Snowpack response in the Assiniboine-Red River basin associated with projected global warming of 1.0 °C to 3.0 °C

This study assesses snow response in the Assiniboine-Red River basin, located in the Lake Winnipeg watershed, due to anthropogenic climate change. We use a process-based distributed snow model driven by an ensemble of eight statistically downscaled global climate models (GCMs) to project future changes under policy-relevant global mean temperature (GMT) increases of 1.0 °C to 3.0 °C above the pre-industrial period. Results indicate that basin scale seasonal warmings generally exceed the GMT increases, with greater warming in winter months. The majority of GCMs project wetter winters and springs, and drier summers, while autumn could become either drier or wetter. An analysis of snow water equivalent (SWE) responses under GMT changes reveal higher correlations of snow cover duration (SCD), snowmelt rate, maximum SWE (SWE_max) and timing of SWE_max with winter and spring temperatures compared to precipitation, implying that these variables are predominantly temperature controlled. Consequently, under the GMT increases from 1.0 °C to 3.0 °C, the basin will experience successively shorter SCD, slower snowmelt, smaller monthly SWE and SWE_max, earlier SWE_max, and a transition from snow-dominated to rain-snow hybrid regime. Further, while the winter precipitation increases for some GCMs compensate the temperature-driven changes in SWE, the increases for most GCMs occur as rainfall, thus limiting the positive contribution to snow storage. Overall, this study provides a detailed diagnosis of the snow regime changes under the policy-relevant GMT changes, and a basis for further investigations on water quantity and quality changes.     

Assessing Optimal Digital Elevation Model Selection for Active River Area Delineation Across Broad Regions

Water Resources Management - The Active River Area (ARA) is a spatial approach for identifying the extent of functional riparian area. Given known limitations in terms of input elevation data...     

Attention and visual memory in visualization and computer graphics

A fundamental goal of visualization is to produce images of data that support visual analysis, exploration, and discovery of novel insights. An important consideration during visualization design is the role of human visual perception. How we "see" details in an image can directly impact a viewer's efficiency and effectiveness. This paper surveys research on attention and visual perception, with a specific focus on results that have direct relevance to visualization and visual analytics. We discuss theories of low-level visual perception, then show how these findings form a foundation for more recent work on visual memory and visual attention. We conclude with a brief overview of how knowledge of visual attention and visual memory is being applied in visualization and graphics. We also discuss how challenges in visualization are motivating research in psychophysics.     

A new model of job design: Initial evidence and implications for future research

Clegg and Spencer's (2007) model of job design synthesizes and extends recent conceptions of the job design process by incorporating variables such as knowledge, motivation, and trust into a cyclical and dynamic system. The objective of this study was to examine the sequential organization of variables that comprise the model, as a basis from which to justify further investigations of the model's dynamic properties. Data were collected via questionnaires from 432 participants in two work organizations. Results obtained from structural equation modeling are broadly supportive of the proposed relationships between the variables. Implications of this initial study for future research and practice are discussed. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Chaos-based joint compression and encryption algorithm for generating variable length ciphertext

Here we modify a chaos-based joint compression and encryption algorithm previously proposed by us. Two modifications are suggested for improving the compression performance and generating ciphertext with variable length, respectively. The first goal is achieved by counting the number of distinct symbols visited by the chaotic search orbit, rather than the total number of iterations of the chaotic map. The second objective is realized by introducing a user-chosen parameter to determine the ratio between the search and the mask modes. The performance of the modified algorithm is justified by simulation results using standard test files.     

Nodal ant colony optimization for solving profit based unit commitment problem for GENCOs

This paper proposes a nodal ant colony optimization (NACO) technique to solve profit based unit commitment problem (PBUCP). Generation companies (GENCOs) in a competitive restructured power market, schedule their generators with an objective to maximize their own profit without any regard for system social benefit. Power and reserve prices become important factors in decision process. Ant colony optimization that mimics the behavior of ants foraging activities is suitably implemented to search the UCP search space. Here a search space consisting of optimal combination of binary nodes for unit ON/OFF status is represented for the movement of the ants to maintain good exploration and exploitation search capabilities. The proposed model help GENCOs to make decisions on the quantity of power and reserve that must be put up for sale in the markets and also to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. The effectiveness of the proposed technique for PBUCP is validated on 10 and 36 generating unit systems available in the literature. NACO yields an increase of profit, greater than 1.5%, in comparison with the basic ACO, Muller method and hybrid LR-GA.     

