Night Events Research Articles

A sixfold rise in concurrent day and night-time heatwaves in India under 2\u2009\xb0C warming

Heatwaves with severe impacts have increased and projected to become more frequent under warming climate in India. Concurrent day and nighttime heatwaves can exacerbate human discomfort causing high morbidity and mortality; however, their changes in the observed and projected climate remain unrecognized. Here using observations and model simulations from climate of 20th century plus (C20C+) detection and attribution (D&A) and coupled model intercomparison project 5 (CMIP5) projects, we show that 1 and 3-day concurrent hot day and hot night (CHDHN) events have significantly increased during the observed climate in India. Our results show that the anthropogenic emissions contribute considerably to the increase of 1 and 3-day CHDHN events in India. The frequency of 3-day CHDHN events is projected to increase 12-fold of the current level by the end of 21st century and 4-fold by the mid 21st century under the high emission pathway of RCP 8.5. The increase in 3-day CHDHN events can be limited to only 2-fold by the end of 21st century under low emission scenario of RCP 2.6. One and 3-day CHDHN events are projected to increase by 4, 6, and 8 folds of the current level in India under the 1.5, 2, and 3 °C warming worlds, respectively. Restricting global mean temperature below 1.5° from the pre-industrial level can substantially reduce the risk of 1 and 3-day CHDHN events and associated implications in India.

Diagnosing Physical Mechanisms Leading to Pure Heat Waves Versus Pure Tropical Nights Over the Korean Peninsula

AbstractThis study analyzes differences in the mechanisms leading to anomalously high‐temperature weather events, such as heat waves and tropical nights, in Korea. We identify pure heat wave and pure tropical night events during the period from 1979 to 2016. Based on composite analyses for each case, we identify different mechanisms leading to pure heat waves and pure tropical nights. The structures including low‐level atmospheric circulations, specific humidity, wind, and the atmospheric stability are quite different between pure heat waves and pure tropical nights. Pure heat waves occur under barotropic‐like atmospheric conditions, with a stable low layer and dry air due to anomalous easterly winds over the Korean Peninsula. In contrast, pure tropical nights occur under baroclinic‐like atmospheric conditions, with warm, humid air advected by southwesterly winds. These results indicate that above‐normal levels of incoming shortwave radiation combined with adiabatic warming contribute to pure heat waves, whereas pure tropical nights are associated with above‐normal longwave radiation and/or warm advection over the Korean Peninsula. This implies that different physical factors must be considered for accurate, regional‐scale predictions of heat waves and tropical night events.

Of Barks and Bird Song: Listening in on the Forgotten in Ludwig Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert

