Critical Epoch Research Articles

Temperature modulation of Northern Mid-Latitude Westerly winds intensity and displacement across the warm Pliocene

The mid-latitude westerly winds are fundamental components of the Earth's climate system. However, their detailed variations during the entire Pliocene, a critical epoch often considered the closest analogue to future climate scenarios, remain poorly constrained. Here, we investigate the continuous, long-term evolution of Northern Hemisphere Mid-latitude Westerly winds (NHMW) between 6.5 and 2.5 Ma, using diatoms, aeolian dust grain size, and chemical weathering conditions from a sediment core in the central-north Pacific Ocean. Our records suggest that NHMW weakened and shifted northward from ∼5.8 to 4.4 Ma, followed by a sustained strengthening and equatorward shift after ∼4.4 Ma. NHMW dynamics during the Pliocene were linked tightly to the sea surface temperature gradient between tropical and temperate regions and affected the strength of the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM), with weaker and more poleward NHMW increasing the intensity of and rainfall generated by the ASM. These findings underscore the importance of past dynamics of NHMW for predicting the hydroclimatological impacts of future global climate change on the functioning of major regional ocean-atmosphere and rainfall systems as the earth continues to warm.

The JWST Hubble Sequence: The Rest-frame Optical Evolution of Galaxy Structure at 1.5 < z < 6.5

We present results on the morphological and structural evolution of a total of 3956 galaxies observed with JWST at 1.5 < z < 6.5 in the JWST CEERS observations that overlap with the CANDELS EGS field. This is the biggest visually classified sample observed with JWST yet, ∼20 times larger than previous studies, and allows us to examine in detail how galaxy structure has changed over this critical epoch. All sources were classified by six individual classifiers using a simple classification scheme aimed at producing disk/spheroid/peculiar classifications, whereby we determine how the relative number of these morphologies has evolved since the Universe’s first billion years. Additionally, we explore structural and quantitative morphology measurements using Morfometryka, and show that galaxies with M * > 109 M ⊙ at z > 3 are not dominated by irregular and peculiar structures, either visually or quantitatively, as previously thought. We find a strong dominance of morphologically selected disk galaxies up to z = 6 in this mass range. We also find that the stellar mass and star formation rate densities are dominated by disk galaxies up to z ∼ 6, demonstrating that most stars in the Universe were likely formed in a disk galaxy. We compare our results to theory to show that the fraction of types we find is predicted by cosmological simulations, and that the Hubble Sequence was already in place as early as one billion years after the Big Bang. Additionally, we make our visual classifications public for the community.

Fractal Patterns in Groundwater Radon Disturbances Prior to the Great 7.9 Mw Wenchuan Earthquake, China

This study reports a fractal analysis of one-year radon in groundwater disturbances from five stations in China amidst the catastrophic Wenchuan (Mw = 7.9) earthquake of 12 May 2008 (day 133). Five techniques are used (DFA, fractal dimensions with Higuchi, Katz, Sevcik methods, power-law analysis) in segmented portions glided throughout each signal. Noteworthy fractal areas are outlined in the KDS, GS, MSS data, whilst the portions were non-significant for PZHS and SPS. Up to day 133, critical epoch DFA-exponents are 1.5≤α&lt;2.0, with several above 1.8. The fractal dimensions exhibit Katz’s D around 1.0–1.2, Higuchi’s D between 1.5 and 2.0, and Sevcik’s D between 1.0 and 1.5. Several power-law exponents are above 1.7, and numerous are above 2.0. All fractal results of the KDS-GS-MSS are further analysed using a novel computerised methodology that locates the exact out-of-threshold fractal areas and combines the outcomes of different methods per five, four, three, and two (maximum 13 combinations) versus nineteen Mw≥ 5.5 earthquakes of the greater area. Most coincidences using different techniques are before the great Wenchuan earthquake and after the earthquake. This is not only with one method but with 13 different methods. Other interpretations are also discussed.

