanthomonas vesicatoria. The pathogenicity of the bacterial isolates on tomato was tested by the conventional seedling assay and by an in vitro assay using detached tissues developed in our laboratory. Close correspondence between the two assays was observed. An in vitro detached tissue assay is proposed for determining the pathogenicity of bacterial isolates on tomato. [source] The Gulf Stream and Atlantic sea-surface temperatures in AD1790,1825INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 12 2010G. van der Schrier Abstract We present gridded sea-surface temperatures (SSTs) for the Atlantic basin (45°S,60°N) as averages over the period AD1790,1825, based on early-instrumental SST data. The original measurements were compiled by Major James Rennell and made by numerous British naval vessels on behalf of the British Admiralty. We describe the digitization of this dataset and the reconstruction of spatially coherent, averaged conditions for the boreal cold (November-March) and warm (May,September) season using a reduced space optimal interpolation (RSOI) technique, in which the data is projected on a limited number of empirical orthogonal functions. This approach is validated on modern data that are sampled in a similar way as the early-instrumental data. The reconstruction for the November,March period shows a large area with anomalously high temperatures from the point where the Gulf Stream separates from the coast until ca. 20°W. A tongue of anomalous cool water is found at the eastern side of the North Atlantic basin, along the coast of Europe and northern Africa. In the northeastern South Atlantic, anomalously high temperatures are found, while temperatures in the southwestern South Atlantic are anomalously cool. For the March,September season, anomalous temperatures in the South Atlantic are similar, but stronger, compared with those in the boreal cold season. Over the North Atlantic, there is not much similarity between the current SST reconstructions and those published in the late 1950s. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Correlation between rotavirus A genotypes detected in hospitalized children and sewage samples in 2006, Córdoba, ArgentinaJOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 7 2010P.A. Barril Abstract Routine rotavirus A (RV-A) surveillance is based on clinical cases, so only symptomatic infections are reported. The objective of this study was to determine whether the RV-A genotypes and cold seasonal pattern described in patients with diarrhea is reflected by sewage surveillance, which could be representative of the RV-A genotypes circulating in the population. The genotype distribution of RV-A in effluent samples from a local sewage treatment plant was compared to those from local clinical cases. A total of 52 sewage samples and 70 stool specimens from children with acute non-bacterial diarrhea were collected from January to December 2006. The effluent specimens were concentrated and RNA extracts from concentrated sewage and clinical samples were genotyped for the rotavirus VP7 gene. The proportional distribution of the RV-A G-genotypes in sewage and clinical samples during the cold season was similar: G1 accounted for 26.6% of the typed sewage isolates and 28.8% of the clinical infections; G3 type accounted for 21.9% and 25.8%; G2 type 15.6% and 10.6%; G4 type 17.2% and 21.2%; G8 type 1.6% and 0%; and the G9 type 17.2% and 13.6%, respectively. A similar picture of RV-A genotype detection was obtained in sewage samples collected during the cold and warm seasons. The results indicate that there is a correlation between genotypes of RV-A isolates from human diarrheic patients and of those from sewage samples. In addition, sewage monitoring highlighted the uniform all-year RV-A circulation, which was in contrast to the peak incidence of RV-A infection in the community. J. Med. Virol. 82: 1277,1281, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source] Effect of Snow Cover Conditions on the Hydrologic Regime: Case Study in a Pluvial-Nival Watershed, Japan,JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN WATER RESOURCES ASSOCIATION, Issue 4 2008Andrew C. Whitaker Abstract:, Hydrologic monitoring in a small forested and mountainous headwater basin in Niigata Prefecture has been undertaken since 2000. An important characteristic of the basin is that the hydrologic regime contains pluvial elements year-round, including rain-on-snow, in addition to spring snowmelt. We evaluated the effect of different snow cover conditions on the hydrologic regime by analyzing observed data in conjunction with model