Descripción: The objective of the present paper is to analyse the possible impact of ENSO events on the spatial and the temporal distribution of frost occurrences, within the central region of Argentina. Therefore, the minimum temperature series have been studied for 41 meteorological stations within the Pampa Humeda region and, for a period of 30 years from 1961 to 1990, exploring possible relationships with El Nino (EN)/La Nina (LN) events and the changes in the Southern Oscillation. It can be concluded that part of the frost frequency variability within this region is explained by the ENSO cycle. Results indicate that, for at least 1 of the 2 years in which the EN event takes place, the mean number of frost occurrences drops below the climatological value. The low phase of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) also coincides with those years for which the number of frost events remained below the total annual mean in all cases, with the year 1965 as an exception. Conversely, during the high phase of the SOI, this number was above the total annual mean for four of the six classified cases. In the particular case of seasonal frost occurrence, it is related to the warm event development state, exhibiting a greater impact during the autumn and winter months, for which the cold event also seems to have influence. Copyright (C) 2000 Royal Meteorological Society.

Descripción: We derive oscillation and nonoscillation criteria for the one-dimensional p-Laplacian in terms of an eigenvalue inequality for a mixed problem. We generalize the results obtained in the linear case by Nehari and Willett, and the proof is based on a Picone-type identity.

Descripción: A Newtonian equation in the plane is considered. There is a central force (attractive or repulsive) and an external force λh(t), periodic in time. The periodic second primitive of h(t) defines a planar curve and the number of periodic solutions of the differential equation is linked to the number of loops of this curve, at least when the parameter λ is large. © 2011 Springer Basel AG.

Descripción: The classification of El Niño events was performed based on the time evolution of sea surface warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean during the period 1950-2000. Two sets of events were constructed: one in which the warming core migrates eastward along the tropical Pacific until April-June of the following year, and another one in which it evolves westward until November-January. The first type has associated positive precipitation anomalies over southeastern South America during April-June. It results from a favourable combination of cyclonic vorticity advection and humidity convergence. At high levels, cyclonic vorticity advection is explained in terms of an eastward extension of the subtropical jet. Enhanced humidity advection takes place by an increased low-level northwesterly flow to the east of the Andes. It provides enough moisture availability that, in combination with the upper-level cyclonic vorticity advection, supports heavy precipitation during April-June. The second type of event exhibits slight negative or near-normal precipitation anomalies over the same region. Both low and high-level circulation anomalies are also weaker in this case. The 1997-1998 El Niño is analysed separately because it cannot be classified into any of the previously described event types. The observed distribution of both types of events along the analysed period changes after the 1970s. Comparison with other authors' results suggests the influence of low-frequency processes such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Copyright © 2008 Royal Meteorological Society.

Descripción: The dynamics of open balloons in an atmosphere may be studied with a body-fluid coupled model. A numerical approach is required to solve the corresponding equation set. Solutions under different conditions are obtained here for the vertical and one horizontal direction. Relevant dynamical features during ascent, flotation, and descent depend on balloon thermodynamics, wind, air small-scale turbulence, and perturbations to the background atmosphere. After analysis of the results it is found that approximate analytical solutions may be found in certain cases. The effect of nonlinear drag on balloon oscillation period and damping near flotation is evaluated. © 2003 American Institute of Physics.

Descripción: We theoretically analyze the multiple-scattering effects that might occur in the ionization of a molecule by the impact of photons or massive particles, by calculating the series to all orders within a muffin-tin description. We find a large sensitivity on the final state and a sizable momentum-dependent distortion of the phase-shift and frequency of the interference oscillations, that are not replicated by non-scattering or single-scattering approximations. Furthermore, our results do not validate the existence of any discernible harmonic oscillations. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.

Descripción: The pressure exerted by consumers has generally been considered to be among the main factors affecting the structure and processes in marine communities. Here, we assessed the effects of the predatory starfish Heliaster helianthus on substrate colonization by the dominant mussel Semimytilus algosus in a rocky intertidal area of the central Peruvian coast. We conducted 3 experiments: exclusions of starfish (1) from the edge of mussel beds, (2) from areas on bare substrate and (3) from areas surrounding recruitment mediators (i.e. branched macroalgae). The exclusion of H. helianthus resulted in increased cover of S. algosus in the 3 experiments. However, the colonization of the available space by S. algosus in the absence of starfish was more evident when facilitated by recruitment mediators or by migration from the edge of mussel beds than when colonization occurred during succession starting from bare substrate. By the end of the study period, however, increased S. algosus abundance, which coincided with the end of the cold phase (La Niña) of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, overwhelmed the effects of starfish. We suggest that periodic oceanographic fluctuations are also important in controlling community dynamics in Peruvian rocky intertidal zones, highlighting the variation in the relative importance of top-down versus bottom-up control when different temporal scales are considered. © Inter-Research 2011.

