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Atmospheric Pressure (atmospheric + pressure)
Terms modified by Atmospheric Pressure Selected AbstractsOn the Modelling of a Nonequilibrium Spherical Microwave Discharge at Atmospheric PressureCONTRIBUTIONS TO PLASMA PHYSICS, Issue 3 2007I. R. Rafatov Abstract The work presents results of calculation of a spherical microwave discharge characteristics in an argon at atmospheric pressure against the external parameters (the mode, frequency and power of the applied electromagnetic field and the size of the discharge chamber). Model assumes a thermal and ionization non-equilibrium of discharge plasma and takes into account first three modes of incident electromagnetic waves. Calculation results are compared with the results for the ionization equilibrium model. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Ethanol Potentiation of Glycine Receptors Expressed in Xenopus Oocytes Antagonized by Increased Atmospheric PressureALCOHOLISM, Issue 5 2003Daryl L. Davies Background: Behavioral and biochemical studies indicate that exposure to 12 times normal atmospheric pressure (12 ATA) of helium-oxygen gas (heliox) is a direct, selective ethanol antagonist. The current study begins to test the hypothesis that ethanol acts by a common mechanism on ligand-gated ion channels by expanding previous hyperbaric investigations on ,-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAA) receptors (GABAARs) at the biochemical level to ,1glycine (GlyRs) expressed in Xenopus oocytes. Methods: Oocytes expressing wild-type ,1 homomeric GlyRs were voltage-clamped (,70 mV) and tested in the presence of glycine (EC2) ± ethanol (50,200 mM) under 1 ATA control and 3 to 12 ATA heliox conditions. Glycine concentration response curves, strychnine/glycine interactions, and zinc (Zn2+) modulation of GlyR function was also tested. Results: Pressure reversibly antagonized the action of ethanol. The degree of antagonism increased as pressure increased. Pressure did not significantly alter the effects of glycine, strychnine, or Zn2+, indicating that ethanol antagonism by pressure cannot be attributed to alterations by pressure of normal GlyR function. The antagonism did not reflect tolerance to ethanol, receptor desensitization, or receptor rundown. Conclusion: This is the first use of hyperbarics to investigate the mechanism of action of ethanol in recombinant receptors. The findings indicate that pressure directly and selectively antagonizes ethanol potentiation of ,1GlyR function in a reversible and concentration- and pressure-dependent manner. The sensitivity of ethanol potentiation of GlyR function to pressure antagonism indicates that ethanol acts by a common, pressure-antagonism,sensitive mechanism in GlyRs and GABAARs. The findings also support the hypothesis that ethanol potentiation of GlyR function plays a role in mediating the sedative-hypnotic effects of ethanol. [source] Plasma-Induced Direct-Grafting on Polytetrafluoroethylene Films by Quasi-Glow Discharge at Atmospheric PressurePLASMA PROCESSES AND POLYMERS, Issue 12 2009Jun Wan Abstract Structurally well-defined poly(acrylic acid)s have been direct-grafted on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) films by a quasi-glow discharge (QGD) using argon and acrylic acid. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared (ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy provided obvious evidence for a high retention of the carboxylic acid group on PTFE surface, up to 77.5% of all carboxylic acid functional group. Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) indicated that polymerization proceeds predominantly via an opening of the CC bonds. The modified PTFE films were found to exhibit low water contact angle values and good ageing behavior. The mechanisms of plasma-induced direct-graft polymerization of acrylic acid on PTFE films were discussed combining with the real-time electrical and optical diagnostics of the QGD plasma. [source] Remote Plasma Device for Surface Modification at Atmospheric PressurePLASMA PROCESSES AND POLYMERS, Issue S1 2009Patrick Reichen Abstract Here, a novel atmospheric plasma device is presented, which applies the (remote) afterglow of micro-barrier discharges. The study evaluates its applicability to surface modification of temperature-sensitive particulates. As such, cylindrical samples have been placed in the remote treatment zone of the device, and the effects of treatment time and variable gas mixtures on the surface wettability are investigated. Furthermore, the influence of the excess voltage in He discharge with admixtures of O2, CO2 and N2 and the effect thereof on the water contact angle is described. [source] Surface Modification of Al2O3 -Cr Ceramic by Non-isothermal N2 Plasma Treatment at Atmospheric PressurePLASMA PROCESSES AND POLYMERS, Issue S1 2007Andrzej R. Olszyna Abstract Al2O3/Cr composite ceramic was ion-nitrided in N2 under atmospheric pressure. The plasma was generated by two different systems: an ac high voltage corona discharge, and an ac high voltage concentric dielectric