ALBERT

Description: Most species that are negatively impacted when their densities are low aggregate to minimize this effect. Aggregation has the potential to change how Allee effects are expressed at the population level. We studied the interplay between aggregation and Allee effects in the mountain pine beetle ( Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins), an irruptive bark beetle that aggregates to overcome tree defenses. By cooperating to surpass a critical number of attacks per tree, the mountain pine beetle is able to breach host defenses,oviposit and reproduce. Mountain pine beetles and Hymenopteran parasitoids share some biological features, the most notable of which is obligatory host death as a consequence of parasitoid attack and development. We developed spatiotemporal models of mountain pine beetle dynamics that were based on the Nicholson-Bailey framework but which featured beetle aggregation and a tree-level attack threshold. By fitting our models to data from a local mountain pine beetle outbreak, we demonstrate that due to aggregation, attack thresholds at the tree level can be overcome by a surprisingly low ratio of beetles per susceptible tree at the stand level. This results confirms the importance of considering aggregation in models of organisms that are subject to strong Allee effects. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: Olenitic tourmaline with high amounts of tetrahedral B (up to 2.53 [4] B pfu) has been synthesized in a piston-cylinder press at 4.0 GPa, 700 °C, and a run duration of 9 days. Crystals are large enough (up to 30 x 150 μm) to allow for reliable and spatially resolved quantification of B by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA), single-crystal X-ray diffraction, and polarized single-crystal Raman spectroscopy. Tourmalines with radial acicular habit are zoned in [4] B-concentration [core: 2.53(25) [4] B pfu; rim: 1.43(15) [4] B pfu], whereas columnar crystals are chemically homogeneous [1.18(15) [4] B pfu]. An amount of 1.4(1) [4] B pfu was found in the columnar tourmaline by single-crystal structure refinement (SREF) ( R = 1.94%). The EMPA identify [T] Si –1 [V,W] O –1 [T] B 1 [V,W] (OH) 1 as the main and [X] –1 [T] Si –1 [X] Na 1 [T] B 1 as minor exchange vectors for [4] B-incorporation, which is supported by the SREF. Due to the restricted and well-defined variations in chemistry, Raman bands in the OH-stretching region (3000–3800 cm –1 ) are unambiguously assigned to a specific cation arrangement. We found the sum of the relative integrated intensity ( I rel ) of two low-frequency bands at 3284–3301 cm –1 (1) and 3367–3390 cm –1 (2) to positively correlate with the [4] B concentrations: [4] B [pfu] = 0.03(1) x [ I rel (1) + I rel (2)]. Hence, those bands correspond to configurations with mixed Si/B occupancy at the T site. Our semi-quantitative correlation also holds for well-characterized natural [4] B-bearing tourmaline from the Koralpe, Austria. This work shows the potential for Raman spectroscopy as a non-destructive method for the chemical classification of (precious) natural tourmaline, and as a tool to rapidly characterize chemical zonation of tourmalines in thin section.

Description: We examine the anthropogenically forced climate response for the twenty first century representative concentration pathway (RCP) emission scenarios and their extensions for the period 2101-2500. The experiments were performed with ModelE2, a new version of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Sciences (GISS) coupled general circulation model that includes three different versions for the atmospheric composition components: a non-interactive version (NINT) with prescribed composition and a tuned aerosol indirect effect (AIE), the TCAD version with fully interactive aerosols, whole-atmosphere chemistry and the tuned AIE, and the TCADI version which further includes a parameterized first indirect aerosol effect on clouds. Each atmospheric version is coupled to two different ocean general circulation models: the Russell ocean model (GISS-E2-R) and HYCOM (GISS-E2-H). By 2100, global mean warming in the RCP scenarios ranges from 1.0ºC to 4.5ºC relative to 1850-1860 mean temperature in the historical simulations. In the RCP2.6 scenario, the surface warming in all simulations stays below a 2 °C threshold at the end of the twenty-first century. For RCP8.5, the range is 3.5-4.5ºC at 2100. Decadally averaged sea ice area changes are highly correlated to global mean surface air temperature anomalies and show steep declines in both hemispheres, with a larger sensitivity during winter months. By the year 2500, there are complete recoveries of the globally averaged surface air temperature for all versions of the GISS climate model in the low forcing scenario RCP2.6. TCADI simulations show enhanced warming due to greater sensitivity to CO 2 , aerosol effects and greater methane feedbacks and recovery is much slower in RCP2.6 than with the NINT and TCAD versions. All coupled models have decreases in the Atlantic overturning streamfunction by 2100. In RCP2.6 there is a complete recovery of the Atlantic overturning stream function by the year 2500 while with scenario RCP8.5, the E2-R climate model produces a complete shutdown of deep water formation in the North Atlantic. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: [1]  Black carbon aerosol plays a unique and important role in Earth's climate system. Black carbon is a type of carbonaceous material with a unique combination of physical properties. This assessment provides an evaluation of black-carbon climate forcing that is comprehensive in its inclusion of all known and relevant processes and that is quantitative in providing best estimates and uncertainties of the main forcing terms: direct solar absorption, influence on liquid, mixed-phase, and ice clouds, and deposition on snow and ice. These effects are calculated with climate models, but when possible, they are evaluated with both microphysical measurements and field observations. Predominant sources are combustion related; namely, fossil fuels for transportation, solid fuels for industrial and residential uses, and open burning of biomass. Total global emissions of black carbon using bottom-up inventory methods are 7500 Gg yr -1 in the year 2000 with an uncertainty range of 2000 to 29000. However, global atmospheric absorption attributable to black carbon is too low in many models, and should be increased by a factor of almost three. After this scaling, the best estimate for the industrial-era (1750 to 2005) direct radiative forcing of atmospheric black carbon is +0.71 W m -2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of (+0.08, +1.27) W m -2 . Total direct forcing by all black carbon sources, without subtracting the pre-industrial background, is estimated as +0.88 (+0.17, +1.48) W m -2 . Direct radiative forcing alone does not capture important rapid adjustment mechanisms. A framework is described and used for quantifying climate forcings, including rapid adjustments. The best estimate of industrial-era climate forcing of black carbon through all forcing mechanisms, including clouds and cryosphere forcing, is +1.1 W m -2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of +0.17 to +2.1 W m -2 . Thus, there is a very high probability that black carbon emissions, independent of co-emitted species, have a positive forcing and warm the climate. We estimate that black carbon, with a total climate forcing of +1.1 W m -2 , is the second most important human emission in terms of its climate-forcing in the present-day atmosphere; only carbon dioxide is estimated to have a greater forcing. Sources that emit black carbon also emit other short-lived species that may either cool or warm climate. Climate forcings from co-emitted species are estimated and used in the framework described herein. When the principal effects of co-emissions, including cooling agents such as sulfur dioxide, are included in net forcing, energy-related sources (fossil-fuel and biofuel) have an industrial-era climate forcing of +0.22 (-0.50 to +1.08) W m -2 during the first year after emission. For a few of these sources, such as diesel engines and possibly residential biofuels, warming is strong enough that eliminating all emissions from these sources would reduce net climate forcing ( i . e ., produce cooling). When open burning emissions, which emit high levels of organic matter, are included in the total, the best estimate of net industrial-era climate forcing by all black-carbon-rich sources becomes slightly negative (-0.06 W m -2 with 90% uncertainty bounds of -1.45 to +1.29 W m -2 ). The uncertainties in net climate forcing from black-carbon-rich sources are substantial, largely due to lack of knowledge about cloud interactions with both black carbon and co-emitted organic carbon. In prioritizing potential black-carbon mitigation actions, non-science factors, such as technical feasibility, costs, policy design, and implementation feasibility play important roles. The major sources of black carbon are presently in different stages with regard to the feasibility for near-term mitigation. This assessment, by evaluating the large number and complexity of the associated physical and radiative processes in black-carbon climate forcing, sets a baseline from which to improve future climate forcing estimates.