Descripción: We consider the transverse-momentum (qT) distribution of Higgs bosons produced at hadron colliders. We use a formalism that uniformly treats both the small-qT and large-qT regions in QCD perturbation theory. At small qT (qT ≪ MH, MH being the mass of the Higgs boson), we implement an all-order resummation of logarithmically-enhanced contributions up to next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. At large qT (qT ≳ MH), we use fixed-order perturbation theory up to next-to-leading order. The resummed and fixed-order approaches are consistently matched by avoiding double-counting in the intermediate-qT region. In this region, the introduction of unjustified higher-order terms is avoided by imposing unitarity constraints, so that the integral of the qT spectrum exactly reproduces the perturbative result for the total cross section up to next-to-next-to-leading order. Numerical results at the LHC are presented. These show that the main features of the qT distribution are quite stable with respect to perturbative QCD uncertainties. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Descripción: A regression approach was used to quantitatively estimate the attribution of the notable growth in the river flows of the Plata Basin during 1960-1999. The study was conducted in seven large basins that account for most of the Plata River discharge. Annual rainfall integrated over each basin and annual river flows at their closing points were used for the analysis. The contribution of rainfall changes during each of the three phases of El Niño-Southern Oscillation to total rainfall change in these basins was also calculated. The two main drivers for the generalized growth of the river flows were the increased precipitation and the decreased evaporation attributable to land use change, including deforestation of natural forest and crop switch from sugarcane and coffee trees to soybean. Other evaporation changes played a minor role. There was a north-south gradient in the respective importance of each driver, with land use change having greater weight in the northern basins and the precipitation increase in the southern ones. Thus, in the northern part of the Upper Paraná Basdespite the negative trend in precipitation there was a strong augment of the river flow caused by land use change. The contribution to the positive trend of the stream flows in the middle of the Plata Basin came from both land use change and increased precipitation. Finally, in the south, the Uruguay River flow change was basically due to the precipitation trend that was not only observed during the El Niño phase, but also during the Neutral phase. Only in the Middle Paraguay Basin was the shift to more frequent and intense El Niño events that took place in the 1970s an important factor in the contribution of precipitation to streamflow trends. © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society.

Descripción: The response of altered sex ratio in southern elephant seals due to environmental stress was analysed. Data were collected at King George Island from 1980 to 1994. Significant retreats in the ice cover during El Niño events strongly suggest environmental stress during this period along the Bellingshausen Sea, a zone where female elephant seals from King George Island feed during their pregnancy. Randomly chosen weaning elephant seal pups (n = 1178) were sexed at Stranger Point (King George Island, 62° 14' S, 58° 30' W) over 5 km of beach from 1985 to 1994. Adult sex ratio was also determined annually from 1980 to 1994 as the ratio between maximum number of bulls and females on land. The theoretical pup sex ratio was assumed as 1:1 according to background information. Adult sex ratio was calculated as 1:6. To define the occurrence of El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) during the study period, a sea surface temperature (SST) index called 'Niño 3.4' for the region 5°N to 5° S, 120° E to 170° W was considered. Monthly SST anomalies were obtained from the Climate Prediction Center (CPC, NOAA). To provide an annual index of anomaly strength (IAS), the monthly adjusted oscillation index climatology (AOIC) was averaged. Accumulated values during the whole study period showed that during El Niño years (1987, 1991, 1992) the proportion of pups was significantly biased in favour of females (p < 0.01). During normal years (1986, 1990, 1993, 1994) and La Niña years (1985, 1988, 1989), accumulative values showed a greater proportion of male pups to females (p < 0.05), Using the 1:1 hypothesis, we found during El Niño years a 9% reduction in the male segment, whereas in non-El Niño years a recovery of 7 % was observed (3 % during normal years and 4 % during La Niña years. To see the influence of accumulative values of pup sex ratio in adult sex ratio, a theoretical adult proportion was calculated as 1:6. To test this hypothesis, information on adult sex ratio taken from King George Island between 1980 and 1994 (n = 14 yr) was analysed. The average adult sex ratio for King George Island was 1:7. This value seems to confirm the hypothesis that this population has had a balanced production of male and female pups in the long term. Comparisons with Pacific and Indian declining seal populations were made.