barrier discharge. An analysis of the plasma light emission revealed the presence of N ions (upto 50%) and confirmed the non-isothermal state of the plasma. The treated surface of the high melting sinter was smoothened when its components were nitrided so that Cr is transformed into Cr2N and Al2O3 is transformed into AlN. [source] Halide CVD of Bi2O3 Under Atmospheric Pressure: Synthesis of ,-Rods and ,-Films,CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION, Issue 4 2006T. Takeyama ,-Bi2O3 rods and ,-Bi2O3 islands have been grown on sapphire (0001) substrates. The structures are deposited by atmospheric pressure halide (APH)CVD using BiI3 and O2 as the starting material. SEM studies demonstrate that the evolution of the rods (see Figure) can be interpreted as a crystallographic effect. [source] Linear Extended ArcJet-CVD , a New PECVD Approach for Continuous Wide Area Coating Under Atmospheric Pressure,CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION, Issue 11-12 2005V. Hopfe Abstract A new type of DC-powered plasma source (LARGE) was developed and evaluated for continuous plasma-enhanced (PE) CVD under atmospheric pressure. The linear extended emanating plasma sheet was scaled-up to various working widths with the result that a half meter range has already been achieved. A CVD reactor was designed for continuous deposition of non-oxide materials. The reactor operates in a remote atmospheric pressure (AP) PECVD configuration with typical deposition rates of 5,50,nm,s,1 (static) and 0.1,1.0,nm,m,s,1 (dynamic). The potential application range of the ArcJet-CVD technology was evaluated by screening studies with various substrates, (stainless steel, glass, silicon wafers) and coating materials (silica, carbon, silicon nitride). In-situ process characterization has been provided by both optical emission and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A range of atomic and molecular intermediates, precursor fragments, and reaction products were identified, leading to the conclusion that a complete conversion of the element-organic precursors into an inorganic layer takes place. [source] ChemInform Abstract: Persistent Photoconductivity under Atmospheric Pressure in Uniformly Doped n-GaAs Prepared by Intermittent Injection of (CH3)3Ga/AsH3.CHEMINFORM, Issue 2 2002Yutaka Oyama Abstract ChemInform is a weekly Abstracting Service, delivering concise information at a glance that was extracted from about 100 leading journals. To access a ChemInform Abstract of an article which was published elsewhere, please select a "Full Text" option. The original article is trackable via the "References" option. [source] Sm1.5Sr0.5MO4 (M=Ni, Co, Fe) Cathode Catalysts for Ammonia Synthesis at Atmospheric Pressure and Low TemperatureCHINESE JOURNAL OF CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2009Gaochao XU Abstract Sm1.5Sr0.5MO4 (M=Ni, Co, Fe) (SSM) catalysts were prepared by a sol-gel method and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ammonia was synthesized from wet hydrogen and dry nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and low temperature (25,100 °C) with applied voltage, using SSM as a cathode, Ni-Ce0.8Sm0.2O2,,(Ni-SDC) as an anode, and silver-platinum film as a current collector, Nafion proton exchange membrane as a proton permeating membrane. Several important factors on ammonia synthesis were investigated and the optimal synthetic temperature was found, at which the highest rate of evolution of ammonia was up to 1.05×10,8 mol·cm,2·s,1. [source] Spectral decomposition of periodic ground water fluctuation in a coastal aquiferHYDROLOGICAL PROCESSES, Issue 12 2008David Ching-Fang Shih Abstract This research accomplished by the descriptive statistics and spectral analysis of six kinds of time series data gives a complete assessment of periodic fluctuation in significant constituents for the Huakang Shan earthquake monitoring site. Spectral analysis and bandpass filtering techniques are demonstrated to accurately analyse the significant component. Variation in relative ground water heads with a period of 12·6 h is found to be highly related to seawater level fluctuation. Time lag is estimated about 3·78 h. Based on these phenomena, the coastal aquifer formed in an unconsolidated formation can be affected by the nearby seawater body for the semi-diurnal component. Fluctuation in piezometric heads is found to correspond at a rate of 1000 m h,1. Atmospheric pressure presents the significant components at periods of 10·8 h and 7·2 h in a quite different type, compared to relative ground water head and seawater level. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] On-chip solid-phase extraction pre-concentration/focusing substrates coupled to atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion trap mass spectrometry for high sensitivity biomolecule analysisRAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 4 2009Arti Navare Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) has proven a convenient and rapid method for ion production in the mass spectrometric (MS) analysis of biomolecules. AP-MALDI and electrospray ionization (ESI) sources are easily interchangeable in most mass spectrometers. However, AP-MALDI suffers from less-than-optimal sensitivity due to ion losses during transport from the atmosphere into the vacuum of the mass spectrometer. Here, we study the signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) gains observed when an on-chip dynamic pre-concentration/focusing approach is coupled to AP-MALDI for the MS analysis of neuropeptides and protein digests. It was found that, in comparison with conventional AP-MALDI targets, focusing targets showed (1) a sensitivity enhancement of approximately two orders of magnitude with S/N gains of 200,900 for hydrophobic substrates, and 150,400 for weak cation-exchange (WCX) substrates; (2) improved detection limits as low as 5,fmol/µL for standard peptides; (3) significantly reduced matrix background; and (4) higher inter-day reproducibility. The improved sensitivity allowed successful tandem mass spectrometric (MS/MS) sequencing of dilute solutions of a derivatized tryptic digest of a protein standard, and enabled the first reported AP-MALDI MS detection of neuropeptides from Aedes aegypti mosquito heads. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization ion trap mass spectrometry of sulfonic acid derivatized tryptic peptidesRAPID COMMUNICATIONS IN MASS SPECTROMETRY, Issue 23 2001T. Keough Atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (AP-MALDI) and ion trap mass spectrometry have been used to study the fragmentation behavior of native peptides and peptide derivatives prepared for de novo sequencing applications. Sulfonic acid derivatized peptides were observed to fragment more extensively and up to 28 times more efficiently than the corresponding native peptides. Tandem mass spectra of native peptides containing aspartic or glutamic acids are dominated by cleavage on the C-terminal side of the acidic residues. This significantly limits the amount of sequence information that can be derived from those compounds. The MS/MS spectra of native tryptic peptides containing oxidized Met residues show extensive loss of CH3SOH and little sequence-specific fragmentation. On the other hand, the tandem mass spectra of derivatized peptides containing Asp, Glu and oxidized Met show much more uniform fragmentation along the peptide backbone. The AP-MALDI tandem mass spectra of some derivatized peptides were shown to be qualitatively very similar to the corresponding vacuum MALDI postsource decay mass spectra, which were obtained on a reflector time-of-flight instrument. However, the ion trap mass spectrometer offers several advantages for peptide sequencing relative to current reflector time-of-flight instruments including improved product ion mass measurement accuracy, improved precursor ion selection and MSn. These latter capabilities were demonstrated with solution digests of model proteins and with in-gel digests of 2D-gel separated proteins. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Atmospheric Pressure CVD of Molybdenum Diselenide Films on Glass,CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION, Issue 11 2006D. Boscher Abstract Atmospheric pressure (AP)CVD of molybdenum diselenide films on glass substrates was achieved by reaction of diethyl selenide or di- tert -butylselenide with MoCl5 at 500,650,°C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that the MoSe2 films were crystalline with a mixed 2Hb/3R polytype stacking and typical cell constants of a,=,3.28, c,=,6.48,Å (c -axis is,×,2 for the 2Hb form and,×,3 for the 3R form). Energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDAX) gave a Mo/Se ratio close to 1:2 for films formed at 600,650,°C, those formed at lower temperatures contained some chlorine. The films were brown in appearance, were adhesive, passed the Scotch tape, test but could be scratched with a steel scalpel. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) showed that the films were composed of needlelike agglomerates which became longer and thinner with increasing deposition temperature. The films showed high absorbance in the visible spectrum but were more transparent in the near-infrared. [source] On the Modelling of a Nonequilibrium Spherical Microwave Discharge at Atmospheric PressureCONTRIBUTIONS TO PLASMA PHYSICS, Issue 3 2007I. R. Rafatov Abstract The work presents results of calculation of a spherical microwave discharge characteristics in an argon at atmospheric pressure against the external parameters (the mode, frequency and power of the applied electromagnetic field and the size of the discharge chamber). Model assumes a thermal and ionization non-equilibrium of discharge plasma and takes into account first three modes of incident electromagnetic waves. Calculation results are compared with the results for the ionization equilibrium model. (© 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source] Detection of metastable excited molecules N2(A3,u+) in an atmospheric pressure nitrogen discharge by Raman scatteringELECTRONICS & COMMUNICATIONS IN JAPAN, Issue 6 2010Tetsuo Fukuchi Abstract