Of Barks and Bird Song:Listening in on the Forgotten in Ludwig Tieck's Der blonde Eckbert Robert Ryder In Grammophon. Film. Typewriter (1986), Friedrich Kittler cites in its entirety a fantastical tale by Maurice Renard, originally entitled "La mort et le coquillage" (Death and the Shell, 1907),1 in which an accomplished composer, Nerval, attempts one night to transcribe the sounds he hears from a seashell. Despite being "among the most famous" of composers, Nerval is unable to transcribe the mysterious sounds "dictated" to him, and later that night—perhaps after recognizing the impossibility of his task—he dies. The entire story of Nerval's death is narrated by one of his friends, left unnamed, who throughout the short story describes the night's events to Nerval's doctor. The friend wants to convince the doctor that his diagnosis for Nerval's death, a stroke,2 was incorrect. What killed Nerval, according to his friend, was putting his ear to the seashell, a fate that the friend thinks he will soon share himself: Do you believe that there are poisons for the ear modeled on deadly perfumes and lethal potions? Ever since last Wednesday's auditory event [l'audition] I have not been feeling well. It is my turn to go … Poor Nerval! … Doctor, you claim he died of a stroke … and what if he died because he heard the sirens singing? Why do you laugh?3 Laughter is the only indication of the doctor's response to the story as a whole, to which Kittler responds that "als Schlußsatz einer phantastischen Erzählung gab es schon bessere Fragen" (Kittler 87; "there have been better questions to conclude fantastic tales," 55). Not unreasonably, Kittler aligns Renard's fantastical tale with contemporaneous technical manuals that describe phonographs, graphophones and other early sound recording instruments as being able to bring back the dead, going so far as to propose that "[die] Muschel, der Renards fiktiver Komponist lauscht, … nicht am Strand einer Natur gefunden [ist]; sie vertritt die Muschel eines Telephons oder Fernsprechers, der Zeitenfernen überbrücken kann, um ihn an eine Antike vor jedem Diskurs anzuschließen" (Kittler 88; "The shell that Renard's fictitious composer listens to was not found on a natural beach; it takes the place of the mouthpieces of a telephone or a loudspeaker capable of bridging temporal distances in order to connect him with an antiquity preceding [End Page 55] all discourse," 55). This media-historical argument, in which new media bridge time immemorial, is itself an old story. Long before that other Muschel, the telephone earpiece, seashells that emit sounds when listened to had their own long history of linking a distant, otherwise inaccessible auditory past to the present.4 In other words, the sounds of a seashell have always transported the shell—and with it the listener—from where it was first picked up, whether from a natural beach or a mantelpiece. One hundred and ten years earlier, Ludwig Tieck published Der blonde Eckbert (1797).5 While Tieck's tale involves no characters putting their ear to a shell and was written long before the conditions of gramophony or telephony existed, certain words and sounds nevertheless reverberate throughout Tieck's story and have a similarly poisonous effect on its two main protagonists, Bertha and Eckbert. Like Renard's tale, Tieck's story concludes with an acoustic aporia that appears to lead to madness, if not death. Moreover, the poisonous sounds appear equally contagious: just as Nerval's friend fears he may succumb to the same fate as Nerval, so does Eckbert hear the same dog's bark and bird's song that Bertha once heard, thereby linking Bertha's fate to Eckbert's via these recurring sounds. The word "fate" moreover seems inextricably linked to the sounds heard by the protagonists in both tales: it is as if specific sounds are the harbingers of fate for all who hear them, threatening whatever secure future the listeners felt they may have had. But perhaps the most important quality of the sounds in both Renard's and Tieck's stories is that they seem to echo from an ancient, otherwise inaccessible...

Modification of Water Application Rates and Intermittent Control for Sprinkler Frost Protection

Abstract. To validate the feasibility of an automated frost protection sprinkler system, a sprinkler irrigation system with an optimal water application rate was designed, constructed, and tested in a tea field. A modified calculation model of the water application rate was provided by simulation with different values of airflow velocity, air temperature, air humidity, and spray water temperature. An intermittent control strategy was provided using a modified model that included the start and stop time of the system and adjustment of the water application rate. Tea field experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of frost protection based on this control strategy during frost night events. The results showed that a variable water application rate was better suited for frost protection, and the modified intermittent control automatically regulated the water application rate. In early spring and winter heavy frost nights, the canopy temperature (Tc) of the irrigated area remained above -1.2°C and 0°C, respectively, which is higher than the critical damage temperature for tea plants. The Tc of the irrigated area was approximately 2.8°C higher than that of a non-irrigated area. Moreover, the irrigated area with the modified model had a slower temperature rise after sunrise compared with the non-irrigated area, which was beneficial for frost protection. This sprinkler control strategy is an effective frost protection method that could be applied for in tea fields in the Yangtze River region. The calculation and simulation procedure of the water application rate would be applied for constructing sprinklers for different micrometeorological environments. Keywords: Frost protection, Intermittent control, Spraying water temperature, Sprinkler irrigation system, Tea, Water application rate.

Providing support to students following a mass casualty incident

A summary of the support given to paramedic students who attended the Manchester Arena bombing in May 2017.