simulations of the snowpack. A degree-day snow model is presented and applied to the study basin to enable estimation of the basin average snow water equivalent using air temperature at three representative elevations. Analysis of hydrological time series data and master recession curves showed that flow during the snowmelt season was generated by a combination of ground water flow having a recession constant of 0.018/day and diurnal melt water flow having a recession constant of 0.015/hour. Daily flows during the winter/snowmelt season showed greater persistence than daily flows during the warm season. The seasonal water balance indicated that the ratio of runoff to precipitation during the cold season (December to May) was about 90% every year. Seasonal snowpack plays an important role in defining the hydrologic regime, with winter precipitation and snowmelt runoff contributing about 65% of the annual runoff. The timing of the snowmelt season, indicated by the date of occurrence of the first significant snowmelt event, was correlated with the occurrence of low flow events. Model simulations showed that basin average snow water equivalent reached a peak around mid-February to mid-March, although further validation of the model is required at high elevation sites. [source] Factors affecting the duration of activity by pine martens (Martes martes) in the Bia,owie,a National Park, PolandJOURNAL OF ZOOLOGY, Issue 4 2000Andrzej Zalewski Abstract The duration of activity bouts by pine martens Martes martes was studied in the pristine deciduous forests in Bia,owie,a National Park (north-eastern Poland). From 1991 to 1996, 14 martens were monitored by radio-tracking throughout 5823 h. On average, male martens were active for 9 h/day and females for 8.5 h/day. The duration of the martens' diel activity varied greatly among bimonthly periods (from 2.8 h/day in February,March to 12 h/day in June,July). Martens decreased their activity from 13 h/day on warm days to 2.5 h/day on cooler days. In the winter months, when martens curtailed their activity, they often hunted larger prey or scavenged ungulate carcasses. On average, 69% of the martens' active time was during the night. The number of activity bouts per day varied from one to six (mean 2.6) and increased with growing ambient temperature. Activity bouts of males were significantly longer (4 h, on average) than those of females (3 h) and were not related to ambient temperature. The duration of short inactive bouts increased in the cold season and inactivity lasted longer in females than in males. [source] The bacterial quality of red meat and offal in Casablanca (Morocco)MOLECULAR NUTRITION & FOOD RESEARCH (FORMERLY NAHRUNG/FOOD), Issue 6 2006Nozha Cohen Abstract The present study aimed to evaluate the bacteriological quality of beef (n = 52), lamb (n = 52) and beef offal (n = 52) marketed in Casablanca, Morocco. Meat and offal samples (n = 156), were collected randomly from butcheries, supermarkets, and slaughterhouses. Two sampling periods were considered, one during the hot season and the second one during the cold season. The samples were analyzed for the presence of the following bacteria: Escherichia coli, coagulase-positive Staphylococcus, Clostridium perfringens, Salmonella, and Listeria monocytogenes. Results indicated that counts of the aerobic plate count, and fecal coliforms were particularly high in all the samples analyzed. E. coli, coagulase-positive Staphylococcus and C. perfringens were detected in 37.8, 16, and 4.5% of the meat samples, respectively. Neither Salmonella nor L. monocytogenes were isolated from meat samples. Approximately 26.9% of beef, 34.6% of lamb and 28.8% of beef offal samples contained bacteria above the maximum limits established by the Moroccan regulatory standards for meat and meat products. Seasonality and the distribution location significantly (p < 0.05) affected bacterial populations: the hot season and butcheries appeared to be cases where the highest populations of bacteria in meat were observed. These high levels of microbiological contamination attest the poor hygienic quality of meat and offal, possibly due to uncontrolled processing, storage, and handling of these products. [source] Horizontal resolution impact on short- and long-range forecast errorTHE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY, Issue 649 2010Roberto Buizza Abstract The impact of horizontal resolution increases from spectral truncation T95 to T799 on the error growth of ECMWF forecasts is analysed. Attention is focused on instantaneous, synoptic-scale features represented by the 500 and 1000 