Discovery of a Premerger Shock in an Intercluster Filament in Abell 98

We report the first unambiguous detection of an axial merger shock in the early-stage merging cluster Abell 98 using deep (227 ks) Chandra observations. The shock is about 420 kpc south from the northern subcluster of Abell 98, in between the northern and central subclusters, with a Mach number of ≈ 2.3 ± 0.3. Our discovery of the axial merger shock front unveils a critical epoch in the formation of a massive galaxy cluster, when two subclusters are caught in the early phase of the merging process. We find that the electron temperature in the postshock region favors the instant collisionless model, where electrons are strongly heated at the shock front, by interactions with the magnetic field. We also report on the detection of an intercluster gas filament, with a temperature of kT = 1.07 ± 0.29 keV, along the merger axis of Abell 98. The measured properties of the gas in the filament are consistent with previous observations and numerical simulations of the hottest, densest parts of the warm–hot intergalactic medium (WHIM), where WHIM filaments interface with the virialization regions of galaxy clusters.

The XXL survey. XLIX. Linking the members star formation histories to the cluster mass assembly in the z = 1.98 galaxy cluster XLSSC 122

ABSTRACT The most massive protoclusters virialize to become clusters at z ∼ 2, which is also a critical epoch for the evolution of their member galaxies. XLSSC 122 is a z = 1.98 galaxy cluster with 37 spectroscopically confirmed members. We aim to characterize their star formation histories in the context of the cluster accretion history. We measure their photometry in 12 bands and create a PSF-matched catalogue of the cluster members. We employ bagpipes to fit star formation histories characterized by exponentially decreasing star-forming rates. Stellar masses, metal, and dust contents are treated as free parameters. The oldest stars in the red-sequence galaxies display a range of ages, from 0.5 Gyr to ∼3 Gyr. Characteristic times are between ∼0.1 and ∼0.3 Gyr, and the oldest members present the longest times. Using MultiDark Planck 2 dark matter simulations, we calculate the assembly of XLSSC 122-like haloes, weighted by the age posteriors of the oldest members. We found that 74 per cent of these haloes were &amp;lt;10 per cent assembled at the onset of star formation, declining to 67 per cent of haloes when such galaxies had formed half of their z = 1.98 stellar masses. When 90 per cent of their stellar masses were formed, 75 per cent of the haloes were &amp;lt;30 per cent assembled. The star formation histories of the red-sequence galaxies seem consistent with episodes of star formation with short characteristic times. Onset and cessation of star formation in the oldest galaxies are likely to precede XLSSC 122 virialization.

Genetic Control of Expression and Splicing in Developing Human Brain Informs Disease Mechanisms

Tissue-specific regulatory regions harbor substantial genetic risk for disease. Because brain development is a critical epoch for neuropsychiatric disease susceptibility, we characterized the genetic control of the transcriptome in 201 mid-gestational human brains, identifying 7,962 expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) and 4,635 spliceQTL (sQTL), including several thousand prenatal-specific regulatory regions. We show that significant genetic liability for neuropsychiatric disease lies within prenatal eQTL and sQTL. Integration of eQTL and sQTL with genome-wide association studies (GWAS) via transcriptome-wide association identified dozens of novel candidate risk genes, highlighting shared and stage-specific mechanisms in schizophrenia (SCZ). Gene network analysis revealed that SCZ and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affect distinct developmental gene co-expression modules. Yet, in each disorder, common and rare genetic variation converges within modules, which in ASD implicates superficial cortical neurons. More broadly, these data, available as a web browser and our analyses, demonstrate the genetic mechanisms by which developmental events have a widespread influence on adult anatomical and behavioral phenotypes.

Covert Intention to Answer to Self-Referential Questions Is Represented in Alpha-Band Local and Interregional Neural Synchronies.