Raman scattering from metastable excited nitrogen molecules N2(A3,u+) created by an impulse discharge in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure was detected. A pulsed Nd:YAG laser at a wavelength of 266 nm was used as the light source, and Raman scattering from N2(A3,u+) at a wavelength of 277 nm was detected using an interference filter and photomultiplier tube. The filter had sufficient rejection of Rayleigh scattering of laser light at a wavelength of 266 nm and of Raman scattering from ground-state nitrogen molecules N2(X1,g+) at a wavelength of 284 nm. The temporal variation of the signal intensity of Raman scattering from N2(A3,u+) was measured by transmitting the laser light at different time delays relative to sparkover. The results showed that the signal intensity decayed with a time constant of about 200µs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electron Comm Jpn, 93(6): 34,40, 2010; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/ecj.10205 [source] Statistical analysis of temperature impact on daily hospital admissions: analysis of data from Udine, ItalyENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 1 2006Francesco Pauli Abstract This article is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between the health status of an urban population and meteorological variables. The analysis considers daily number of hospital admissions, not due to surgery, regarding the population resident in the Municipality of Udine, aged 75 and over. Hourly records on temperature, humidity, rain, atmospheric pressure, solar radiation, wind velocity and direction recorded at an observation site located near the center of Udine are considered. The study also considers hourly measures of pollutant concentrations collected by six monitoring stations. All data are relative to the summer periods of years 1995,2003. Generalized additive models (GAM) are used in which the response variable is the number of hospital admissions and is assumed to be distributed as a Poisson whose rate varies as a possibly non-linear function of the meteorological variables and variables allowing for calendar effects and pollutant concentrations. The subsequent part of the analysis explores the distribution of temperature conditional on the number of daily admissions through quantile regression. A non-linear (N-shaped) relationship between hospital admissions and temperature is estimated; temperature at 07:00 is selected as a covariate, revealing that nighttime temperature is more relevant than daytime. The quantile regression analysis points out, as expected, that the distribution of temperature on days with more admissions has higher q -quantiles with q near unity, while a clear-cut conclusion is not reached for q quantiles with q near 0. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Screening the Hanford tanks for trapped gasENVIRONMETRICS, Issue 5-6 2002Paul Whitney Abstract The Hanford Site is home to 177 large, underground nuclear waste storage tanks. This article describes a screening study carried out in the mid 1990s that used the tank waste level measurements to assess the tanks for potential flammable gas hazards. At the time of the study, 25 of the 177 tanks were on the flammable gas watch list. The use of this monitoring data provided additional insight, resulting in operational changes on the Hanford site. The waste level measurements used in this study were made primarily to monitor the tanks for leaks and intrusions. Four measurement devices are widely used in these tanks. Three of these measure the level of the waste surface. The remaining device measures from within a well embedded in the waste, thereby monitoring the liquid level even if the liquid level is below a dry waste crust. The data from each of the four measurement devices were utilized in this investigation. The analytic method used for this screening was to look for an inverse correlation between waste level measurements and ambient atmospheric pressure. If the waste level in a tank decreases with an increase in ambient atmospheric pressure, then the compressibility may be attributed to gas trapped within the waste. In this article, this methodology is not used to estimate the volume of gas trapped in the waste. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Highly Organosoluble Metal-Free Phthalocyanines and Metallophthalocyanines: Synthesis and CharacterizationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF INORGANIC CHEMISTRY, Issue 12 2007Ahmet Bilgin Abstract The syntheses and characterization of metal-free and metal-containing (Zn and Ni) derivatives of a symmetrically octa-substituted phthalocyanine derived from 4,5:12,13-bis(4,- tert -butylbenzo)-8,9-(4,,5,-dicyanobenzo)-6,11-ditosyl-6,11-diaza-2,15-dithiacyclohexadeca-4,8,12-triene and CuPc from 4,5:12,13-bis(4,- tert -butylbenzo)-8,9-(4,,5,-dibromobenzo)-6,11-ditosyl-6,11-diaza-2,15-dithiacyclohexadeca-4,8,12-triene were carried out. Pentanuclear silver(I) and palladium(II) complexes have also been prepared from nickel(II) phthalocyaninate derivatives. The prepared phthalocyanines were semiconducting materials in the range of 10,5 to10,10 S,cm,1 in vacuo and under atmospheric pressure. The extraction abilities of NiPc and detosylated phthalocyanines were evaluated in chloroform/water by using several heavy-metal picrates such as Ag+, Cd2+, Cu2+, Hg2+, Pb2+, Pd2+, and Zn2+. The extraction affinities of NiPc and detosylated phthalocyanines for Ag+ were found to be the highest in solvent extraction experiments. The new compounds were characterized by using elemental analysis, UV/Vis, FTIR, NMR, MS spectroscopic data and DTA/TG. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2007) [source] Influence of climatic factors in the incidence of multiple sclerosis relapses in a Portuguese populationEUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 4 2009A. C. Fonseca Background and purpose:, Environmental factors are thought to be important in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathophysiology. We aimed to evaluate if there was an association between MS relapses and some climatic factors in a Portuguese population. Methods:, Four year retrospective study analyzing 414 MS relapses in 249 consecutive relapsing,remitting patients. Non-parametric statistics were used to compare the distribution of relapses across months and seasons. Spearman's coefficient was determined to evaluate the correlation between relapses frequency and maximum and minimum atmospheric temperatures, humidity and atmospheric pressure. Results:, The mean number of relapses was not significantly different between months or seasons. No correlation was found between relapse frequency and any climatic factor. Conclusion:, Our series is one of the largest addressing the influence of specific climatic factors on MS relapses. The number of clinical MS relapses seems to be unrelated to climatic factors. [source] Phase Transformations During High-Pressure Torsion of Pure Zr and of a Zr-2.5%Nb Alloy,ADVANCED ENGINEERING MATERIALS, Issue 8 2010Alexander P. Zhilyaev Zirconium at normal conditions (room temperature and atmospheric pressure) has an HCP structure with lattice parameters a,=,3.2313,Å and c,=,5.1477,Å (,-phase). During loading under hydrostatic conditions in diamond anvil cells, a transition from the , -phase to an , -phase occurs at a pressure between 2 and 6 GPa and from , to , (bcc) at 30 GPa. It has been recently reported that the , to ,,+,, transformation might be induced by HPT processing. The resulting microstructures are stable at room temperature and atmospheric pressure. This paper explores the influence of previous processing steps and of composition in the feasibility of the HPT induced , to ,,+,, transformation. It will be shown that neither previous quenching nor high temperature HPT processing prevents the transformation from occurring during subsequent room temperature HPT. The addition of elements such as Nb also seems to favor the transformation. Understanding well the potential of HPT to stabilize high-pressure phases at normal conditions might be critical, as it will open a whole new range of applications for already existing materials. [source] Titanium Containing ,-MnO2 (TM) Hollow Spheres: One-Step Synthesis and Catalytic Activities in Li/Air Batteries and Oxidative Chemical ReactionsADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, Issue 19 2010Lei Jin Abstract Titanium containing ,-MnO2 octahedral molecular sieves having hollow sphere structures are successfully prepared for the first time using a one-step synthesis method. Titanium cations are used as structure-directing agents in the synthesis process. The assembly of the hollow spheres is carried out at the beginning of the process. Various techniques including XRD, N2 adsorption, SEM, EDX, RAMAN, TEM, XPS, and TGA are employed for the materials characterization. Ti is incorporated into the MnO2 framework in isolated sites, and TiO2 phases (anatase and rutile) are not observed. When introduced in medium-sized lithium-air batteries, the materials give very high specific capacity (up to 2.3 A h g,1). These materials are also catalytically tested in the oxidation of toluene with molecular oxygen at atmospheric pressure, showing significant oxidative catalytic activities in this difficult chemical reaction. [source] Pressure-exploration of the 33-kDa protein from the spinach photosystem II particleFEBS JOURNAL, Issue 9 2001Kangcheng Ruan The 33-kDa protein isolated from the spinach photosystem II particle is an ideal model to explore high-pressure protein-unfolding. The protein has a very low free energy as previously reported by chemical unfolding studies, suggesting that it must be easy to modulate its unfolding transition by rather mild pressure. Moreover, the protein molecule consists of only one tryptophan residue (Trp241) and eight tyrosine residues, which can be conveniently used to probe the protein conformation and structural changes under pressure using either fluorescence spectroscopy or fourth derivative UV absorbance spectroscopy. The different experimental methods used in the present study indicate that at 20 °C and pH 6, the 33-kDa protein