Written By Unknown on Sunday, February 8, 2015 | 11:59 PM
Figure 1 from Manzella et al.: Original and processed snapshot of the video of the Eyjafjallajökull (Iceland) plume as observed on 4 May 2010. White arrows indicate finger positions. This article is Open Access.
Boulder, Colo., USA – Volcanic ash poses a significant hazard for areas close to volcanoes and for aviation. For example, the 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, Iceland, clearly demonstrated that even small-to-moderate explosive eruptions, in particular if long-lasting, can paralyze entire sectors of societies, with significant, global-level, economic impacts. In this open-access Geology article, Irene Manzella and colleagues present the first quantitative description of the dynamics of gravitational instabilities and particle aggregation based on the 4 May 2010 eruption. Their analysis also reveals some important shortcomings in the Volcanic Ash Transport and Dispersal Models (VATDMs) typically used to forecast the dispersal of volcanic ash. In particular, specific processes exist that challenge the view of sedimentation of fine particles from volcanic plumes and that are currently poorly understood: particle aggregation and gravitational instabilities. These appear as particle-rich "fingers" descending from the base of volcanic clouds and have commonly been observed during volcanic explosive eruptions. Based on direct observations of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull plume, on the correlation with the associated fallout deposit, and on dedicated laboratory analogue experiments, Irene Manzella and colleagues show how fine ash in these particle-rich fingers settles faster than individual particles and that aggregation and gravitational instabilities are closely related. Both phenomena can significantly contribute to reducing fine-ash lifetime in the atmosphere and, therefore, it is crucial to include them in VATDMs in order to provide accurate forecasting of ash dispersal and sedimentation.
Written By Unknown on Friday, February 6, 2015 | 6:08 PM
Image Credit: MSU Michigan State University has long been a resource for small farms in Michigan. Thanks to a $750,000 grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, MSU will be able to help even more fledgling farmers get their start. “This grant will enhance and create a vibrant network of farmer training across Michigan to help them negotiate the first five years of their endeavor,” said Mike Hamm, C.S. Mott Professor of Sustainable Agriculture and Director of MSU Center for Regional Food Systems. “Our programs will cater to different perspectives and needs while moving everyone who desires to farm along the path of building a viable business." As part of the grant, the MSU Student Organic Farm will expand its Organic Farmer Training Program. Without programs like this, burgeoning farmers like Joannee DeBruhl, farm manager of Stone Coop Farm, may not have ever gotten her start. DeBruhl, who spent much of her career in the insurance business, was laid off in 2009. Looking for a major change, she gravitated toward community gardening and eventually enrolled in MSU’s Organic Farmer Training Program. “The program was great; it gave me lots of hands-on training and showed that it was possible and not just a dream,” DeBruhl said. “I think the USDA grant will be a huge benefit for small farmers because there’s not much money out there to help them get started.” Training and help with startup costs are crucial, and this grant will be managed well by MSU, she added. WATCH VIDEO Key to the project is MSU’s partnership with Michigan Food and Farming Systems, which runs the Women in Agriculture Collective Farming Initiative at Genesys Health System in Genesee County. This partnership will develop site- and people-appropriate training programs that help beginning women farmers build a successful business. In addition to women, the grant also will develop training programs for Hispanic farmers. The number of Hispanic farms in Michigan continues to grow, and MSU will assist this historically underserved farmer population through training and site development assistance at the Farmers on the Move Cooperative in Battle Creek. MSU also will launch new, and improve existing, programs that target the biggest challenges facing small-farm viability – land access, capital access, market access, business planning and strategizing for scaling up production. Additional MSU contributors helping with this grant include: Jeremy Moghtader, Shakara Tyler. Michelle Napier-Dunnings, with Michigan Food and Farming Systems, also will be contributing to these efforts.
POSITIVE EMOTIONS CAN STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM Image Credit: Mens Health
The wonders of the world can be just as good for your health as they are for your enjoyment, suggests a UC Berkley study. Researchers have linked positive emotions—awe, contentment, spirituality—with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, proteins that signal your immune system to work harder and bolster good health. In two separate experiments, more than 200 young adults were asked to log the extent to which they experienced amusement, awe, compassion, joy, love, and pride on a given day. Samples of gum and cheek tissue taken that same day showed that those who experienced more of these positive emotions had the lowest levels of the cytokine Interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation that can cause autoimmune disease and depression. “That awe, wonder and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests that the things we do to experience these emotions—a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art—has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy,” says UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, a co-author of the study. An added emphasis on spirituality and mindfulness may just be enough to get you through this winter happy and healthy.
Walter Gordon was the first African-American student at the Boalt Law School. Courtesy: Cal Athletics
While Walter A. Gordon was a trailblazer during his days as a Cal football player, it’s the ground he broke after he left Berkeley that really made history. Gordon was a star player along the Bears’ offensive and defensive lines from 1916-18, and after his senior season he became the first All-American football player in Cal history. His selection also made him the second African-American ever to be named All-American. Gordon went on to become a pioneer in many ways after graduating from Cal. He was the first African-American on the Berkeley police force and the first African-American student at the Boalt Law School, from which he received his JD in 1922. Later in his life, Gordon was appointed to the position of Governor of the Virgin Islands by President Dwight Eisenhower. Gordon was born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1894 as a second generation free African-American. His father was a Pullman porter, who moved his family to Riverside, Calif., in 1904. Gordon’s father enrolled his children in Riverside Polytechnic High School, a predominantly white high school, in an attempt to give his son a better education. Walter was deeply affected by this and was known to quote his father in later years, asserting that color should not be an influence in access to education. Walter entered UC Berkeley in 1914 and quickly became involved in a variety of activities. Although now known primarily for football, Gordon was a talented athlete who also excelled in wrestling and boxing, winning the state championship in both of these sports during his time at Cal. He also founded the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American Greek-letter fraternity. In football, Gordon was a star player. He was also the first African-American player on first string. Extremely versatile, he played every position on both the offensive and defensive lines except center throughout his three years on the varsity. He shone as both a blocker and a tackler, a large man who was remembered by all who knew him for both his brute force and a surprising amount of litheness. In 1918, his senior season, Gordon was selected as a member of the third All-American team by the “Father of American Football” himself, Walter Camp. Gordon was the second African-American player to receive the honor of All-American, and the first player from Cal. That same year, Gordon was honored with an outstanding player award, presented in front of a large audience at the Greek Theatre. Walter Gordon Gordon experienced a great amount of success during his tenure as an athlete; however, he was also faced with challenges on account of his skin color. During his participation on the Cal heavyweight boxing team, prejudices against African-Americans sometimes kept Gordon out of the ring. In one such incident, the Stanford boxing team refused to compete against Berkeley due to Gordon’s presence. Gordon was forced to sit on the sidelines as another boxer was substituted in his place.