Annual PhUN Week Service Learning Events improve student content mastery and civic engagement

Service‐Learning (SL) integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. In language, arts and social science courses, it enhances learning and facilitates classroom inclusivity, providing opportunities to apply learned content to real‐world situations with guided reflection. While Physiology and Biology courses use SL less frequently, it is likely to enhance learning outcomes in these courses as well, while providing resources for K‐12 science education and public science literacy. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that SL in introductory biological/physiological sciences courses would enhance student engagement, civic responsibility and course content mastery. To test this hypothesis, we conducted and assessed annual K‐2 educational outreach events in connection with the American Physiological Society program PhUN (Physiology Understanding) week over a period of 3 years. The SL project assignment required students to use backward design strategies to create stand‐alone learning module lesson plans with learning goals aligned with K‐2 state and federal standards of science education. The annual 3 hour, Friday night events were open to the public and structured as “reverse science fairs”. Over the three years, more than 200 children and their families were participated in hands‐on learning activities designed to teach a variety of concepts such as the connection between exercise and metabolism, sensation and perception and brain structure and function. Pre‐ and post‐service reflections and surveys show that SL, in this context, facilitates students' confidence in content mastery and enhances student engagement, especially in 1st year and 1st generation undergraduates. The experience especially enhanced “commitment to civic engagement” in male students, and had the greatest impact on the “confidence to talk to the public about science” for female students. The SL attitude pre‐ and post‐assessments also revealed that underrepresented minority students in the sciences (URM) had greater gains than non‐URM students in commitment to “future SL activities” and the notion that it is essential for “universities to perform community service”. In addition, the multi‐year project produced a book of state‐standard‐aligned K‐2 lessons for the local elementary school and much needed support for local public science literacy. Therefore, SL, as a pedagogy in introductory biological/physiological sciences courses, functions as a student‐centered, high‐impact practice, giving students new views on the applications of classroom course content and enhancing civic responsibility, while also inspiring the next generation of physiologists.Support or Funding InformationNSF CAREER IOS‐1350448 and APS PhUN week

Science in Theatre—An Art Project with Researchers

One of the major challenges in contemporary science is to develop new and innovative ways to engage society in science and scientific topics. One attempt to create new ways of communicating with the public has been the use of the artistic languages to explore scientific subjects. Theatre, in particular, allows the exploration of emotions, and to raise awareness of ethical and social questions. This art of expression can therefore have the power to engage people in specific subjects, the science-related included. Here, we present a creative project that articulates science and theatre in order to bridge the communication gap between researchers and the public(s). The European Researchers’ Night (ERN) is an ‘edutainment’ initiative—education plus entertainment—of the European Union that allows people to be closer to researchers and their world. The theatre company Marionet, together with researchers from the University of Coimbra, took the challenge of creating and performing a theatre play that would be part of the Researchers’ Night events. From 2009 onwards, five plays were devised and staged with the active involvement of 38 researchers, as actors, authors or sources of inspiration. In this study, we explored the involvement of the researchers in the artistic process, their motivations, limitations and professional and personal outcomes, as well as the feedback from the public regarding the potential of theatre plays to bring to light the scientific world singularities, and to disseminate scientific ideas.

Seasonal Changing Effect on Airflow and Pollutant Dispersion Characteristics in Urban Street Canyons

In this study, the effect of seasonal variation on air flow and pollutant dispersion characteristics was numerically investigated. A three-dimensional urban canopy model with unit aspect ratio (H/D = 1) was used to calculate surface temperature distribution in the street canyon. Four representative time events (1000 LST, 1300 LST, 1600 LST and 2000 LST) during typical clear summer and winter days were selected to examine the air flow diurnal variation. The results revealed the seasonal variation significantly altered the street canyon microclimate. Compared with the street canyon surface temperature distribution in summer, the winter case showed a more evenly distributed surface temperature. In addition, the summer case showed greater daily temperature fluctuation than that of the winter case. Consequently, distinct pollutant dispersion patterns were observed between summer and winter scenarios, especially for the afternoon (1600 LST) and night (2000 LST) events. Among all studied time events, the pollutant removal performance of the morning (1000 LST) and the night (2000 LST) events were more sensitive to the seasonal variation. Lastly, limited natural ventilation performance was found during the summer morning and the winter night, which induced relatively high pollutant concentration along the pedestrian height level.

Epidemiology of Exertional Heat Illnesses in Youth, High School, and College Football.