The most fundamental and simplest intention for interpersonal communication may be the intentions to answer “yes” or “no” to a question, based on a binary decision. However, the neural mechanism of this type of intention has not been investigated in detail. The main purpose of this study was to investigate cortical processing of the “yes/no” intentions to answer self-referential questions. Multichannel electroencephalograms (EEGs) were recorded while covertly answering self-referential questions with either “yes” or “no”. Event-related spectral perturbation (ERSP) and interregional phase synchrony (PS) were investigated to identify the differences in local and global neural synchronies between two intentions. We found that the local and interregional neural synchronies in the alpha-band were significantly different between “yes” and “no,” especially at the period of retaining the intention in mind, which was greater for “no” than for “yes.” These results can be interpreted to signify that a higher cognitive load during working memory retention or higher attentional demand is required for the “no” intention compared to “yes.” Our findings suggest that both local and global neural synchronies in the alpha-band may be significantly differentiated during a critical temporal epoch, according to the contents of the mental representation of the intention.

Decreased Resting-State Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity Correlated with Neurocognitive Deficits in Drug-Naive First-Episode Adolescent-Onset Schizophrenia.

BackgroundGiven that adolescence is a critical epoch in the onset of schizophrenia, studying aberrant brain changes in adolescent-onset schizophrenia, particularly in patients with drug-naive first-episode schizophrenia, is important to understand the biological mechanism of this disorder. Previous resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown abnormal functional connectivity in separate hemispheres in patients with adult-onset schizophrenia. Our aim to study adolescent-onset schizophrenia can provide clues for the early aetiology of schizophrenia.MethodA total of 48 drug-naïve, first-episode, adolescent-onset schizophrenia outpatients and 31 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. Data were subjected to voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity and support vector machine analyses.ResultsCompared with the healthy controls, the adolescent-onset schizophrenia group showed significantly lower voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity values in different brain regions, including the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal gyrus/insula, precentral gyrus, and precuneus. Decreased voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity values in the superior temporal gyrus/insula were significantly correlated with Trail-Making Test: Part A performance (r = −0.437, P = .002). A combination of the voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity values in the precentral gyrus and precuneus may be used to discriminate patients with adolescent-onset schizophrenia from controls with satisfactory classification results, which showed sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 87.09%, and accuracy of 94.93%.ConclusionOur findings highlight resting-state interhemispheric FC abnormalities within the sensorimotor network of patients with adolescent-onset schizophrenia and confirm the relationship between adolescent-onset schizophrenia and adult-onset schizophrenia. These findings suggest that reduced interhemispheric connectivity within the sensorimotor network has a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia.

PANORAMIC MID-INFRARED VIEWS OF DISTANT CLUSTERS OF GALAXIES WITH AKARI

We present the results of our mid-infrared (MIR) observations of distant clusters of galaxies with AKARI. The wide-field of view of IRC/AKARI (<TEX>$10^{\prime}{\times}10^{\prime}$</TEX>) is ideally suited for studying dust-obscured star-formation (SF) activity of galaxies along the cosmic web in the distant universe. We performed a deep and wide-field <TEX>$15{\mu}m$</TEX> (rest-frame <TEX>${\approx}8{\mu}m$</TEX>) imaging observation of the RXJ1716+6708 cluster (z = 0.81) with IRC. We find that <TEX>$15{\mu}m$</TEX>-detected cluster member galaxies (with total infrared luminosities of <TEX>$L_{IR}{\geq}10^{11}L_{\odot}$</TEX>) are most preferentially located in the cluster outskirt regions, whilst such IR-luminous galaxies avoid the cluster centre. Our <TEX>$H{\alpha}$</TEX> follow-up study of this field confirmed that a significant fraction of <TEX>$15{\mu}m$</TEX>-detected cluster galaxies are heavily obscured by dust (with <TEX>$AH{\alpha}$</TEX>>3 mag in extreme cases). The environment of such dusty star-burst galaxies coincides with the place where we see a sharp "break" of the colour-density relation, suggesting an important link between dust-obscured SF activity and environmental quenching. We also report the discovery of a new cluster candidate around a radio galaxy at z = 1.52 (4C 65.22), where we obtained one of the deepest IRC imaging datasets with all the nine filters at <TEX>$2-24{\mu}m$</TEX>. This field will provide us with the final, excellent laboratory for studying the dust-enshrouded SF activity in galaxies along the cosmic web at the critical epoch of cluster galaxy evolution with AKARI.