Racism followed Gordon into football as well. Andy Smith (coach of the “Wonder Years” teams) became head coach in 1916 and was unsure of how to navigate the sensitive subject of an African-American player on the team. When Cal was booked to play in Seattle, Smith was uncertain if Gordon should be allowed to come along. When put to a vote, the team decided that if Gordon made first string, he should be able to come with them and play the game. Nevertheless, as soon as the train arrived in Seattle, Gordon left his teammates to find lodging in an African-American part of town, reappearing the next morning to take his place in the game. He was unable at that time to stay in the same hotels as his teammates. Those who knew him say Gordon consciously handled situations regarding race this way, pushing boundaries, while leaving other battles for a later day.
After Gordon’s graduation, Smith hired Gordon as a part-time coach for the football team. He became the head coach for the Goofs, later known as the Ramblers. This team was the equivalent of the junior varsity. Gordon also became the head scout for Smith during the team’s Wonder Years and continued on through the tenure of famed head coach Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf. Gordon’s responsibilities included both scouting new players and attending the games of Cal’s opponents to study their plays. Those who worked with Gordon claimed he was so perceptive he could predict the other team’s next play based solely off of their movements. Gordon’s skill was also apparent when he assisted in planning plays for Cal. He was thought to have a keen sense of what would happen; one player claimed he felt that when he stepped on the field, he was acting out a scenario that had been written by Gordon. Additionally, he worked closely with quarterbacks. In this era, no plays could be called from the sideline during a game, so the quarterback was essentially an offensive coach on the field. This meant quarterbacks worked a lot with the scouts to determine plays. Gordon was considered a valuable member of the coaching staff, yet he was an understandably frustrated coach. During the 1920s and 30s, no African-American was allowed to hold any place of significant importance on the staff. Gordon was only allowed to be a coach for the Goofs, though he sometimes ran plays with the varsity linemen. Smith also kept Gordon out of all coaching staff pictures because he felt that seeing an African-American coach would discourage recruits from coming to Cal. At the beginning of his term, Gordon had to change in a separate room from the rest of the coaches. When he went on scouting trips, he was subject to law allowed by the infamous Plessey v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, which legalized separate transportation and lodging for African-Americans. Gordon was forced to ride on the day coach in trains, regardless of the duration of a trip, and continued to stay in separate accommodations from his white counterparts. Eventually, Gordon made some headway against the challenges of segregation. He got an “individual privilege” to stay in white hotels while on scouting and coaching jobs in major cities, although he still had to sneak in the side door. The trains also granted concessions, awarding Gordon with his own Pullman section compartment – a much more comfortable way to travel. Gordon stayed very involved with football at Cal while continuing to expand his horizons. From 1919 to 1929, he served as a member of the Berkeley Police force, where he was once again the first black member. In the ’20s and ’30s, Gordon was active in the NAACP, eventually becoming president of the Alameda County branch. He married May Elisabeth Fisher in 1920, and together they had three children. He attended Boalt Law School and was the first African-American student and JD recipient when he graduated in 1922. Afterwards, he held a joint practice for many years, serving a mostly white client base, while gaining enormous respect in his field. Gordon also served as the vice president of the Lawyer’s Guild of San Francisco and was invited to speak at the L.A. Bar association. In 1943, Chief Justice Earl Warren, himself a 1914 Boalt graduate, appointed Gordon to the California Adult Authority Board, which dealt with matters of state parole. Gordon ended his private practice a year later and for the next nine years served as chairman of the Board. Throughout his tenure, Gordon was credited for helping to change attitudes towards crime, focusing on humane policies and rehabilitation. In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Gordon to the position of Governor for the Virgin Islands. Gordon served as Governor for three years, during which time he aimed to better the struggling society. After his term, he became a Federal Judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, and for the next 10 years used his law degree to try and better people’s lives. Those who knew him remember Gordon as a charismatic and determined individual. He aimed to be an “inspiration to members of his race” and frequently insisted that the world should not think less of him based on the color of his skin. He took pride in all that he did and what he had accomplished, as well as his history and family. He made no apologies for his heritage and achieved a great amount in his 82 years before passing away in 1976. He was chosen the California Alumnus of the Year in 1955, received the Citation Award from the Law School in 1964, and was named to the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame in 1975. Today, he is remembered through the Walter Gordon Memorial Fund, established in 1991 to provide money for summer internships at the Law School. Allison Spivack (UC Berkeley, Class of 2017) did the research and writing of this story as part of her Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship with Professor Margaret Conkey (Anthropology), which has brought together four undergraduates at Berkeley who are researching various aspects of Cal's student-athletes and the athletic program.