shows a reversible two-state unfolding transition from atmospheric pressure to about 180 MPa. This value is much lower than those found for the unfolding of most proteins studied so far. The unfolding transition induces a large red shift of the maximum fluorescence emission of 34 nm (from 316 nm to 350 nm). The change in standard free energy (,Go) and in volume (,V) for the transition at pH 6.0 and 20 °C are ,14.6 kJ·mol,1 and ,120 mL·mol,1, respectively, in which the ,Go value is consistent with that obtained by chemical denaturation. We found that pressure-induced protein unfolding is promoted by elevated temperatures, which seem largely attributed to the decrease in the absolute value of ,Go (only a minor variation was observed for the ,V value). However, the promotion of the unfolding by alkaline pH seems mainly related to the increase in ,V without any significant changes in ,Go. It was also found that NaCl significantly protects the protein from pressure-induced unfolding. In the presence of 1 m NaCl, the pressure needed to induce the half-unfold of the protein is shifted to a higher value (shift of 75 MPa) in comparison with that observed without NaCl. Interestingly, in the presence of NaCl, the value of ,V is significantly reduced whilst that of ,Go remains as before. The unfolding-refolding kinetics of the protein has also been studied by pressure-jump, in which it was revealed that both reactions are a two-state transition process with a relatively slow relaxation time of about 102 s. [source] Ecological effects of regime shifts in the Bering Sea and eastern North Pacific OceanFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 2 2002Ashleen J Benson Abstract Large-scale shifts occurred in climatic and oceanic conditions in 1925, 1947, 1977, 1989 and possibly 1998. These shifts affected the mix and abundance of suites of coexisting species during each period of relative environmental stability,from primary producers to apex predators. However, the 1989 regime shift was not a simple reversal of the 1977 shift. The regime shifts occurred abruptly and were neither random variations nor simple reversals to the previous conditions. Timing of these anomalous environmental events in the North Pacific Ocean appears to be linked to physical and biological responses in other oceanic regions of the world. Changes in the atmospheric pressure can alter wind patterns that affect oceanic circulation and physical properties such as salinity and depth of the thermocline. This, in turn, affects primary and secondary production. Data from the North Pacific indicate that regime shifts can have opposite effects on species living in different domains, or can affect similar species living within a single domain in opposite ways. Climatic forcing appears to indirectly affect fish and marine mammal populations through changes in the distribution and abundance of their predators and prey. Effects of regime shifts on marine ecosystems are also manifested faster at lower trophic levels. Natural variability in the productivity of fish stocks in association with regime shifts indicates that new approaches to managing fisheries should incorporate climatic as well as fisheries effects. [source] Comparison of conventional and ultrasound-assisted extraction of carvone and limonene from caraway seedsFLAVOUR AND FRAGRANCE JOURNAL, Issue 3 2004Smain Chemat Abstract Extraction experiments with hexane were carried out at atmospheric pressure in Soxhlet, conventional and ultrasound extractions of ,aked caraway seeds, and detailed results are given for two major plant extract components, carvone and limonene. The results indicate that carvone yield and plant extract quality are better in ultrasound extraction compared to those given by conventional methodology. Extraction rates of carvone and limonene reported that ultrasound-assisted extraction was 1.3,2 times more rapid, depending on temperature, than a conventional system, according to the rate constant obtained during the initial 10 minutes of extraction. Moreover, the SEM micrographs provided more evidence for the mechanical effects of ultrasound, mainly appearing on cell walls and shown by the destruction of cells, faulitating the release of their contents, in contrast to conventional maceration or extraction, which involve diffusion of plant extracts across glandular walls and causing cell rupture over longer time periods. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Basis functions for the consistent and accurate representation of surface mass loadingGEOPHYSICAL JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL, Issue 1 2007Peter J. Clarke SUMMARY Inversion of geodetic site displacement data to infer surface mass loads has previously been demonstrated using a spherical harmonic representation of the load. This method suffers from the continent-rich, ocean-poor distribution of geodetic data, coupled with the predominance of the continental load (water storage and atmospheric pressure) compared with the ocean bottom pressure (including the inverse barometer response). Finer-scale inversion becomes unstable due to the rapidly increasing number of parameters which are poorly constrained by the data geometry. Several approaches have previously been tried to mitigate this, including the adoption of constraints over the oceanic domain derived from ocean circulation models, the use of smoothness constraints for the oceanic load, and the incorporation of GRACE gravity field data. However, these methods do not provide appropriate treatment of mass conservation and of the ocean's equilibrium-tide response to the total gravitational field. Instead, we propose a modified set of basis functions as an alternative to standard spherical harmonics. Our basis functions allow variability of the load over continental regions, but impose global mass conservation and equilibrium tidal behaviour of the oceans. We test our basis functions first for the efficiency of fitting to realistic modelled surface loads, and then for accuracy of the estimates of the inferred load compared with the known model load, using synthetic geodetic displacements with real GPS network geometry. Compared to standard spherical harmonics, our basis functions yield a better fit to the model loads over the period 1997,2005, for an equivalent number of parameters, and provide a more accurate and stable fit using the synthetic geodetic displacements. In particular, recovery of the low-degree coefficients is greatly improved. Using a nine-parameter fit we are able to model 58 per cent of the variance in the synthetic degree-1 zonal coefficient time-series, 38,41 per cent of the degree-1 non-zonal coefficients, and 80 per cent of the degree-2 zonal coefficient. An equivalent spherical harmonic estimate truncated at degree 2 is able to model the degree-1 zonal coefficient similarly (56 per cent of variance), but only models 59 per cent of the degree-2 zonal coefficient variance and is unable to model the degree-1 non-zonal coefficients. [source] Variation in Serripes groenlandicus (Bivalvia) growth in a Norwegian high-Arctic fjord: evidence for local- and large-scale climatic forcingGLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY, Issue 9 2006WILLIAM G. AMBROSE Jr. Abstract We examined the growth rate of the circumpolar Greenland Cockle (Serripes groenlandicus) over a period of 20 years (1983,2002) from Rijpfjord, a high-Arctic fjord in northeast Svalbard (80°10,N, 22°15,E). This period encompassed different phases of large-scale climatic oscillations with accompanying variations in local physical variables (temperature, atmospheric pressure, precipitation, sea ice cover), allowing us to analyze the linkage between growth rate, climatic oscillations, and their local physical and biological manifestations. Standard growth index (SGI), an ontogenetically adjusted measure of annual growth, ranged from a low of 0.27 in 2002 up to 2.46 in 1996. Interannual variation in growth corresponded to the Arctic climate regime index (ACRI), with high growth rates during the positive ACRI phase characterized by cyclonic ocean circulation and a warmer and wetter climate. Growth rates were influenced by local manifestations of the ACRI: positively correlated with precipitation and to a lesser extent negatively correlated with atmospheric pressure. A multiple regression model explains 65% of the variability in growth rate by the ACRI and precipitation at the nearest meteorological station. There were, however, complexities in the relationship between growth and physical variables, including an apparent 1 year lag between physical forcing changes and biological response. Also, when the last 4 years of poor growth are excluded, there is a very strong negative correlation with ice cover on a pan-arctic scale. Our results suggest that bivalves, as sentinels of climate change on multi-decadal scales, are sensitive to environmental variations associated with large-scale changes in climate, but that the effects will be determined by changes in environmental parameters regulating marine production and food availability on a local scale. [source] Evaluation of Noble Gas Recharge Temperatures in a Shallow Unconfined AquiferGROUND WATER, Issue 5 2009Bradley D. Cey Water table temperatures inferred from dissolved noble gas concentrations (noble gas temperatures, NGT) are useful as a quantitative proxy for air temperature change since the last glacial maximum. Despite their importance in paleoclimate research, few studies have investigated the relationship between NGT and actual recharge temperatures in field settings. This study presents dissolved noble gas data from a shallow unconfined aquifer heavily impacted by agriculture. Considering samples unaffected by degassing, NGT calculated from common physically based interpretive gas dissolution models that correct measured noble gas concentrations for "excess air" agreed with measured water table temperatures (WTT). The ability to fit data to multiple interpretive models indicates that model goodness-of-fit does not necessarily mean that the model reflects actual gas dissolution processes. Although NGT are useful in that they reflect WTT, caution is recommended when