hPa geopotential height and the 850 hPa temperature. Error growth is investigated by applying a three-parameter model, and improvements in forecast skill are assessed by computing the time limits when fractions of the forecast-error asymptotic value are reached. Forecasts are assessed both in a realistic framework against T799 analyses, and in a perfect-model framework against T799 forecasts. A strong sensitivity to model resolution of the skill of instantaneous forecasts has been found in the short forecast range (say up to about forecast day 3). But sensitivity has shown to become weaker in the medium range (say around forecast day 7) and undetectable in the long forecast range. Considering the predictability of ECMWF operational, high-resolution T799 forecasts of the 500 hPa geopotential height verified in the realistic framework over the Northern Hemisphere (NH), the long-range time limit ,(95%) is 15.2 days, a value that is one day shorter than the limit computed in the perfect-model framework. Considering the 850 hPa temperature verified in the realistic framework, the time limit ,(95%) is 16.6 days for forecasts verified in the realistic framework over the NH (cold season), 14.1 days over the SH (warm season) and 20.6 days over the Tropics. Although past resolution increases have been providing continuously better forecasts especially in the short forecast range, this investigation suggests that in the future, although further increases in resolution are expected to improve the forecast skill in the short and medium forecast range, simple resolution increases without model improvements would bring only very limited improvements in the long forecast range. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Overwintering performance of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) broodfish and seed at ambient temperatures in northern VietnamAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 6 2000N C Dan Two experiments (E1 and E2) to assess the performance of tilapia broodstock and tilapia sex-reversed fry in overwintering were conducted at the Research Institute for Aquaculture No.1 (RIA-1) in the cold seasons of 1995,96 and 1996,97. Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) broodstock of the Thai, GIFT, Egypt and Viet strains were overwintered in deep and shallow ponds, as well as in deep and shallow hapas suspended in a single deep pond for evaluation of the influence of overwintering systems on the survival and growth of fish. Large (> 1 g) and small (< 1 g) tilapia seed were overwintered in deep hapas-in-ponds for comparison of their performance. In 1995,96, the coldest pond water temperature was 10,11 °C, and survival of tilapia broodfish overwintered in deep and shallow hapas-in-ponds was 99.6,100%. This was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than fish stocked in deep and shallow ponds (74.4,90%). The survival rate of larger monosex tilapia fry was 54%, which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of smaller fry (33.4%). In 1996,97, the lowest pond water temperature was 15.8 °C, and fry showed similarly high survival rates in all treatments (97,100%). There was no significant difference between fry in the two size classes. The results of this study clearly indicate that hapas-in-ponds are useful for reducing the risk and improving the survival of tilapia broodstock and fry in the cold season. Differences in the decline in ambient temperatures year on year mean that the need for special overwintering conditions varies. Hapas-in-ponds are a low-cost overwintering method that can be one of the appropriate strategies for tilapia seed production under the variable, cool temperature regimes in northern Vietnam. [source] Ecohydrological effects of grazing-induced degradation in the Patagonian Monte, ArgentinaAUSTRAL ECOLOGY, Issue 5 2009ALEJANDRO JORGE BISIGATO Abstract Water-limited ecosystems have undergone rapid change as a consequence of changing land use and climate. The consequences of these changes on soil quality and vegetation dynamics have been documented in different regions of the world. In contrast, their effects on soil water, the most limiting resource in these environments, have received less attention, although in recent years increasing efforts have been made to relate grazing, soil water and vegetation functioning. In this paper, we present the results of field observations of plant phenology and soil water content carried out during two successive years at four sites along a degradation gradient caused by grazing in the Patagonian Monte, Argentina. We also developed a simplified soil