Written By Unknown on Thursday, February 5, 2015 | 9:13 PM
In this supercomputer simulation, the stars of Eta Carinae are shown as black dots. Lighter colors indicate greater densities in the stellar winds produced by each star. At closest approach, the fast wind of the smaller star carves a tunnel in the thicker wind of the larger star. Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/T. Madura
Eta Carinae, the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years of Earth, is known for its surprising behavior, erupting twice in the 19th century for reasons scientists still don't understand. A long-term study led by astronomers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, used NASA satellites, ground-based telescopes and theoretical modeling to produce the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date. New findings include Hubble Space Telescope images that show decade-old shells of ionized gas racing away from the largest star at a million miles an hour, and new 3-D models that reveal never-before-seen features of the stars' interactions. "We are coming to understand the present state and complex environment of this remarkable object, but we have a long way to go to explain Eta Carinae's past eruptions or to predict its future behavior," said Goddard astrophysicist Ted Gull, who coordinates a research group that has monitored the star for more than a decade. Located about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina, Eta Carinae comprises two massive stars whose eccentric orbits bring them unusually close every 5.5 years. Both produce powerful gaseous outflows called stellar winds, which enshroud the stars and stymy efforts to directly measure their properties. Astronomers have established that the brighter, cooler primary star has about 90 times the mass of the sun and outshines it by 5 million times. While the properties of its smaller, hotter companion are more contested, Gull and his colleagues think the star has about 30 solar masses and emits a million times the sun's light.
Seen in blue light emitted by doubly ionized iron atoms (4,659 angstroms), these images of Eta Carinae were captured by Hubble's STIS instrument between 2010 and 2014. Gas shells created during the binary's 2003 close approach race outward at about 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h). Image Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/T. Gull et al. Speaking at a press conference at the American Astronomical Society meeting in Seattle on Wednesday, the Goddard researchers discussed recent observations of Eta Carinae and how they fit with the group's current understanding of the system. At closest approach, or periastron, the stars are 140 million miles (225 million kilometers) apart, or about the average distance between Mars and the sun. Astronomers observe dramatic changes in the system during the months before and after periastron. These include X-ray flares, followed by a sudden decline and eventual recovery of X-ray emission; the disappearance and re-emergence of structures near the stars detected at specific wavelengths of visible light; and even a play of light and shadow as the smaller star swings around the primary.
During the past 11 years, spanning three periastron passages, the Goddard group has developed a model based on routine observations of the stars using ground-based telescopes and multiple NASA satellites. "We used past observations to construct a computer simulation, which helped us predict what we would see during the next cycle, and then we feed new observations back into the model to further refine it," said Thomas Madura, a NASA Postdoctoral Program Fellow at Goddard and a theorist on the Eta Carinae team.
According to this model, the interaction of the two stellar winds accounts for many of the periodic changes observed in the system. The winds from each star have markedly different properties: thick and slow for the primary, lean and fast for the hotter companion. The primary's wind blows at nearly 1 million mph and is especially dense, carrying away the equivalent mass of our sun every thousand years. By contrast, the companion's wind carries off about 100 times less material than the primary's, but it races outward as much as six times faster. Madura's simulations, which were performed on the Pleiades supercomputer at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California, reveal the complexity of the wind interaction. When the companion star rapidly swings around the primary, its faster wind carves out a spiral cavity in the dense outflow of the larger star. To better visualize this interaction, Madura converted the computer simulations to 3-D digital models and made solid versions using a consumer-grade 3-D printer. This process revealed lengthy spine-like protrusions in the gas flow along the edges of the cavity, features that hadn't been noticed before. "We think these structures are real and that they form as a result of instabilities in the flow in the months around closest approach," Madura said. "I wanted to make 3-D prints of the simulations to better visualize them, which turned out to be far more successful than I ever imagined." A paper detailing this research has been submitted to the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
The team detailed a few key observations that expose some of the system's inner workings. For the past three periastron passages, ground-based telescopes in Brazil, Chile, Australia and New Zealand have monitored a single wavelength of blue light emitted by helium atoms that have lost a single electron. According to the model, the helium emission tracks conditions in the primary star's wind.
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) aboard Hubble captures a different wavelength of blue light emitted by iron atoms that have lost two electrons, which uniquely reveals where gas from the primary star is set aglow by the intense ultraviolet light of its companion. Lastly, X-rays from the system carry information directly from the wind collision zone, where the opposing winds create shock waves that heat the gas to hundreds of millions of degrees. "Changes in the X-rays are a direct probe of the collision zone and reflect changes in how these stars lose mass," said Michael Corcoran, an astrophysicist with the Universities Space Research Association headquartered in Columbia, Maryland. He and his colleagues compared periastron emission measured over the past 20 years by NASA's Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer, which ceased operation in 2012, and the X-ray Telescope aboard NASA's Swift satellite. In July 2014, as the stars rushed toward each other, Swift observed a series of flares culminating in the brightest X-ray emission yet seen from Eta Carinae. This implies a change in mass loss by one of the stars, but X-rays alone cannot determine which one. Goddard's Mairan Teodoro led the ground-based campaign tracking the helium emission. "The 2014 emission is nearly identical to what we saw at the previous periastron in 2009, which suggests the primary wind has been constant and that the companion's wind is responsible for the X-ray flares," he explained. After NASA astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope's STIS instrument in 2009, Gull and his collaborators requested to use it to observe Eta Carinae. By separating the stars' light into a rainbow-like spectrum, STIS reveals the chemical make-up of their environment. But the spectrum also showed wispy structures near the stars that suggested the instrument could be used to map a region close to the binary system in never-before-seen detail. STIS views its targets through a single narrow slit to limit contamination from other sources. Since December 2010, Gull's team has regularly mapped a region centered on the binary by capturing spectra at 41 different locations, an effort similar to building up a panoramic picture from a series of snapshots. The view spans about 430 billion miles (670 billion km), or about 4,600 times the average Earth-sun distance. The resulting images, revealed for the first time on Wednesday, show that the doubly ionized iron emission comes from a complex gaseous structure nearly a tenth of a light-year across, which Gull likens to Maryland blue crab. By stepping through the STIS images, vast shells of gas representing the crab's "claws" can be seen racing away from the stars with measured speeds of about 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h). With each close approach, a spiral cavity forms in the larger star's wind and then expands outward along with it, creating the moving shells. WATCH VIDEO "These gas shells persist over thousands of times the distance between Earth and the sun," Gull explained. "Backtracking them, we find the shells began moving away from the primary star about 11 years or three periastron passages ago, providing us with an additional way to glimpse what occurred in the recent past." When the stars approach, the companion becomes immersed in the thickest part of the primary's wind, which absorbs its UV light and prevents the radiation from reaching the distant gas shells. Without this energy to excite it, the doubly ionized iron stops emitting light and the crab structure disappears at this wavelength. Once the companion swings around the primary and clears the densest wind, its UV light escapes, re-energizes iron atoms in the shells, and the crab returns.