Data on exertional heat illness (EHI) in youth football are limited and have not been compared across competition levels. This study describes the epidemiology of EHI events in youth, high school (HS), and college football in the 2012-2014 seasons. One hundred and eighteen youth teams (players age 5-14 yr), 96 HS programs (~14-18 yr), and 34 college programs (~18-23 yr) participated. During games and practices, athletic trainers recorded EHI events and athlete exposures (AE), defined as one athlete participating in one game/practice. We calculated the number of reported EHI by time in season, game/practice, and need for emergency transportation. EHI rates, risk, included rate ratios (IRR), and risk ratios (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) were calculated in 2015. EHI rates for youth, HS, and college football were 1.82, 0.57, and 1.67/10,000 AE, respectively. Rates were highest during the preseason (youth: 2.76; HS: 1.47; college: 3.66/10,000 AE). Game rates were higher than practice rates in youth (4.04 vs 1.22/10,000 AE; IRR = 3.31; 95% CI, 1.75-6.26) and college (4.42 vs 1.38/10,000 AE; IRR = 3.21; 95% CI, 2.00-5.16); the practice rate was higher than the game rate in HS (0.63 vs 0.27/10,000 AE; IRR = 2.33; 95% CI, 1.01-5.38). The EHI risk was higher in college (0.9%) than in youth (0.6%; RR = 1.59; 95% CI, 1.06-2.37) and HS (0.5%; RR = 2.01; 95% CI, 1.43-2.81). Common EHI events included heat cramps (youth: 15.8%; HS: 28.6%; college: 45.6%), heat exhaustion (youth: 42.1%; HS: 32.9%; college: 20.0%), and dehydration (youth: 31.6%; HS: 28.6%; college: 28.9%). EHI risk was low. Higher preseason football EHI rates across levels emphasize developing and continually modifying preseason heat acclimatization policies. Lower EHI rates in HS games and youth practices may be attributable to night events, suggesting the importance of modifying/canceling events based on environmental conditions.

Rainfall in the Andean Páramo: New Insights from High-Resolution Monitoring in Southern Ecuador

AbstractIn mountainous regions, rainfall plays a key role in water supply for millions of people. However, rainfall data for these sites are limited and generally of low quality, making it difficult to evaluate the nature, amount, and timing of rainfall. This is particularly true for the páramo, a high-elevation grassland in the northern Andes that is a primary source of water for large populations in Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. In this study, high-resolution laser disdrometer data and standard tipping-bucket rain gauge data were used to improve knowledge of rainfall in the páramo. For 36 months, rainfall was monitored in a high-elevation (3780 m MSL) headwater catchment in southern Ecuador. Average annual rainfall during this period was 1345 mm. Results indicate that (i) when input from very low–intensity events (drizzle) is taken into account, rainfall is 15% higher than previously thought; (ii) rainfall occurs throughout the year (only approximately 12% of the days are dry); (iii) rainfall occurs primarily as drizzle (80% of rainfall duration), which accounts for 29% of total rainfall amount; and (iv) the timing and average intensity of rainfall varies throughout the year (shorter afternoon events are common from October to May, whereas longer night events—with lower intensities—are more frequent from June to September). Although some of these numbers may vary regionally, the results contribute to a better understanding of rainfall in the wet Andean páramo.

A numerical study of diurnally varying surface temperature on flow patterns and pollutant dispersion in street canyons

The impacts of the diurnal variation of surface temperature on street canyon flow pattern and pollutant dispersion are investigated based on a two-dimensional street canyon model under different thermal stratifications. Uneven distributed street temperature conditions and a user-defined wall function representing the heat transfer between the air and the street canyon are integrated into the current numerical model. The prediction accuracy of this model is successfully validated against a published wind tunnel experiment. Then, a series of numerical simulations representing four time scenarios (Morning, Afternoon, Noon and Night) are performed at different Bulk Richardson number (Rb). The results demonstrate that uneven distributed street temperature conditions significantly alters street canyon flow structure and pollutant dispersion characteristics compared with conventional uniform street temperature assumption, especially for the morning event. Moreover, air flow patterns and pollutant dispersion are greatly influenced by diurnal variation of surface temperature under unstable stratification conditions. Furthermore, the residual pollutant in near-ground-zone decreases as Rb increases in noon, afternoon and night events under all studied stability conditions.