water balance model to evaluate how changes in plant cover could affect water balance. Our field observations showed that the soil water content in the soil layer where roots of grasses are abundant (0,25 cm) was higher and the growing cycles were longer in degraded than in preserved sites. Similarly, our modelling approach showed that the deep soil (depth > 10 cm) was wetter in the degraded than in the preserved situation. Simulation also suggested a switch from transpiration to a direct evaporation dominance of water losses with degradation. Although reductions in plant cover related to grazing degradation were associated with a decrease in annual transpiration, the simulated soil water loss by transpiration was higher during summer in the degraded than in the well preserved situation. Thus, our field observations seem to be a consequence of ecohydrological changes causing an accumulation of water in the soil profile during the cold season and its transpiration during summer. In conclusion, our results showed that changes in plant cover caused by grazing disturbance can alter the soil water balance, which in turn can affect vegetation function. [source] Ausstattung von Klassenräumen mit Einrichtungen zum Temperieren, Lüften und BelichtenBAUPHYSIK, Issue 3 2009Gruppenleiterin Raumklimaqualität Runa Tabea Hellwig Dr.-Ing. Bauphysik allgemein; Energieeinsparung Abstract Fast alle Schulräume werden in Deutschland ausschließlich über Fenster mit Außenluft versorgt. Messungen haben gezeigt, dass die Belüftung der Schulräume vor allem in der kalten Jahreszeit unzureichend ist. Hybride Lüftungssysteme mit einer automatischen Unterstützung der Fensterlüftung könnten eine Möglichkeit bieten, die Häufigkeit schlechter Innenluftqualität in Schulen zu minimieren. Hierbei ist die Anordnung der dezentralen Zuluftöffnungen in den Fassaden eine der kritischsten Systemkomponenten, und es besteht gerade bei Schulgebäuden weiterer Untersuchungs- und Optimierungsbedarf. Im Rahmen des vom Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie geförderten Verbund- projektes "Heizenergieeinsparung, thermische Behaglichkeit und gute Luftqualität in Schulgebäuden durch hybride Lüftungstechnik" werden die Eigenschaften von Klassenräumen im Landkreis Miesbach bezüglich der Temperierung, Belüftung und Belichtung aufgenommen. Die Begehung von 22 Schulen im Landkreis Miesbach ermöglicht für einen gesamten Landkreis die Bewertung der baulichen Gegebenheiten, welche die raumklimatischen Verhältnisse entscheidend beeinflussen. Die Belegungsdichte der Klassenräume im Landkreis Miesbach ist eher als normal bis gering einzustufen, da in ca. 80 % der Räume der Mindestwert von 2 m2 je Schüler eingehalten wird. 88 % der untersuchten Räume weisen eine mittlere bis hohe thermische Masse auf. Die meisten Klassenräume im Landkreis haben einen Fensterflächenanteil von 30 bis 60 %. Etwa 50 % der Räume besitzen keinen Sonnenschutz. Der bauliche sommerliche Wärmeschutz muss überwiegend als unzureichend bewertet werden. Etwa zwei Drittel der Klassenräume weisen eine gute bis mittlere Tageslichtversorgung auf. Die Klassenräume werden über Fenster belüftet. Die Fassaden besitzen vielfältige Öffnungsmöglichkeiten, wobei Drehkippflügel und Schwingflügel am häufigsten angetroffen werden. Equipment of classrooms with systems for maintaining temperature, for ventilation and for illumination. Most German classrooms are not equipped with mechanical ventilation systems. Natural ventilation controlled by the occupants opening the windows is the main way to provide fresh air. Measurements in real classrooms showed that the ventilation especially in cold season is insufficient. Hydrid ventilation systems with automatically controlled windows might reduce the prevalence of high carbon dioxide concentration inside the classrooms. The position of the air supply opening in the façade is the most sensible design task. There is still a big potential for optimization. In the frame of the project "Energy saving, thermal comfort and good indoor air quality in schools using hybrid ventilation" supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Technology the properties of classrooms in the county Miesbach/Germany regarding thermal comfort, ventilation and illumination were collected. In sum data of 106 classrooms in 22 schools were collected. The density of persons is normal to low. Approximately 80% of the rooms offer at least 2 or more square meter per pupil. 88% of the investigated classrooms are built with medium or high thermal mass. The glazed facade area is between 30 and 60% for most of the classrooms. 