Eta Carinae's great eruption in the 1840s created the billowing Homunculus Nebula, imaged here by Hubble. Now about a light-year long, the expanding cloud contains enough material to make at least 10 copies of our sun. Astronomers cannot yet explain what caused this eruption. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble SM4 ERO Team Both of the massive stars of Eta Carinae may one day end their lives in supernova explosions. For stars, mass is destiny, and what will determine their ultimate fate is how much matter they can lose -- through stellar winds or as-yet-inexplicable eruptions -- before they run out of fuel and collapse under their own weight. For now, the researchers say, there is no evidence to suggest an imminent demise of either star. They are exploring the rich dataset from the 2014 periastron passage to make new predictions, which will be tested when the stars again race together in February 2020. NASA is exploring our solar system and beyond to understand the universe and our place in it. We seek to unravel the secrets of our universe, its origins and evolution, and search for life among the stars.
Written By Unknown on Wednesday, February 4, 2015 | 8:30 AM
Walking stickman The Biomechanics Laboratory in the kinesiology department is recruiting volunteers for a study about the effects of age and exercise on walking and muscle function. The researchers hope to learn about how changes in muscle function with age are related to the onset of disability. The lab is looking for individuals who meet the following criteria: ages 55-70 with healthy body weight who participate in fewer than five 30-minute bouts of exercise per week (or less than a total of 150 minutes of planned exercise per week), no history of reconstructive surgery of the legs, no major health issues (heart disease, diabetes, neurological disease), able to walk for 30 minutes and no contraindications to MRI (metal implant, claustrophobia). The study consists of two visits: a 1-hour visit to an MRI facility in Amherst and one 3-hour visit to the Biomechanics Lab on campus. During the lab visit researchers will collect data on how participants’ joints move as they walk over the ground and on a treadmill. The study will also collect data on the strength of the muscles in participants’ thighs. All procedures are non-invasive.
Written By Unknown on Tuesday, February 3, 2015 | 7:36 PM
Adult, host plant and mines of Telamoptilia grewiae sp. n. 1 Adult in habitus, paratype 2 Live adult 3 Host plant 4 Linear mines by early instar larvae 5 Blotch mine by later instar larva 6 Seriously damaged leaves found in September. Credit: Zookeys
The genus Telamoptilia Kumata & Kuroko, 1988 is globally represented by five species that may be found in the Oriental and African regions. The type species T. cathedraea (Meyrick, 1908) is geographically shared by the Oriental Region and Madagascar (De Prins and De Prins 2014). Three species are currently known from China, including T. cathedraea, T. hemistacta (Meyrick, 1924), and T. prosacta (Meyrick, 1918). The larvae of Telamoptilia species are leaf miners. Three plant families are known as hosts for Telamoptilia: Malvaceae, Amaranthaceae and Convolvulaceae (De Prins and De Prins 2014). Vári (1961) briefly described the biology of T. geyeri (Vári, 1961). Kumata et al. (1988) described the biology and the larval body chaetotaxy of three species: T. cathedraea, T. prosacta and T. tiliae (Kumata & Ermolaev, 1988). However, no larval head chaetotaxy and pupal features of Telamoptilia have been described so far. Telamoptilia grewiae sp. n. is associated with Malvaceae and is described in the present paper from adult external characters, male and female genitalia, wing venation and immature stages. The larval head and pupal features are described for the first time in Telamoptilia. Methods Field investigations were carried out in Mt. Baxian National Nature Reserves (40°11'N, 117°32'E), 300−600 m, Tianjin, China, from May to September in 2013 and June 2014. Leaves containing mines with larvae were placed in sealed plastic bags, or rearing containers with moist cotton. Larvae removed from mines were immersed in nearly boiling water for 30 seconds, and then were kept in 75% ethanol for morphological examination. Last instar larval skins, pupae, and exuviae were kept in 75% ethanol. Pupae in rearing containers were placed outdoors to overwinter, and were transferred into the laboratory at 20 °C on February 6, 2014. Emergence successively occurred from March 9 to early-April 2014. Adults were collected chiefly by rearing from immature stages, and occasionally by light trap. Adult photographs were taken with a Leica M250A stereo microscope. Genitalia and wings were dissected and mounted according to the methods introduced by Li (2002), but stained with Eosin Y and/or Chlorazol Black, and the illustrations were prepared by using a Leica DM750 microscope, and refined in Photoshop® CS4 software. For scanning electron microscopy, larvae and pupae were dehydrated in gradient ethanol, dried in vacuum and coated with gold in a SCD 005 Sputter Coater (BAL-TEC), then operated with a voltage of 15 kV using Quanta 200 environmental scanning electron microscope (SEM) (FEI, Oregon). Line drawings were outlined from the photos taken by the Leica M250A stereo microscope, using path tool in Adobe Photoshop® CS4 software. Photographs of host plant, mines and a live adult were taken in the field using Canon PowerShot G10 digital camera. Terminology of immature stages follows Davis and De Prins (2011) and De Prins et al. (2013), and that of adults follows Kumata et al. (1988). Thoracic segments I−III and abdominal segments 1−10 are abbreviated as TI−TIII and A1−A10, respectively. All the specimens studied, including the types of the new species and the vouchered larvae and pupae, are deposited in the Insect Collection, Nankai University, Tianjin, China. Taxonomy Adults (Figs 1–2) with wing span 6.0−8.0 mm. Head