Daily temperature trend and sensitivity to grassland and cropland in eastern China during the past 32 years

In order to detect daily temperature trend in eastern China, observed daily temperature data spanning over 32 years (1979–2010) including daily maximum temperature (Tmax), minimum temperature (Tmin) and mean temperature (Tavg) were analysed. Besides, land cover conversions in grassland/cropland around 102 meteorological stations were also investigated to explore the sensitivity of temperature to grassland/cropland. Increasing trends were detected in observed Tmax and Tmin, with distinct connection to the distribution of grassland/cropland. Tmax changed greatly in grassland and Tmin in cropland. Besides, unique seasonal and spatial variability was discovered in Tmax and Tmin, respectively. Finally, percentile-based temperature indices derived from observed daily temperature data were further involved to demonstrate the sensitivity of temperature extremes to grassland/cropland, which showed that the annual occurrences of warm day, summer heat wave and winter warm night events were increasing, while those of cold night were decreasing. Analysis of thresholds that distinguished summer heat wave and winter warm night events suggested higher temperature in grassland.

The Saloon on the Prairie: The Family and the Saloon in Braidwood, Illinois, 1865-1883

In 1877 on a cold February night on the unforgiving Illinois prairie, a group of miners entered a Braidwood saloon to socialize and drink. Two members of the group, David and William Cooney, possibly friends upon entering the saloon, would not emerge until one was a murderer and the other a corpse. The night's events more than likely unfolded in a manner similar to any other: miners reeking with perspiration and grime after a hard day's work deep underground in the eternal darkness of the coal mines, now free from Hades' lair, laughing and bantering and perhaps singing some drinking songs from their British homeland, treating each other to rounds in the smoke-filled saloon which was illuminated in dancing shadows by oil lamps, while the potbelly stove in the center of the room burned hot with the coal that was the lifeblood of the community. Playfully, the men boasted and challenged each other in a somewhat scripted, jocularly masculine routine borne of common experiences, cultures, and hardships. But men who have experienced hardships together, who have drunk together, who have worked hard and also played hard with each other, can still turn on one another in a flash. A comment meant in jest can quickly, especially after a few rounds of whiskey, be taken as a mortal insult requiring an instinctually instant response; a bit of playful pushing or wrestling can suddenly escalate into a life-or-death brawl where one man must emerge dominant, lest his manhood be questioned.1 Unfortunately, and Cooney played into this familiar script. After a period of indulging] in liquor...a playful scuffle [ensued], in which Cooney was considerably worsted. As the fight deteriorated into a one-sided affair with emerging the victor, Cooney's friends took up the quarrel and rushed into Wilson, knocking him prostrate in one comer. However, the fight did not end with the separation of from Cooney: either from fear or a sense of wounded pride that had to be regained, Wilson drew his revolver and fired...the ball taking effect in the abdomen of Cooney, and from the effects of which he soon died. found himself installed in the city's jail, lamenting that a night that started as any other now found him charged with the murder of a man he may have only a few hours earlier considered a friend, indeed a brother. A local newspaper chose to blame the incident on whiskey rather than on Wilson: Whiskey claims another brace of victims: one sleeping in his grave and the other wearing the stripes of a convict and shut out from all he holds dear for five long years. It is needless to use paper and ink with which to point the moral of Dave Wilson's fate.2For middle-class observers, such frequently told tales of mayhem and violence in the working-man's saloon confirmed all that they found contemptible about the institution. At the advent of the saloon era, Braidwood, located about sixty miles south of Chicago, held a particularly special place in their sensibilities. From the town's founding in 1865, a mythos grew around the community painting it as dominated by extremely rough-andtumble miners who were fueled by an excessively large number of saloons.3 In 1883 a reporter from nearby Wilmington implied that this reputation was deserved: If Braidwood has a hard name abroad we must acknowledge that she came by it legitimately.4 Tales such as the fate of Dave allowed these distant observers to construct a morality play that scripted a common middle-class narrative about communities such as Braidwood: reformers argued that the saloon was the primary source of problems in working-class communities, creating frequent violence and the ruination of the family. Such ubiquitously told tales of saloon-created mayhem were the tinder that fueled the middle-class war on this key working-class institution.It has been commonly held that the low ratios of saloons to workers in many communities partly resulted from working-men's desire to drown their problems with the easily accessible and fairly inexpensive opiate of alcohol. …

Take an Adventure Bite

The Adventure Bites - Cooking with Kids program enhanced nutrition curriculum by including a Life Skill development focus and a family night - to improve youth nutrition behaviors. The data was collected using the WSU 4-H Life Skills pre-post youth evaluations, staff surveys, a parent retrospective pre-post survey, and comparison data from non-program sites. The results support adding Life Skills and family night events into youth nutrition curricula. There are opportunities to improve evaluation and do further testing, to determine what the individual impact of Life Skill development and/or individual impact of having family nights had on changes in youth behaviors regarding nutrition.