Descripción: Concentration gradients inside cells are involved in key processes such as cell division and morphogenesis. Here we show that a model of the enzymatic step catalized by phosphofructokinase (PFK), a step which is responsible for the appearance of homogeneous oscillations in the glycolytic pathway, displays Turing patterns with an intrinsic length-scale that is smaller than a typical cell size. All the parameter values are fully consistent with classic experiments on glycolytic oscillations and equal diffusion coefficients are assumed for ATP and ADP. We identify the enzyme concentration and the glycolytic flux as the possible regulators of the pattern. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first closed example of Turing pattern formation in a model of a vital step of the cell metabolism, with a built-in mechanism for changing the diffusion length of the reactants, and with parameter values that are compatible with experiments. Turing patterns inside cells could provide a check-point that combines mechanical and biochemical information to trigger events during the cell division process. © 2007 Strier, Ponce Dawson.

Descripción: Background: Resolving the kinetics of agonist binding events separately from the subsequent channel gating processes requires the ability of applying and removing the agonist before channel gating occurs. No reported system has yet achieved pulses shorter than 100 μs, necessary to study nicotinic ACh receptor or AMPA receptor activation. Methodology/Principal Findings: Solution exchange systems deliver short agonist pulses by moving a sharp interface between a control and an experimental solution across a channel preparation. We achieved shorter pulses by means of an exchange system that combines a faster flow velocity, narrower partition between the two streams, and increased velocity and bandwidth of the movement of the interface. The measured response of the entire system was fed back to optimize the voltage signal applied to the piezoelectric actuator overcoming the spurious oscillations arising from the mechanical resonances when a high bandwidth driving function was applied. Optimization was accomplished by analyzing the transfer function of the solution exchange system. When driven by optimized command pulses the enhanced system provided pulses lasting 26 ± 1 μs and exchanging 93 ± 1% of the solution, as measured in the open tip of a patch pipette. Conclusions/Significance: Pulses of this duration open the experimental study of the molecular events that occur between the agonist binding and the opening of the channel. © 2012 Auzmendi et al.

Descripción: In the slugs and snails odor input signal, partly processed by the tentacle ganglion, propagates through the tentacle nerve (TN) to the cerebral ganglion, initially activating the meso-meta-region and finally the procerebral region (PC). The PC, equivalent to mammalian olfactory bulb, exerts slow spontaneous neuroelectrical oscillation, which changes its frequency and amplitude pattern responding to stimulus input. This has been related to a mechanism of signal processing for odor encoding. Three neuronal substructures, the cell mass (CM), the terminal mass (TM) and internal mass (IM) form the PC. Records from IM and CM have extensively been studied, but those from TM have scarcely been investigated. In the present study we aimed to clarify network dynamics among these cell ensembles with particular interest in the property of TM. Methods: We isolated the cerebral ganglia from the slug Incilaria together with TNs. We applied to TN electrical stimulation of weak to strong intensities (0.1 - 1.0 μA) and recorded activities at the three loci of PC by glass suction electrodes at a sampling rate of 200 Hz. The data were stored on hard drive and later off-line analysed by wavelet tools. Results: Wavelet analysis revealed that the major power of the spontaneous oscillations laid below 1.6 Hz. Namely, in the Incilaria PC, mainly the frequency components < 1.6 Hz take part in the dynamical signal processing. The frequency components, that are time-dependently, interacting with each other, contribute together to altering total entropy of a cell mass at a given time. Notably, the 0.1 - 0.2 Hz component contributing most strongly to total energy attributes most to dropping entropy ("ordering of neuronal state"). Response to the weakest stimulus is most sensitively elicited as "desynchronization" in TM-IM, but that to the stronger stimuli, as "synchronization or frequency ordering" in TM-CM, and finally "synchronization" in TM-IM-CM (the whole PC). The fact that the entropy of TM in general remains lower than IM and CM regardless with stimulation suggests that the neurons of TM are in more ordered state than the other masses playing some governing function in the procerebral network. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.