Ordovician volcano–sedimentary iron deposits of the Eastern Tianshan area, Northwest China: the Tianhu example

ABSTRACTThe stratabound Tianhu iron deposit, with a reserve of 104 Mt at 42% Fe, is located in the eastern part of the Central Tianshan zone in the southern part of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The deposit hosts schist, quartzite, marble, amphibolite, and granitic gneiss belonging to the Tianhu Group. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used to perform zircon U–Pb geochronology, bulk-rock geochemistry, and in situ zircon Hf isotope analyses of the metavolcanic host rocks for constraining the timing and genesis of the Tianhu iron deposit. According to the newly determined age constraints of 452 ± 3 and 477 ± 4 Ma, the iron deposit was concluded to be Ordovician in age. Geochemistry and zircon Lu–Hf isotope analyses suggested that the host rocks of the deposit represent metamorphosed arc-type volcanic rocks generated by the partial melting of a lower crustal source. Combined with geological and ore petrographic characteristics, the Tianhu iron deposit is interpreted to be of volcano–sedimentary origin with enrichment during subsequent metamorphism. The early Palaeozoic marks a critical iron mineralization epoch in the Eastern Tianshan area. The results also support the model of the Central Tianshan area as a volcanic-arc during the early Palaeozoic, associated with the subduction of the Northern Tianshan Ocean.

Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution

Can we be surprised that a protracted cataclysmic event such as the British Industrial Revolution continues to inspire such interest—from the opening ceremony of the British Olympics to the central subject matter of university courses in economic history? Yet books about the Industrial Revolution only rarely reach the shelves of the bookstores of Hobart, Tasmania where I am based. Emma Griffin's Liberty's Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution did that in both hardback and paperback probably because it appears to be aimed at a popular audience. Professional historians might be surprised when areas of major controversy are treated in a superficial manner in the book but the reader is certainly engaged by the lively, almost jaunty style. Griffin uses autobiographies to uncover the experiences of working class people. This source has recently been used systematically to understand child employment by Jane Humphries. Griffin does not attempt to provide a similar quantitative analysis but believes that “For all their shortcomings, the autobiographies offer the best way—indeed the only way—to examine the lives of working people during a critical epoch in world history” (10). Statistical results often fail to adequately describe or explain “immiseration” or improvement as the standard of living debate has endlessly demonstrated.

The KMOS Galaxy Clusters Project

AbstractKMOS is a cryogenic infrared spectrograph fed by twentyfour deployable integral field units that patrol a 7.2 arcminute diameter field of view at the Nasmyth focus of the ESO VLT. It is well suited to the study of galaxy clusters at 1 &lt; z &lt; 2 where the well understood features in the restframe V-band are shifted into the KMOS spectral bands. Coupled with HST imagining, KMOS offers a window on the critical epoch for galaxy evolution, 7-10 Gyrs ago, when the key properties of cluster galaxies were established. We aim to investigate the size, mass, morphology and star formation history of galaxies in the clusters. Here we describe the instrument, discuss the status of the observations and report some preliminary results.

Cosmological entropy production and viscous processes in the (1 + 3 + 6)-dimensional space-times

Cosmological entropy production is studied in the |$(1+3+6)$|-dimensional space-times consisting of the outer space (the |$3$|-dimensional expanding section) and the inner space (the |$6$|-dimensional section). The inner space expands initially and contracts later. First it is shown how the production of the |$3$|-dimensional entropy |$S_3$| within the horizon is strengthened by the dissipation due to viscous processes between the two spaces, in which we consider the viscosity caused by the gravitational-wave transport. Next it is shown under what conditions we can have the critical epoch when |$S_3$| reaches the value |$10^{88}$| in the Guth level and at the same time the outer space is decoupled from the inner space. Moreover, the total entropy |$S_9$| in the |$9$|-dimensional space at the primeval expanding stage is also shown corresponding to |$S_3$|⁠.