Hold back the night: Nuit Blanche and all-night events in capital cities

Late night events are an increasing feature of city entertainment and tourism. The phenomenon of Nuit Blanche, cultural festivals and museum nights has expanded across capital and other cities with a common aim and brand, but reflecting local and cultural aspirations. On the one hand, they provide an alternative to the problematic effects of late night binge drinking and mono-use of city centres by a younger cohort, and on the other hand, a global network of events that have expanded in scope and scale over the past decade. The article situates the event city within the competitive, ‘cosmopolitan city’ through a comparative analysis of late night events in capital cities, with examples from London's night-time economy and programmes of extended opening of museums and cultural venues.

Geomagnetic storm effects in the ionospheric E- and F-regions

Ground-based ionosonde data obtained at Alma-Ata station [ φ=43.25°N, λ=76.92°E, Φ=33.47°N, L=1.44) were analysed to study the ionospheric responses of nine intense (Kp≥8, Dst<−100 nT) geomagnetic storms with storm sudden commencement ( ssc). The collected data show that the ionospheric responses to the geomagnetic storms are highly complex and variable; however, negative ionospheric disturbances are a common feature of the responses. The occurrence of normal night E2-, E-, F1- and auroral type r ( retardation) sporadic Es-layers, which are unusual for Alma-Ata, was observed during most active phase in the Dst index. Employing the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI), the night-time E region electron density Ne was estimated for “quiet” conditions on the epochs of the storm time periods. A direct comparison of the “quiet” and “storm” electron density in the 110–200 km altitude range shows a significant storm-induced increase in Ne that reaches a factor of approximately 10 at the 110 km altitude. The interaction of precipitating energetic neutralised ring current particles with the upper atmosphere during geomagnetic disturbances is assumed to be a possible explanation for the observed night events at this latitude sector.

AristocraticEigensinnand the Fight to Save theRitterakademie am Dom, 1935–1945

In the early morning of May 26, 1935, some residents of the eastern German city of Brandenburg an der Havel awoke to shouts of “We Want Our Kaiser Back” and “We Want Back the Black-White-Red” emanating from the dormitory of the storied and elite Prussian secondary school, theRitterakademie am Dom zu Brandenburg. A small number of students had thrown an illegal party during which, emboldened by alcohol, at least one student had called for the restoration of the monarchical order, to the audible delight of others present. Informed of the night's events on the following Monday, school authorities quickly investigated the matter and decided that the episode represented neither a genuine act of political subversion nor a reflection of possible “reactionary” attitudes held by the students. The utterances were instead an act of foolishness (Dummheit) committed by immature pupils, the consequence of the more serious and perennial problem of students' drinking parties, concluded the Ritterakademie administration. In response, school principal Georg Neuendorf punished several older pupils by removing them from their position atop the student hierarchy and revoking several privileges. He also wrote to all parents of students boarding at the Ritterakademie, asking them no longer to send their sons money, food, and alcohol. Satisfied with his response, the principal ended his report on the incident to his superiors in Berlin, theOberpräsidiumof Brandenburg Province, by noting optimistically that the episode would be of pedagogical use in the continued “Nazification” of the school. In what must have seemed to those involved to signal the end of the affair, regional authorities approved of Neuendorf's actions three days later, concluding that the drunken utterances were a “foolish youth's prank” (dumm[es] junge Streich).