Fourth International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components

RILEM Bulletin

Fourth International Conference on Durability of Building Materials and Components     

RelativizedNC

This paper introduces a notion of relativized depth for circuit families and discusses issues regarding uniform families of relativized circuits. This allows us to define a version of relativizedNC and compare it under various oracles with relativizedL, NL, andP. We see thatNC ₁ is properly contained inL if and only if there exists an oracleA such thatNC ₁ ^A is properly contained inL ^A . There is an oracleA where the hierarchy collapses,NC ₁ ^A = NC ^A , and another whereNC ₁ ^A NC ₂ ^A NC ^A P ^A . We then construct anA so that, for anyk, NC ₁ ^A contains a set not inNSPACE ^A (O(n ^k )), suggesting that the notion of relativized space is too weak or that of relativized depth is too strong.     

Antioxidant vs. Prooxidant Properties of the Flavonoid,Kaempferol, in the Presence of Cu(II) Ions: A ROS-Scavenging Activity,Fenton Reaction and DNA Damage Study

Kaempferol is a flavonoid that occurs in tea and in many vegetables and fruits, including broccoli, cabbage, beans, grapes, apples, and strawberries. The efficacy of Kaempferol has been demonstrated in the treatment of breast, esophageal, cervical, ovarian, and liver cancers and leukemia, which very likely arises from its prooxidant properties and the activation of pro-apoptotic pathways. Indeed, this matter has already been the focus of a number of published studies and reviews. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the antioxidant vs. prooxidant properties of flavonoids in the presence of the redox-active metal, copper (II) ion, by means of the Fenton reaction. The specific motivation of this work is that, since an increased level of Cu(II) ions is known to be associated with many disease states such as neurological conditions (Alzheimer’s disease) and cancer, any interaction between these ions and flavonoids might affect the outcome of therapeutic uses of the latter. The structure of the Cu-kaempferol complex in DMSO was investigated by means of low temperature EPR spectroscopy, which confirmed the existence of at least two distinct coordination environments around the copper (II) ion. UV vis-spectra of kaempferol and its Cu(II) complex in DMSO revealed an interaction between the 5-OH (A ring) group and the 4-CO (C ring) group of kaempferol with Cu(II) ions. An ABTS assay confirmed that kaempferol acted as an effective radical scavenger, and that this effect was further enhanced in the form of the Cu(II)-kaempferol complex. Quantitative EPR spin trapping experiments, using DMPO as the spin trap, confirmed suppression of the formation of a mixture of hydroxyl, superoxide, and methyl radicals, in a Fenton reaction system, upon coordination of kaempferol to the redox-active Cu(II) ions, by 80% with respect to the free Cu(II) ions. A viscometric study revealed a better DNA-intercalating ability of the Cu-kaempferol complex than for free kaempferol, essential for conferring anticancer activity of these substances. The results of the viscometric measurements were compared with those from a DNA damage study of Cu-kaempferol complexes in a Fenton reaction system, using gel electrophoresis. At low concentrations of kaempferol (Cu–kaempferol ratios of 1:1 and 1:2), a very weak protective effect on DNA was noted, whereas when kaempferol was present in excess, a significant DNA-protective effect was found. This can be explained if the weakly intercalated kaempferol molecules present at the surface of DNA provide protection against attack by ROS that originate from the Fenton reaction involving intercalated Cu(II)-kaempferol complexes. Following the application of ROS scavengers, L-histidine, DMSO, and SOD, gel electrophoresis confirmed the formation of singlet oxygen, hydroxyl radicals, and superoxide radical anions, respectively. We propose that the prooxidant properties of Cu-kaempferol complexes may provide anticancer activity of these substances. When present in excess, kaempferol displays antioxidant properties under Cu-Fenton conditions. This suggests that kaempferol might prove a suitable candidate for the prevention or treatment of oxidative stress related medical conditions that involve a disturbed metabolism of redox metals such as copper, for example, Menkes disease, and neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease. For the potential use of kaempferol in clinical practice, it will be necessary to optimize the dose size and critical age of the patient so that this flavonoid may be beneficial as a preventive drug against cancer and neurological disorders.