Description: Due to the similar ionic radius of K + and NH 4 + , K-silicates can incorporate a significant amount of NH 4 . As tourmaline is able to accommodate K in its crystal structure at high and ultrahigh pressure, we test if this also holds true for NH 4 . Piston-cylinder experiments in the system (NH 4 ) 2 O-MgO-SiO 2 -Al 2 O 3 -B 2 O 3 -H 2 O at 4.0 GPa, 700 °C, with B 2 O 3 and NH 4 OH in excess produce an assemblage of tourmaline, phengite, and coesite. The tourmaline crystals are up to 10 x 40 μm in size. EMP analyses indicate that the tourmalines contain 0.22 (±0.03) wt% (NH 4 ) 2 O and are solid solutions mainly along the magnesio-foitite and "NH 4 -dravite" join with the average structural formula X [(NH 4 ) 0.08(1) 0.92(1) ] Y [Mg 2.28(8) Al 0.72(8) ] Z [Al 5.93(6) Si 0.07(6) ] T [Si 6.00(5) O 18 ](BO 3 ) 3 (OH) 4 . NH 4 incorporation is confirmed by characteristic 〈N-H〉 stretching and bending modes in the IR-spectra of single crystals on synthetic tourmaline. Further evidence is the increased unit-cell parameters of the tourmaline [ a = 15.9214(9) Å, c = 7.1423(5) Å, V = 1567.9(2) Å 3 ] relative to pure magnesio-foitite. Incorporation of NH 4 in natural tourmaline was tested in a tourmaline-bearing mica schists from a high- P /low- T (〉1.2 GPa/550 °C) metasedimentary unit of the Erzgebirge, Germany, rich in NH 4 . The NH 4 -concentrations in the three main NH 4 -bearing phases are: biotite (~1400 ppm) 〉 phengite (~700 ppm) 〉 tourmaline (~500 ppm). This indicates that tourmaline can act as important carrier of nitrogen between the crust and the deep Earth, which has important implications for a better understanding of the large-scale light element cycle.

Description: The Kepler mission was designed to determine the frequency of Earth-sized planets in and near the habitable zone of Sun-like stars. The habitable zone is the region where planetary temperatures are suitable for water to exist on a planet's surface. During the first 6 weeks of observations, Kepler monitored 156,000 stars, and five new exoplanets with sizes between 0.37 and 1.6 Jupiter radii and orbital periods from 3.2 to 4.9 days were discovered. The density of the Neptune-sized Kepler-4b is similar to that of Neptune and GJ 436b, even though the irradiation level is 800,000 times higher. Kepler-7b is one of the lowest-density planets (approximately 0.17 gram per cubic centimeter) yet detected. Kepler-5b, -6b, and -8b confirm the existence of planets with densities lower than those predicted for gas giant planets.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Borucki, William J -- Koch, David -- Basri, Gibor -- Batalha, Natalie -- Brown, Timothy -- Caldwell, Douglas -- Caldwell, John -- Christensen-Dalsgaard, Jorgen -- Cochran, William D -- DeVore, Edna -- Dunham, Edward W -- Dupree, Andrea K -- Gautier, Thomas N 3rd -- Geary, John C -- Gilliland, Ronald -- Gould, Alan -- Howell, Steve B -- Jenkins, Jon M -- Kondo, Yoji -- Latham, David W -- Marcy, Geoffrey W -- Meibom, Soren -- Kjeldsen, Hans -- Lissauer, Jack J -- Monet, David G -- Morrison, David -- Sasselov, Dimitar -- Tarter, Jill -- Boss, Alan -- Brownlee, Don -- Owen, Toby -- Buzasi, Derek -- Charbonneau, David -- Doyle, Laurance -- Fortney, Jonathan -- Ford, Eric B -- Holman, Matthew J -- Seager, Sara -- Steffen, Jason H -- Welsh, William F -- Rowe, Jason -- Anderson, Howard -- Buchhave, Lars -- Ciardi, David -- Walkowicz, Lucianne -- Sherry, William -- Horch, Elliott -- Isaacson, Howard -- Everett, Mark E -- Fischer, Debra -- Torres, Guillermo -- Johnson, John Asher -- Endl, Michael -- MacQueen, Phillip -- Bryson, Stephen T -- Dotson, Jessie -- Haas, Michael -- Kolodziejczak, Jeffrey -- Van Cleve, Jeffrey -- Chandrasekaran, Hema -- Twicken, Joseph D -- Quintana, Elisa V -- Clarke, Bruce D -- Allen, Christopher -- Li, Jie -- Wu, Haley -- Tenenbaum, Peter -- Verner, Ekaterina -- Bruhweiler, Frederick -- Barnes, Jason -- Prsa, Andrej -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2010 Feb 19;327(5968):977-80. doi: 10.1126/science.1185402. Epub 2010 Jan 7.