using these interpretive models. There was no measurable difference in excess air characteristics (amount and degree of fractionation) between two recharge regimes studied (higher flux recharge primarily during spring and summer vs. continuous, low flux recharge). Approximately 20% of samples had dissolved gas concentrations below equilibrium concentration with respect to atmospheric pressure, indicating degassing. Geochemical and dissolved gas data indicate that saturated zone denitrification caused degassing by gas stripping. Modeling indicates that minor degassing (<10% ,Ne) may cause underestimation of ground water recharge temperature by up to 2°C. Such errors are problematic because degassing may not be apparent and degassed samples may be fit by a model with a high degree of certainty. [source] Air Pollution and Daily Emergency Department Visits for Headache in Montreal, CanadaHEADACHE, Issue 3 2008Mieczyslaw Szyszkowicz PhD Background., Many studies have indicated that weather can trigger headache. Here we propose a new methodological approach to assess the relationship between weather, ambient air pollution, and emergency department (ED) visits for this condition. Objective., To examine the associations between ED visits for headache and selected meteorological and air pollution factors. Design and Methods., A hierarchical clusters design was used to study 10,497 ED visits for headache (ICD-9: 784) that occurred at a Montreal hospital between 1997 and 2002. The generalized linear mixed models technique was applied to create Poisson models for the clustered counts of visits for headache. Results., Statistically significant positive associations were observed between the number of ED visits for headache and the atmospheric pressure for all and for female visits for 1-day and 2-day lagged exposures. The percentage increase in daily ED female visits was 4.1% (95% CI: 2.0, 6.2), 3.4% (95% CI: 1.4, 5.6), and 2.2% (95% CI: 1.4, 5.6) for current day, 1-day and 2-day lagged exposure to SO2, respectively, for an increase of an interquartile range (IQR) of 2.4 ppb. The percentage increase was also statistically significant for current day and 1-day lagged exposure to NO2 and CO for all and for female visits. Conclusions., Presented findings provide support for the hypothesis that ED visits for headache are correlated to weather conditions and ambient air pollution , to atmospheric pressure and exposure to SO2, NO2, CO, and PM2.5. An increase in levels of these factors is associated with an increase in the number of ED visits for headache. [source] Film boiling heat transfer around a vertical finite-length cylinder with a convex hemispherical bottomHEAT TRANSFER - ASIAN RESEARCH (FORMERLY HEAT TRANSFER-JAPANESE RESEARCH), Issue 3 2010Takashi Yamada Abstract The film boiling heat transfer around a vertical silver cylinder with a convex hemispherical bottom was investigated experimentally in quiescent water at atmospheric pressure. The experiments have been carried out using a quenching method. The diameter and length of the test cylinder are 32 mm and 48 mm, respectively. The test cylinder was heated to about 600 °C in an electric furnace and then cooled in saturated or subcooled water with an immersion depth of about 100 mm. The degree of liquid subcooling was varied from 0 K to 30 K. The analytical solutions for saturated and subcooled boiling are obtained by applying a two-phase boundary layer theory for vapor film with a smooth interface. The experimental data correlates within ±15% based on the proposed prediction method. Also, the lower limit of film boiling was examined in terms of wall heat flux and degree of superheating. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20289 [source] Gaseous diffusion coefficients of methyl bromide and methyl iodide into air, nitrogen, and oxygenHEAT TRANSFER - ASIAN RESEARCH (FORMERLY HEAT TRANSFER-JAPANESE RESEARCH), Issue 6 2009Naoki Matsunaga Abstract The gaseous diffusion coefficients of methyl bromide (CH3Br) and methyl iodide (CH3I) into dry air, nitrogen, and oxygen have been measured in the temperature range 303,453 K and at atmospheric pressure via the Taylor dispersion method. Both for methyl bromide and methyl iodide, the diffusion coefficients do not vary in practice on substituting pure nitrogen or oxygen for dry air. The diffusion coefficients for methyl iodide are systematically smaller than those for methyl bromide by about 11%. For the methyl iodide-oxygen system, the effect of the thermal decomposition of methyl iodide has been observed at 453 K. The present results can be reproduced well by the functional form D = ATB, where D (cm2s,1) is the diffusion coefficient at 101 325 Pa (1 atm) and T (K) is the absolute temperature. The constants A and B are as follows: methyl bromide-(air, nitrogen, oxygen), A = 5.57 × 10,6, B = 1.76; methyl iodide-(air, nitrogen, oxygen), A = 5.26 × 10,6, B = 1.75. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Heat Trans Asian Res; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/htj.20255 [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||