Descripción: A significant wave activity (WA) in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, mainly during winter, was detected at midlatitudes in the southern hemisphere (30-40S) above the Andes Range, from an analysis of Global Positioning System Radio Occultation (GPS RO) temperature profiles retrieved by CHAMP (CHAllenging Mini-satellite Payload) and SAC-C (Satélite de Aplicaciones Científicas-C) Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites, between May 2001 and February 2006. The possible main gravity wave sources in this region are: i) orographic forcing, ii) geostrophic adjustment and iii) deep convection. The available vertical resolution of GPS RO soundings does not rule out any of these alternatives. Based on satellite imaginary, the WA enhancements cannot be attributed to deep convection events. Inertia-gravity waves (IGWs) could be generated after a geostrophic adjustment process, following a perturbation of the zonal jet situated above the Andes Mountains by mountain waves (MWs). The monthly WA intensity follows the zonal wind velocity strength according to its seasonal variability at jet altitudes. As the GPS-LEO lines of sight are roughly meridionally aligned and the morphology of the Andes at middle latitudes is predominantly north-south, it was possible to detect MWs as well as IGWs from GPS RO temperature profiles. This characteristic does not apply for other mountain range alignments. From the analysis of a numerical simulation at the time and location of a single RO event with very strong WA, two main modes of oscillation with horizontal wavelength around 40 and 200 km were identified. The first one is attributed to a MW and the second one to an IGW. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Descripción: A Singular value decomposition (SVD) analysis was performed jointly on the daily intensity of extreme rainfall (DIER) over Argentina and the sea surface temperature (SST) of all the oceans from 17.5°N to 90°S in order to identify the large-scale variability of the SSTs related to extreme rainfall, in the period 1962-2005. The main objective of the article is to objectively recognize regions of the tropical and subtropical oceans that could be related with the extreme rainfall over Argentina. Spring is the season that is best represented by the first mode, accounting for up to 45% of the covariance between the DIER and SST. The first SVD mode of spring, summer and autumn presents a pattern of SST relating to the El Niño-Southern Oscillations (ENSO) phenomena with an enhanced DIER in different zones of centre and east of Argentina. In the second SVD mode of spring and summer, the SST patterns show cold conditions in the tropical and subtropical Atlantic and near Indonesia with an enhancement of the DIER in the centre and east of Argentina. These modes show a significant decadal variability. In the third SVD mode of spring and summer, the SST patterns present warm and cold conditions in the Indian Ocean and the centre and western Pacific Ocean (PO) with decreased rainfall in the northern and eastern portion of Argentina, respectively. This mode shows a significant period of temporal variability of around 14 years. The third mode of autumn presents warm conditions in the tropical Atlantic and the southwest PO with a low DIER in the centre and east of Argentina. This mode also presents temporal variability of around 14 years. The correlation between each mode derived from analysis of SVD and climate indices related with SST were computed. © 2012 Royal Meteorological Society.

Descripción: Above the southern Andes range and its prolongation in the Antarctic Peninsula, large-amplitude mountain and shear gravity waves observed with Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) mesoscale model simulations during winter 2009 are analyzed. Two specific reasons motivated this study: (1) a decade of satellite observations of temperature fluctuations in the stratosphere, allowing us to infer that this region may be launching the largest-amplitude gravity waves into the upper atmosphere, and (2) the recent design of a research program to investigate these features in detail, the Southern Andes Antarctic Gravity wave Initiative (SAANGRIA). The simulations are forced with ERA-Interim data from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. The approach selected for the regional downscaling is based on consecutive integrations with weekly reinitialization with 24 h of spin-up, and the outputs during this period are excluded from the analysis. From 1 June to 31 August 2009, five case studies were selected on the basis of their outstanding characteristics and large wave amplitudes. In general, one or two prevailing modes of oscillation are identified after applying continuous wavelet transforms at constant pressure levels and perpendicularly to the nominal orientation of the dominant wave crests. In all cases, the dominant modes are characterized by horizontal wavelengths around 50 km. Their vertical wavelengths, depending on a usually strong background wind shear, are estimated to be between 2 and 11 km. The corresponding intrinsic periods range between 10 and 140 min. In general, the estimated vertical wavelength (intrinsic period) maximizes (minimizes) around 250-300 hPa. The synoptic circulation for each case is described. Zonal and meridional components of the vertical flux of horizontal momentum are shown in detail for each case, including possible horizontal wavelengths between 12 and 400 km. Large values of this flux are observed at higher pressure levels, decreasing with increasing height after a progressive deposition of momentum by different mechanisms. As expected, in the wintertime upper troposphere and lower stratosphere in this region, a prevailing zonal component is negative almost everywhere, with the exception of one case above the northern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula. A comparison with previous experimental results reported in the region from in situ and remote sensing measurements suggests a good agreement with the momentum flux profiles computed from the simulations. Partial wave reflection near the tropopause was found, as considerable departures from equipartition between potential and kinetic wave energy are obtained in all cases and at all pressure levels. This ratio was always less than 1 below the lower stratosphere. Copyright 2012 by the American Geophysical Union.