50% of the classrooms do not have any sun shading device. The summer overheating protection by passive means is insufficient. Two thirds of the classrooms offer a good to acceptable daylight condition. The classrooms are ventilated by opening the windows. There are different opening types of the windows and several combinations of the types in the façades. Tilt and turn windows and the horizontally pivot-hung type are the most prevalent types. [source] Seasonal variation of intracerebral haemorrhage in subjects with untreated hypertensionACTA NEUROLOGICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 1 2009P. Saloheimo Objectives,,, To explore the seasonality in the incidence of spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) in relation to the known risk factors in a population-based cohort. Materials and methods,,, All subjects with spontaneous ICH during a period of 3 years in Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland, were included. The associations of the risk factors for ICH with the cold (November to April) and warm (May to October) periods of the year were analysed. Results,,, We identified 217 patients with ICH during the study period. One hundred and seven cases occurred during the warm and 110 cases during the cold period. In multivariate analysis, untreated hypertension was associated with a 3.6-fold risk of ICH during the cold period (OR 3.60; 95% CI 1.27,10.21; P = 0.016). Conclusions,,, An excess risk of ICH in subjects with untreated hypertension seems to be associated with the cold season. This is probably explained by the effect of ambient temperature on blood pressure. [source] Mapping snow characteristics based on snow observation probabilityINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 10 2007Bahram Saghafian Abstract Measurement/estimation of snow water equivalent (SWE) is a difficult task in water resources studies of snowy regions. SWE point data is measured at snow courses that are normally operated with low density owing to high costs and great difficulty in reaching the stations in cold seasons. Moreover, snow is known to exhibit high spatial variability, which makes SWE studies based solely on sparse station data more uncertain. Ever-increasing availability of satellite images is a promising tool to overcome some of the difficulties associated with analyzing spatial variability of snow. Although National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellite images have low spatial resolution with approximately 1.1-km pixel size, they are adequate for mapping snow cover at regional scales and enjoy a moderate length of record period. In this paper, rain and snow records of synoptic stations and the time series of NOAA-based snow cover maps were used to map average SWE of a vast area in southwestern Iran. First, monthly and annual snow coefficient (SC) at synoptic stations were determined on the basis of analysis of hourly observation of type and amount of precipitation. Then, two new spatially distributed snow characteristics were introduced, namely, average frequency of snow observation (FSO) and monthly frequency of maximum snow observation (FMSO), on the basis of existing satellite snow observations. FSO and monthly FMSO maps were prepared by a geographic information system on the basis of snow map time series. Correlation of these two parameters with SC was studied and spatial distribution of SC was estimated on the basis of the best correlation. Moreover, the distribution of mean annual precipitation was derived by comparing a number of interpolation methods. SWE map was generated by multiplying SC and precipitation maps and its spatial variability in the region was analyzed. Copyright © 2007 Royal Meteorological Society [source] Responses of large volcanic eruptions in the instrumental and documentary climatic data over Central EuropeINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CLIMATOLOGY, Issue 4 2006Jan Písek Abstract Responses of large volcanic eruptions in selected long temperature series from Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany as well as in three global radiation series in Central Europe are studied. In the example of seven large tropical eruptions (Krakatau 1883; Pelée, Soufriére and Santa María 1902; Agung, 1963; El Chichón, 1982; Mt Pinatubo, 1991) it has been demonstrated that volcanic signal in regional series is not so strongly expressed as in the hemispheric scale owing to different local effects and circulation patterns. This is also valid in the case of two further discussed eruptions of Tambora (1815) and Katmai (1912). The responses of eruptions in