On the theory of global population growth

Ours is an epoch of global demographic revolution, a time of a rapid transition from explosive population growth to a low reproduction level. This, possibly the most momentous change ever witnessed by humankind has, first and foremost, important implications for the dynamics of population. But it also affects billions of people in all aspects of their lives, and it is for this reason that demographic processes have grown into a vast problem, both globally and in Russia. Their fundamental understanding will to a large extent impact the present, the short-term future following the current critical epoch, the stable and uniform global development and its priorities, and indeed global security. Quantitative treatment of historical processes is reached using the phenomenological theory of mankind's population growth. This theory relies on the concepts and methods of physics and its conclusions should take into account the ideas of economics and genetics.

Autonomia e esclarecimento: o projeto crítico enquanto projeto político

O artigo procura construir uma questão no interior da filosofia kantiana, por meiodos conceitos de esclarecimento e autonomia, acerca da necessidade de se compreender oprojeto crítico também como um projeto político. Para isso, no entanto, torna-senecessário confrontar certa tradição contemporânea, que remonta a Hegel e chega aHabermas, em que a ideia de crítica é vista como um elemento vazio e passivo (na medidaem que está centrada na abstração da lei moral). Trata-se, então, de apontar para umaleitura em que a faculdade de julgar prática, em sua atividade reflexionante e determinante,unificaria elementos políticos e jurídicos que encontrariam sua contrapartida nachamada “época da crítica”.

Holocene glacial history of College Fjord, south-central Alaska

Holocene glacier fluctuations in College Fjord in south-central Alaska provide an integrated proxy record of climatic and related environmental changes through this critical geologic epoch. During the early Holocene around 10,000 yr BP, ice was receding from lower Port Wells but was still present in College Fjord. With the beginning of the Holocene Climatic Optimum, recession increased and the ice front reached the Golden Moraine site 1 by 7680 cal yr BP, starting its long early to middle Holocene retreat to the head of tidewater. An ice-free fjord existed between 7680 cal yr BP and about 5190 yr BP. A middle Holocene advance started between approximately 5190 and 4470 yr BP with ice arriving at the mouth of the fjord before 2470 cal yr BP. The late Holocene was characterized by various standstills and minor readvance positions as the glacier fell back and by significant Little Ice Age expansions and retreats of individual glaciers present in the fjord. During the late Holocene, the glacier built four large and distinctive moraines all representative of at least four standstill positions of College Fjord Glacier before 2470, 2060, 1330, and approximately 1120 cal yr BP.

Genome-wide analyses of human perisylvian cerebral cortical patterning.

Despite the well established role of the frontal and posterior perisylvian cortices in many facets of human-cognitive specializations, including language, little is known about the developmental patterning of these regions in the human brain. We performed a genome-wide analysis of human cerebral patterning during midgestation, a critical epoch in cortical regionalization. A total of 345 genes were identified as differentially expressed between superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the remaining cerebral cortex. Gene ontology categories representing transcription factors were enriched in STG, whereas cell-adhesion and extracellular matrix molecules were enriched in the other cortical regions. Quantitative RT-PCR or in situ hybridization was performed to validate differential expression in a subset of 32 genes, most of which were confirmed. LIM domain-binding 1 (LDB1), which we show to be enriched in the STG, is a recently identified interactor of LIM domain only 4 (LMO4), a gene known to be involved in the asymmetric pattering of the perisylvian region in the developing human brain. Protocadherin 17 (PCDH17), a neuronal cell adhesion molecule, was highly enriched in focal regions of the human prefrontal cortex. Contactin associated protein-like 2 (CNTNAP2), in which mutations are known to cause autism, epilepsy, and language delay, showed a remarkable pattern of anterior-enriched cortical expression in human that was not observed in mouse or rat. These data highlight the importance of expression analysis of human brain and the utility of cross-species comparisons of gene expression. Genes identified here provide a foundation for understanding molecular aspects of human-cognitive specializations and the disorders that disrupt them.