silvery white, tinged with gray on face. Labial palpus grayish white, colored blackish gray on outer surface of distal half of second segment and before apex of third segment. Maxillary palpus white, with middle or distal half blackish fuscous. Antenna with scape white on posterior half, blackish gray on anterior half and distal portion, flap blackish gray tinged with white, as wide as scape in frontal view; flagellum silvery grayish fuscous, with each unit blackish distally. Thorax and tegula blackish gray mixed with white. Legs mostly white; foreleg with coxa blackish fuscous basally and distally, femur and tibia blackish fuscous, tarsus blackish gray distally on each except last segment; midleg with coxa blackish fuscous distally, femur blackish fuscous, except white medially and distally on dorsal surface, with ventral scale expansion blackish fuscous, tibia blackish fuscous basally and distally, white medially, tarsus white, each except last segment dotted blackish fuscous distally; hindleg with coxa blackish fuscous distally, femur blackish fuscous distally on outer surface, tibia blackish fuscous basally and distally, tarsus with basal three segments blackish fuscous distally, fourth segment dotted blackish fuscous dorso-distally. Forewing grayish fuscous to blackish fuscous; costal margin with a white spot basally at about 1/10 and one before apex, the former sometimes touching fold posteriorly, with white stria at distal 3/10 and 1/6 obliquely outward, reaching middle of wing and near termen respectively; transverse white fascia from costal 1/3 and 1/2 obliquely outward, reaching dorsal 1/2 and before end of fold respectively, edged with blackish fuscous to black scales, inner fascia wider than outer one, widened on posterior half; small white dot on distal end of M3, two or three small white dots along termen; apex blackish fuscous; cilia mostly blackish fuscous basally, gray distally, white adjacent to white markings, white on basal 1/4, black on median part, gray distally at apex, gray along dorsal margin. Hindwing and cilia uniformly gray.
The recent “Blizzard of 2015” shutdown several major metropolitan areas in the Northeast and left several locations across Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and New York covered in over two feet of snow. But, how did this snowstorm compare to the region’s most historic storms? To place this storm and its societal impacts into historical context, NCDC used the Regional Snowfall Index or RSI to rank it on a scale from 1 to 5—similar to the Fujita scale for tornadoes or the Saffir-Simpson scale for hurricanes. These ranks are based on the snowfall amount within the region’s borders, the spatial extent of the storm, and the relationship of these elements to the area’s population. The RSI value for January 25–28, 2015, snowstorm is 6.16, which makes it a Category 3 or major event for the Northeast. With that RSI value, the snowstorm ranks 26th out of the 423 northeastern snowstorms NCDC has analyzed since 1900. The area of snowfall and population affected by 20 inches of snow or more were the primary drivers for this storm’s raw RSI score. Almost 5 million people experienced over 20 inches of snow and 15 million experienced over 10 inches of new snow. While these are significant impacts, the footprint of the heavy snow was relatively small compared to RSI Category 5 storms. These rare events typically have over 45 million people experiencing over 10 inches of snow. Nonetheless, this storm is well within the top 10% of storms analyzed for the Northeast. The late February snowstorm of 1969 remains the strongest storm to hit the Northeast, with an RSI value of 34.03 making it a Category 5 or extreme event. The March 1993 “Storm of the Century” remains the second strongest snowstorm to hit the Northeast, with an RSI value of 22.12 also making it a Category 5 event. Learn more about the Regional Snowfall Index and use our interactive mapping tool to see RSI rankings for almost 600 snowstorms since 1900.
Written By Unknown on Sunday, February 1, 2015 | 1:35 AM
Students and faculty from the UCLA School of Nursing visit Casa de Maternidad, where women with high-risk pregnancies can live to receive special care. Credit: UCLA The timing couldn't have been better for 18 UCLA School of Nursing graduate students and two faculty members headed for Cuba on an educational mission. As they were boarding a flight to Havana from Miami on Dec. 17, big news was breaking: The U.S. was re-establishing diplomatic relations with Cuba, mending a break that has lasted more than 50 years. One hour later, the UCLA group arrived in Havana, where they were greeted with exuberant hugs, kisses and tears of joy by an excited group of Cuban health leaders over the historic turn of events. That was the auspicious beginning of a five-day, action-packed visit for the UCLA group. To learn about Cuba’s health care system, they met with physician-nurse teams, engaged in Pan American Health Organization-based discussions on major causes of illness and death, among other topics; and visited community-based consultorios, polyclinics and sex education centers as well as nursing and medical schools. Eager to see different health care settings, they spent time at a home for seniors and a residence where women with high-risk pregnancies went to live to receive special care. Ties between Westwood and Havana This was not the first time that UCLA nurses have connected with their counterparts in Cuba. In 2011, Maria Elena Ruiz, assistant adjunct professor at the school, attended an International Health Conference in Cuba as a member of the American Public Health Association. Through those meetings, she saw firsthand how a first-world, prevention-focused primary health care system functions with third-world economics. When she returned to UCLA, Ruiz, together with Adey Nyamathi, associate dean for international research and scholarly activities, developed a program that would