areas closer to Central Europe such as Iceland or Italy are more important. In nine analysed cases with VEI = 4,5 with a single exception of the Hekla eruption (1917), cold seasons were observed to follow the eruption. Responses to the Lakagígar eruption (1783) of Iceland with important impacts are also discussed in detail. Moreover, correlation between temperatures (annual and winter half-year series) and NAOI is prevailingly smaller for the period following eruptions than in the period preceding eruptions. The importance of documentary evidence as a valuable source of the information about the impacts of volcanic eruptions is demonstrated. Copyright © 2006 Royal Meteorological Society. [source] Overwintering performance of Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) broodfish and seed at ambient temperatures in northern VietnamAQUACULTURE RESEARCH, Issue 6 2000N C Dan Two experiments (E1 and E2) to assess the performance of tilapia broodstock and tilapia sex-reversed fry in overwintering were conducted at the Research Institute for Aquaculture No.1 (RIA-1) in the cold seasons of 1995,96 and 1996,97. Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus (L.) broodstock of the Thai, GIFT, Egypt and Viet strains were overwintered in deep and shallow ponds, as well as in deep and shallow hapas suspended in a single deep pond for evaluation of the influence of overwintering systems on the survival and growth of fish. Large (> 1 g) and small (< 1 g) tilapia seed were overwintered in deep hapas-in-ponds for comparison of their performance. In 1995,96, the coldest pond water temperature was 10,11 °C, and survival of tilapia broodfish overwintered in deep and shallow hapas-in-ponds was 99.6,100%. This was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than fish stocked in deep and shallow ponds (74.4,90%). The survival rate of larger monosex tilapia fry was 54%, which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of smaller fry (33.4%). In 1996,97, the lowest pond water temperature was 15.8 °C, and fry showed similarly high survival rates in all treatments (97,100%). There was no significant difference between fry in the two size classes. The results of this study clearly indicate that hapas-in-ponds are useful for reducing the risk and improving the survival of tilapia broodstock and fry in the cold season. Differences in the decline in ambient temperatures year on year mean that the need for special overwintering conditions varies. Hapas-in-ponds are a low-cost overwintering method that can be one of the appropriate strategies for tilapia seed production under the variable, cool temperature regimes in northern Vietnam. [source] Effect of oral vitamin E supplementation on oxidative stress in guinea-pigs with short-term hypothermiaCELL BIOCHEMISTRY AND FUNCTION, Issue 6 2007Leyla Aslan Abstract Effects of oral vitamin E supplementation on blood malondialdehyde (MDA), glutathione (GSH) and vitamin E levels and superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) enzyme activities in acute hypothermia of guinea-pigs were investigated. Thirty male guinea pigs, weighing 500,800,g were randomly divided into one of three experimental groups: A (control, without cooling), B (hypothermic) and C (hypothermic with vitamin E supplementation). The guinea-pigs of group C received daily oral supplementation of 460,mg,kg,1 bw vitamin E for 4 days before inducing hypothermia. Twenty-four hours after the last vitamin E supplementation, the guinea-pigs of the B and C groups were cooled by immersion into cold water (10,12°C), and the control guinea-pigs were immersed into water of body temperature (37°C) up to the neck for 5,min without using any anaesthetic or tranquilizer. Rectal body temperatures of groups were measured and blood samples for biochemical analysis were collected immediately after the cooling. The body temperature, GSH and vitamin E levels and GSH-Px enzyme activity of hypothermic guinea-pigs were lower (p,<,0.05), but SOD enzyme activity was not different (p,>,0.05) from those of control animals. Although, the body temperature of hypothermic with vitamin E supplementation group was lower (p,<,0.05), all other parameters of this group were not different (p,>,0.05) from the controls. It was concluded that oral supplementation of vitamin E can alleviate the lipid peroxidation-induced disturbances associated with hypothermia by increasing the serum vitamin E level to normal. However, more studies are needed to prove whether this vitamin can improve quality of life during the cold seasons. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||||||||