Modelling the galaxy bimodality: shutdown above a critical halo mass

We reproduce the blue and red sequences in the observed joint distribution of colour and magnitude for galaxies at low and high redshifts using hybrid N-body/semi-analytic simulations of galaxy formation. The match of model and data is achieved by mimicking the effects of cold flows versus shock heating coupled to feedback from active galactic nuclei (AGNs), as predicted by Dekel and Birnboim. After a critical epoch z∼ 3, only haloes below a critical shock-heating mass Mshock∼ 1012 M⊙ enjoy gas supply by cold flows and form stars, while cooling and star formation are shut down abruptly above this mass. The shock-heated gas is kept hot because being dilute it is vulnerable to feedback from energetic sources such as AGNs in their self-regulated mode. The shutdown explains in detail the bright-end truncation of the blue sequence at ∼L*, the appearance of luminous red-and-dead galaxies on the red sequence starting already at z∼ 2, the colour bimodality, its strong dependence on environment density and its correlations with morphology and other galaxy properties. Before z∼ 2–3, even haloes above the shock-heating mass form stars by cold streams penetrating through the hot gas. This explains the bright star forming galaxies at z∼ 3–4, the early appearance of massive galaxies on the red sequence, the high cosmological star formation rate at high redshifts and the subsequent low rate at low redshifts.

Dynamical History of the Earth–Moon System

Differential equations describing the tidal evolution of the earth's rotation and of the lunar orbital motion are presented in a simple close form. The equations differ in form for orbits fixed to the terrestrial equator and for orbits with the nodes precessing along the ecliptic due to solar perturbations. Analytical considerations show that if the contemporary lunar orbit were equatorial the evolution would develop from an unstable geosynchronous orbit of the period about 4.42 h (in the past) to a stable geosynchronous orbit of the period about 44.8 days (in the future). It is also demonstrated that at the contemporary epoch the orbital plane of the fictitious equatorial moon would be unstable in the Liapunov's sense, being asymptotically stable at early stages of the evolution. Evolution of the currently near-ecliptical lunar orbit and of the terrestrial rotation is traced backward in time by numerical integration of the evolutional equations. It is confirmed that about 1.8 billion years ago a critical phase of the evolution took place when the equatorial inclination of the moon reached small values and the moon was in a near vicinity of the earth. Before the critical epoch t cr two types of the evolution are possible, which at present cannot be unambiguously distinguished with the help of the purely dynamical considerations. In the scenario that seems to be the most realistic from the physical point of view, the evolution also has started from a geosynchronous equatorial lunar orbit of the period 4.19 h. At t < t cr the lunar orbit has been fixed to the precessing terrestrial equator by strong perturbations from the earth's flattening and by tidal effects; at the critical epoch the solar perturbations begin to dominate and transfer the moon to its contemporary near-ecliptical orbit which evolves now to the stable geosynchronous state. Probably this scenario is in favour of the Darwin's hypothesis about originating the moon by its separation from the earth. Too much short time scale of the evolution in this model might be enlarged if the dissipative Q factor had somewhat larger values in the past than in the present epoch. Values of the length of day and the length of month, estimated from paleontological data, are confronted with the results of the developed model.

BONE MINERAL METABOLISM IN THE MICROPREMIE

Environmental factors, nutritional supplies, hormonal status, diseases, and treatments appear to affect postnatal skeletal growth and mineralization in VLBW infants. Compared with their term counterparts, ELBW infants are at risk of postnatal growth deficiency and osteopenia at the time of hospital discharge. From recent data, DXA is becoming one of the reference techniques to evaluate mineral status, whole-body composition, and effects of dietary manipulations on weight gain composition and mineral accretion in preterm infants. Weight gain and length increases need to be evaluated carefully during the first weeks of life, in the intensive care unit and out of it, in the step down unit. Nutritional survey is required to improve the nutritional supply and to maximize linear growth. As the critical epoch of growth extends, during the first weeks or months after discharge, follow-up and nutritional support need to be provided during the first years to promote early catch-up growth and mineralization. Further studies need to determine precisely the most optimal feeding regimen during this period but also need to evaluate the long-term implications of such a policy on stature, peak bone mass, and general health at adulthood.