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. William.J.Borucki@nasa.gov〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20056856" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We report the detection of a planet whose orbit surrounds a pair of low-mass stars. Data from the Kepler spacecraft reveal transits of the planet across both stars, in addition to the mutual eclipses of the stars, giving precise constraints on the absolute dimensions of all three bodies. The planet is comparable to Saturn in mass and size and is on a nearly circular 229-day orbit around its two parent stars. The eclipsing stars are 20 and 69% as massive as the Sun and have an eccentric 41-day orbit. The motions of all three bodies are confined to within 0.5 degrees of a single plane, suggesting that the planet formed within a circumbinary disk.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Doyle, Laurance R -- Carter, Joshua A -- Fabrycky, Daniel C -- Slawson, Robert W -- Howell, Steve B -- Winn, Joshua N -- Orosz, Jerome A -- Prsa, Andrej -- Welsh, William F -- Quinn, Samuel N -- Latham, David -- Torres, Guillermo -- Buchhave, Lars A -- Marcy, Geoffrey W -- Fortney, Jonathan J -- Shporer, Avi -- Ford, Eric B -- Lissauer, Jack J -- Ragozzine, Darin -- Rucker, Michael -- Batalha, Natalie -- Jenkins, Jon M -- Borucki, William J -- Koch, David -- Middour, Christopher K -- Hall, Jennifer R -- McCauliff, Sean -- Fanelli, Michael N -- Quintana, Elisa V -- Holman, Matthew J -- Caldwell, Douglas A -- Still, Martin -- Stefanik, Robert P -- Brown, Warren R -- Esquerdo, Gilbert A -- Tang, Sumin -- Furesz, Gabor -- Geary, John C -- Berlind, Perry -- Calkins, Michael L -- Short, Donald R -- Steffen, Jason H -- Sasselov, Dimitar -- Dunham, Edward W -- Cochran, William D -- Boss, Alan -- Haas, Michael R -- Buzasi, Derek -- Fischer, Debra -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2011 Sep 16;333(6049):1602-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1210923.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Carl Sagan Center for the Study of Life in the Universe, SETI Institute, 189 Bernardo Avenue, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA. ldoyle@seti.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21921192" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Our climate model, driven mainly by increasing human-made greenhouse gases and aerosols, among other forcings, calculates that Earth is now absorbing 0.85 +/- 0.15 watts per square meter more energy from the Sun than it is emitting to space. This imbalance is confirmed by precise measurements of increasing ocean heat content over the past 10 years. Implications include (i) the expectation of additional global warming of about 0.6 degrees C without further change of atmospheric composition; (ii) the confirmation of the climate system's lag in responding to forcings, implying the need for anticipatory actions to avoid any specified level of climate change; and (iii) the likelihood of acceleration of ice sheet disintegration and sea level rise.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Hansen, James -- Nazarenko, Larissa -- Ruedy, Reto -- Sato, Makiko -- Willis, Josh -- Del Genio, Anthony -- Koch, Dorothy -- Lacis, Andrew -- Lo, Ken -- Menon, Surabi -- Novakov, Tica -- Perlwitz, Judith -- Russell, Gary -- Schmidt, Gavin A -- Tausnev, Nicholas -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Jun 3;308(5727):1431-5. Epub 2005 Apr 28.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, New York, NY 10025, USA. jhansen@giss.nasa.gov〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15860591" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: : We introduce P ath2 PPI, a new R package to identify protein–protein interaction (PPI) networks for fully sequenced organisms for which nearly none PPI are known. P ath2 PPI predicts PPI networks based on sets of proteins from well-established model organisms, providing an intuitive visualization and usability. It can be used to combine and transfer information of a certain pathway or biological process from several reference organisms to one target organism. Availability and implementation : P ath2 PPI is an open-source tool implemented in R. It can be obtained from the Bioconductor project: http://bioconductor.org/packages/Path2PPI/ Contact : ina.koch@bioinformatik.uni-frankfurt.de Supplementary information: Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.