provide similar experiences for nursing students, who would receive partial credit for a public health course, complete required readings, participate in pre- and post- conferences, and write daily reflective papers. How do they do it? Cuba, the UCLA nurses learned during their visit last December, is a third-world country with some impressive health outcomes, including an overall life expectancy that rivals that in the U.S. (78.4 years for Cubans versus 78.6 years for Americans), immunization rates that are nearly 100% and low infant mortality. Yet their health care costs per capita are nearly 15 times lower than that of the United States. Primary care and an emphasis on prevention are key to the success of the Cuban health care system. “Their system shows how primary care really does work,” said student Vladimir Camarce. “And when implemented correctly, you can see great outcomes. Historically, the U.S. system has been focused on acute and tertiary care, but we are now starting to see a shift with the Affordable Care Act.” In Cuba, public service announcements about health are shown daily on television. “They don’t have traditional television commercials like we do here, so the government uses the opportunity to deliver messages about hygiene or reminders on vaccines,” observed student Stephanie Phan. Another reason for Cuba’s success is its focus on personalized, community-based care. Doctors and nurses work as a team and live in the communities they serve. They might see patients in a clinic in the morning, said graduate student John Scholtz, and then visit patients who can’t get to the clinic at home “to ensure that they are receiving their checkups and following through with the recommendations.” The students also noted the personal nature of health care in Cuba. “Patients are referred to by name,” said Phan, “not by 'the patient in room 11' … They told us, ‘They’re not patients, they’re people.” There is also a strong integration of traditional, herbal and western medicine. It’s all considered good health care. “I believe we should find a way to incorporate that integration into our practices because we do get a lot of patients who use complementary therapies,” said Camarce. What amazed the students was that the Cubans achieve all this with a scarcity of equipment and health resources. “They don’t have the equipment we have, the technology we have or the pharmaceutical industry,” noted student Jacqueline Marroquin. “They make do with so little, but they are able to accomplish so much.” “What medical equipment is available resembles a scene from the old MASH television series,” said Ruiz. “And yet we were overwhelmed with the kindness and eagerness of our hosts to share their health experiences with us.” Also surprising: On average, nurses and doctors make only $20-$30 a month. But their education and housing are free or subsidized, and they don’t have student loans to pay off. “In the U.S., you wouldn’t have a lot of people pursuing these professions for that kind of pay,” said Scholtz. “But in Cuba, you have a lot of people interested in being doctors or nurses. They go into it because they want to make a difference in their community.” Part of the reason why the Cuban system works is the collectivist-based culture and the population perspective, the students said. Many things that have been adapted in Cuba, however, wouldn’t work in the U.S. “We might be able to integrate some of the ideas in a micro-community,” suggested Marroquin. Leaving hehind impressions — and hand sanitizers While the students were there to learn, they also taught Cubans something about Americans. “Our interactions showed them that we were open to ideas and willing to learn from them,” said Scholtz. On a more tangible note, the group left behind hand sanitizers. And pens. Lots of them. “There is a real need for basic hygienic supplies, everything we take for granted,” added Ruiz. But more importantly, the UCLA visitors came away with a new resolve. “As nursing students, as nurses, we really need to understand what is going on across our borders,” said Marroquin. Nyamathi added: “These students are now motivated to make a difference, to learn more about other countries and to question our health system, health care costs, disparities, and what we can learn from others to improve health and health care in the U.S.” It’s also a hope that, with the dawning of warmer relationships with Cuba, the U. S. health care community may be able to learn a lot more from their neighbor, they said.
Written By Unknown on Saturday, January 31, 2015 | 4:38 PM
Enter the Mars Helicopter, a proposed add-on to Mars rovers of the future that could potentially triple the distance these vehicles currently drive in a Martian day, and deliver a new level of visual information for choosing which sites to explore. The helicopter would fly ahead of the rover almost every day, checking out various possible points of interest and helping engineers back on Earth plan the best driving route. Scientists could also use the helicopter images to look for features for the rover to study in further detail. Another part of the helicopter's job would be to check out the best places for the rover to collect key samples and rocks for a cache, which a next-generation rover could pick up later. The vehicle is envisioned to weigh 2.2 pounds (1 kilogram) and measure 3.6 feet (1.1 meters) across from the tip of one blade to the other. The prototype body looks like a medium-size cubic tissue box. The current design is a proof-of-concept technology demonstration that has been tested at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.
A 70-meter-deep basin formed near the summit of Greenland’s Flade Isblink Ice Cap in the fall of 2012 when a lake 540 meters beneath the ice surface suddenly emptied. Summer meltwater streams on the ice cap surface (blue) enter crevasses near the bottom of the image. Photo Credit: WorldView-2 Imagery (c) 2014, DigitalGlobe, Inc.