Sleepiness in Parkinson's disease

Excessive daytime sleepiness is a disabling and vital problem in patients with PD. It affects around 33% patients and culminates in sleep attacks (without prodroma) in 1 to 4% of the patients. When monitored, short, narcolepsy-like naps with abnormal intrusion of REM sleep during daytime (and hypnagogic hallucinations as wakeful dreams) are observed in 33-41% patients, while other patients display naps with non REM sleep. Although insomnia, sleep apnea and periodic leg movements are common in these patients, there is no clear link between the night events and the level of sleepiness. Patients treated with dopamine agonists are two to three fold more exposed to sleep attacks than those on levodopa, with large variability between patients. Sleepiness may exist, to a lesser degree, before the onset of parkinsonism and before the use of dopamine agents, suggesting that other, disease-dependant factors contribute to the sleepiness. Most arousal systems are indeed damaged in PD brains, including the locus coeruleus (noradrenalin), the pedunculo-pontine nucleus and the basal forebrain (acetylcholine), the median raphe (serotonin), and the lateral hypothalamus (orexin), while histamine dopamine arousal system are normal. Treating patients with stimulants such as modafinil is only partially efficacious, while trials of anti-H3 drugs and sodium oxybate seem more active. Eventually, the recent stimulation of the pedunculopontine nucleus has stimulant or sedative effects in patients, depending on the frequency of stimulation. These results provide new insights into the mechanisms of arousal in PD.

Future change of temperature and precipitation extremes in South America as derived from the PRECIS regional climate modeling system

AbstractUsing the PRECIS regional climate modeling system this study analyses the distribution of extremes of temperature and precipitation in South America in the recent past (1961–1990) and in a future (2071–2100) climate under the IPCC SRES A2 and B2 emissions scenarios. The results show that for the present climate the model simulates well the spatial distribution of extreme temperature and rainfall events when compared with observations, with temperature the more realistic. The observations over the region are far from comprehensive which compromises the assessment of model quality. In all the future climate scenarios considered all parts of the region would experience significant and often different changes in rainfall and temperature extremes. In the future, the occurrence of warm nights is projected to be more frequent in the entire tropical South America while the occurrence of cold night events is likely to decrease. Significant changes in rainfall extremes and dry spells are also projected. These include increased intensity of extreme precipitation events over most of Southeastern South America and western Amazonia consistent with projected increasing trends in total rainfall in these regions. In Northeast Brazil and eastern Amazonia smaller or no changes are seen in projected rainfall intensity though significant changes are seen in the frequency of consecutive dry days. Copyright © 2009 Royal Meteorological Society

Some aspects of the geomagnetic response to solar wind pressure variations: a case study at low and middle latitudes

Abstract. We examined geomagnetic field observations at low and middle latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere during a 50-min interval (12 May 1999), characterized by a complex behaviour of the solar wind dynamic pressure. For the entire interval, the aspects of the geomagnetic response can be organized into four groups of events which show common characteristics for the H and D components, respectively. The correspondence between the magnetospheric field and the ground components reveals different aspects of the geomagnetic response in different magnetic local time (MLT) sectors. For the H component, the correspondence is highly significant in the dusk and night sectors; in the dawn and prenoon sectors it shows a dramatic change across a separation line that extends approximately between (6 MLT, 35°) and (13 MLT, 60°). For the D component, the correspondence has significant values in the dawn and prenoon regions. We propose a new approach to the experimental data analysis which reveals that, at each station, the magnetospheric field has a close correspondence with the geomagnetic field projection along an axis (M1) that progressively rotates from north/south (night events) to east/west orientation (dawn events). When projected along M1, the geomagnetic signals can be interpreted in terms of a one-dimensional pattern that mostly reflects the field behaviour observed at geostationary orbit. Several features appear more evident in this perspective, and the global geomagnetic response to the SW pressure variations appears much clearer than in other representations. In particular, the MLT dependence of the geomagnetic response is much smaller than that one estimated by previous investigations. A clear latitudinal dependence emerges in the dusk sector. The occurrence of low frequency waves at ~2.8mHz can be interpreted in terms of global magnetospheric modes driven by the SW pulse. This event occurred in the recovery phase after the day the SW almost disappeared (11 May 1999): in this sense our results suggest a rapid recovery of almost typical magnetospheric conditions soon after a huge expansion. Overshoot amplitudes, greater than in other cases, are consistent with a significant reduction of the ring current.