University of Minnesota researchers are part of a national team of scientists that has published a new paper showing for the first time that meltwater from the surface of an ice cap in northeastern Greenland can make its way beneath the ice and become trapped, refilling a subglacial lake. This meltwater provides heat to the bottom of the ice sheet. These groundbreaking findings provide new information about atmospheric warming and its affect on the critical zone at the base of the ice. The warmth provided by the water could make the ice sheet move faster and alter how it responds to the changing climate. The research is detailed in a new paper published today online by the journal Nature. The research was led by Cornell University Earth and Atmospheric Sciences researcher Michael Willis, who is also an adjunct faculty member in the geological sciences department at UNC-Chapel Hill's College of Arts and Sciences. The research study’s co-authors are Bradley Herried, University of Minnesota School of Earth Science’s Polar Geospatial Center; Michael Bevis, Ohio State University School of Earth Sciences; and Robin Bell, Columbia University Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory. “We’re seeing surface meltwater make its way to the base of the ice where it can get trapped and stored at the boundary between the bedrock beneath the ice sheet and the ice itself,” Willis said. “As the lake beneath the ice fills with surface meltwater, the heat released by this trapped meltwater can soften surrounding ice, which may eventually cause an increase in ice flow.” The researchers were able to pinpoint when the subglacial lake refilled using data collected from high-resolution satellite images from the University of Minnesota’s Polar Geospatial Center, as well as data from NASA’s operation IceBridge for calibration and verification. The direct link between the surface meltwater and the filling of a lake at the base of the ice has never been seen before. Over the last few years the number of lakes on the surface of the Greenland ice sheet has greatly increased. Surface lakes are also occurring much farther inland at higher altitudes than in the past. If this mechanism of transferring water and warmth from the surface lakes to the bottom of the ice sheet is common then the Greenland Ice Sheet is likely to respond more rapidly to climate change than is currently predicted. The Greenland ice sheet comprises about 80 percent of the land mass of Greenland and previous studies have documented that the ice sheet is melting at a faster rate due to climate change. The movement of meltwater beneath the ice sheet, from the interior to the ocean, is the topic of many investigations as it can control the speed at which the ice sheet moves. This is the first study to document that surface water can penetrate to the bottom of an ice cap and be trapped in place. Researchers say this process could also occur at other large bodies of ice. The study was sparked in 2012 when Willis was mapping ice changes around the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet as part of a study funded by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to understand how much of the accelerating ice loss in Greenland is caused by melting and how much is caused by the increase of ice moving into the ocean. During his research, Willis spotted a 70-meter-deep hole (the equivalent of a 10-story building) that had formed when a subglacial lake, far beneath the ice surface, emptied in the late fall of 2011. Subglacial lakes are rare in Greenland, and the presence of such a lake in the far northeast came as a surprise. The ice in this region is much too slow, too cold and too thin to allow melting beneath the ice cap, which is how a subglacial lake usually forms. Between 2012 and 2014, Willis watched as summer meltwater on the surface of the ice made its way down cracks around the hole and refilled the empty lake basin at the base of the ice cap. When water was flowing on the surface, the subglacial lake filled. When water stopped flowing on the surface, the subglacial lake stopped refilling. Each summer scientists see bright blue streams form on the surface of Greenland as warm air melts the ice sheet. What happens to this water when it disappears into cracks in the ice has remained a mystery. “This discovery that water can be stored in lakes beneath the ice shows how the plumbing on the surface is linked to the plumbing at the base," said co-author Bell. The Cornell-led team calculated that the lake beneath the ice has filled about half way since its 2011 blowout that originally drove water from the lake at a volume of 215 cubic meters per second (nearly 57,000 gallons—close to the volume of a 30-foot-by-50-foot backyard swimming pool every second.) As the lake refills, the surface meltwater carries stored heat, called latent heat, along with it from the relatively warm atmosphere to the icy depths. This latent heat reduces the stiffness of the surrounding ice and makes the ice more likely to flow out to sea. Even though researchers have long known of the existence of subglacial lakes, never before have they witnessed any refilling from the surface. The refilling signals to researchers that Greenland’s ice loss has likely reached a milestone. "We can actually see the meltwater pour down into these holes and then watch these subglacial lakes drain out and fill up again in real time,” said study co-author Bevis. “With melting like that, even the deep interior of the ice sheet is going to change. If enough water is pouring down into the Greenland Ice Sheet for us to see the same subglacial lake empty and refill itself over and over, then there must be so much latent heat being released under the ice that we’d have to expect it to change the large-scale behavior of the ice sheet.”
SMAP's soil moisture measurements will help with forecasts of precipitation and temperature. Image credit: UCAR
If you were trying to forecast tomorrow's weather, you would probably look up at the sky rather than down at the ground. But if you live in the U.S. Midwest or someplace with a similar climate, one key to a better weather forecast may lie beneath your feet. Precipitation and temperature are part of every weather forecast. Precipitation comes from clouds, clouds are formed of airborne water vapor, and vapor comes from evaporating soil moisture -- so soil moisture governs precipitation. Evaporating soil moisture also makes air cooler, so it affects temperature. In certain kinds of climate, scientists believe, soil moisture is so influential that better observations of it might improve weather forecasts. These climates are transitional: not too humid and not too dry. For example, the agriculturally productive states of the U.S. Midwest fall into that category. "Better soil moisture observations lead to better land-atmosphere interaction in weather forecasting models and ultimately to a better prediction of temperature and precipitation," said Michael Ek, leader of the Land Hydrology Team at the Environmental Monitoring Center of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). "Weather models need good initial observations of the land surface, or you're starting from the wrong place." Better soil moisture observations are just what the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission will provide. Scheduled for launch on Jan. 29, SMAP will collect the most accurate and highest-resolution soil moisture measurements ever made from a satellite SMAP will cover the entire globe in two to three days. Ek is a member of one of five groups in SMAP's Early Adopter program that have been working for several years on the question of how best to incorporate the new data into national weather forecasting models. Forecasts will not improve, however, the moment SMAP starts collecting data. U.S. Department of Agriculture research scientist Wade Crow, a member of SMAP's science team, explained that, since closely spaced global soil moisture measurements have never existed before, the mathematical models used in weather forecasting are not configured to include them directly. Getting the best use out of the new observations has been a subject of active research for several years and will require some significant changes in how soil moisture data are assimilated into the models. Data assimilation is necessary because weather forecasting models all drift a bit, like cars. If you're driving on a perfectly straight road, you still need to keep a hand on the steering wheel or you'll run off the edge sooner or later. Data assimilation in a model serves the same purpose as the slight movements of your hands that keep your car on course. Drift is not a fatal flaw for a weather forecasting model any more than it is for a car. It is simply a sign that the Earth system is too vast and complicated to model perfectly with the resources available today. To steer forecasts toward greater realism, models ingest, or assimilate, real-world data and use them in sophisticated mathematical techniques. Each time updated observations become available, they are assimilated to improve the starting point for the next forecast. Closely spaced and highly accurate global measurements are an important part of the process. For soil moisture, however, current observations are not on a fine enough scale to meet the needs of weather forecasting models directly. "Modelers compensate for the lack of direct observations of soil moisture by using more indirect measures, such as estimating it from observations of temperature and precipitation," Crow explained. "As a consequence, modeled soil moisture tends to diverge from reality. SMAP will be directly observing the state that they want, so they won't have to back it out from proxy measurements." JPL scientist Eni Njoku is working with researchers at another forecasting center, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) in Reading, England. Njoku said, "SMAP will provide benefits of higher soil moisture accuracy and spatial resolution than have previously been available from satellites. This could lead potentially to improved regional and global weather forecasts by ECMWF." Environment Canada, the branch of the Canadian government responsible for weather forecasting in that nation, is also working on assimilating SMAP data into its models. "The numerical weather prediction centers are adapting to the new availability of soil moisture information and thinking of ways they can exploit it," Crow summarized. "It will be really exciting to see what they find." SMAP is managed for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, with instrument hardware and science contributions made by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. JPL is responsible for project management, system engineering, radar instrumentation, mission operations and the ground data system. Goddard is responsible for the radiometer instrument. Both centers collaborate on science data processing and delivery to the Alaska Satellite Facility, in Fairbanks, and the National Snow and Ice Data Center, at the University of Colorado in Boulder, for public distribution and archiving. NASA's Launch Services Program at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida is responsible for launch management. JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
A University of Manchester scientist has discovered that very small changes in the level of acidity in blood may have a detrimental impact on the health of patients with kidney disease.
Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is common in the UK. It is estimated that about one in five men and one in four women between the ages of 65 and 74 has some degree of CKD. The leading single cause of CKD is diabetes which is increasing so it’s expected that more patients will be diagnosed with CKD in the future. Dr Donald Ward from the Faculty of Life Sciences has been studying the impact of kidney disease on the body. He has found that very small changes in the pH (acidity) level in the blood prevents the body from being able to accurately monitor calcium levels. This leads to too much of the hormone PTH being released which is likely to lead to a greater risk of calcium and phosphate from the bone damaging the arteries. This often proves fatal to patients with CKD. His research has been published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Dr Donald Ward
He says: “It was not realised before that the blood pH changes we see in patients with kidney disease can have an impact on their ability to monitor blood calcium levels. My research has demonstrated that the effect of those changes may be more significant than previously thought and thus might need to be looked at more carefully by clinicians.” Dr Ward’s research focussed on the high level of parathyroid hormone (PTH) in patients suffering from CKD. This causes the body to release calcium and phosphate from the bones which can then damage their blood vessels. Dr Ward explains why this is so harmful: “The diseased kidneys prevent the body getting rid of both excess phosphate and excess acidity. So if that acidity also causes the body to release more PTH then this could compound the problem by releasing further phosphate from the bone. This vicious circle might accelerate the potentially fatal calcification of the arteries.” He continues: “What is so important about this research is that we have demonstrated that changes in PTH release can be prompted by very small changes in blood pH level. Before, it was assumed that only a larger change in acidity would cause problems for patients.” The research was funded by Kidney Research UK. Elaine Davies, Director of Research Operations, from the charity says: “Donald’s work has used novel pharmacological and molecular tools in generating these new findings which increase our knowledge about the complex balance that clinicians need to consider when treating patients with CKD.” Dr Ward is hoping to take his research to the next step, testing for therapeutic targets that could lead to better treatments for CKD.
Written By Unknown on Friday, January 30, 2015 | 3:46 AM
A sweeping effort in a rural region of Kenya to test all adults for HIV discovered 1,300 new infections, but few of the newly diagnosed people pursued treatment, a study in the journal Lancet HIV reports. PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Between December 2009 and February 2011, health workers with the AMPATH Consortium sought to test and counsel every adult resident in the Bunyala subcounty of Kenya for HIV. A study in the journal Lancet HIV reports that the campaign yielded more than 1,300 new positive diagnoses, but few of those new patients sought health care. “Home-based counseling and testing (HBCT) provided a diagnosis to nearly 40 percent of people living with HIV in this subcounty who otherwise most likely would not have gone for HIV testing,” said study lead author Becky Genberg, assistant professor (research) of health services, policy and practice in the Brown University School of Public Health. “They therefore would not have known about their HIV infection and not had the opportunity to change their behavior to protect others.” AMPATH’s HBCT program is part of a strategy to identify all individuals living with HIV in the catchment area, start them on antiretroviral medication as soon as possible, and help them stay on their medications. Antiretroviral medication not only suppresses HIV infections for most patients but also reduces their ability to transmit the virus.
Genberg with co-author Edwin Sang “We are working on a variety of studies, all designed to understand the barriers facing the newly diagnosed, and to implement and evaluate strategies to increase their engagement and retention in HIV care over time.”
In Bunyala, home to about 66,000 people, the HBCT program tested about 32,000 adults. Among them, 3,482 had HIV. Of those, 2,122 already knew they were infected, but 1,360 did not know it yet. A major finding of the study is that three years later only 15 percent of the newly diagnosed people had engaged in care for their infection. A likely reason why, Genberg said, is that newly diagnosed people typically don’t yet feel sick. “That so few linked to care following HBCT is a call for innovative and creative strategies to work alongside HBCT to support the mostly healthy, asymptomatic newly diagnosed to engage with care in a way that is meaningful for them,” Genberg said. In an editorial in the journal, Rashida Ferrand of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said the study sounds a warning that home-based testing must be paired with effective ways to convince newly diagnosed patients to seek help. “Unless paired with interventions targeted at hard-to-reach populations, the diagnosing of undiagnosed individuals in many settings will not be cost-effective and will have little effect on individual and population viral suppression,” she and colleagues wrote. Genberg, who has been in Kenya this winter, said she is working with Kenyan collaborators on developing the needed interventions: “Right now we are working on a variety of studies, all designed to understand the barriers facing the newly diagnosed, and to implement and evaluate strategies to increase their engagement and retention in HIV care over time.” In addition to Genberg the study’s authors are Joseph Hogan and Corey Duefield of Brown; Violet Naanyu, Juddy Wachira, and Samson Ndege of Moi University in Kenya; Edwin Sang, Monicah Nyambura, and Michael Odawa of AMPATH; and corresponding author Paula Braitstein of the University of Toronto. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief funded the study though USAID (grant AID-623-A-12-0001). Additional support came from the National Institutes of Health (K01MH099966) and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
