scholarly journals Radiocarbon Dating of Small-sized Foraminifer Samples: Insights into Marine sediment Mixing

Radiocarbon ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 313-333
Author(s):  
L Missiaen ◽  
L Wacker ◽  
B C Lougheed ◽  
L Skinner ◽  
I Hajdas ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTRadiocarbon (14C) can be used to build absolute chronologies and reconstruct ocean ventilation over the last 40 ka. Sample size requirements have restricted 14C measurements in marine cores with low foraminifer content, impeding 14C-based studies focused on abrupt climate events. Recent developments have demonstrated that small-sized foraminifer samples can now be dated using a gas introduction system at the cost of a small decrease in precision. We explore the potential of gas measurements on benthic and planktonic foraminifers from core SU90-08 (43°03′1″N, 30°02′5″W, 3080 m). Gas measurements are accurate, reproducible within 2σ uncertainty and comparable to graphite measurements. Both techniques yield negative 14C benthic-planktonic (B-P) age-offsets after Heinrich event 1. We argue that negative B-P ages result from bioturbation and changes in foraminifer abundances, with the chance of negative B-P especially increased when the 14C age gradient between the deep and surface waters is decreased. Small-sized 14C measurements seem to capture the variance of the foraminifera age distribution, revealing the active mixing in those archives. Sediment deposition and mixing effects possibly pose a greater obstacle for past 14C-based dating and ocean ventilation reconstructions than the measurement precision itself, particularly in relatively low sedimentation rate settings.

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 441-441
Author(s):  
Ali McBride ◽  
Karen MacDonald ◽  
Ivo Abraham

441 Background: Biosimilars have contributed to the reduction in the cost of prophylaxis of CIN/FN in recent years. Savings generated from conversion to biosimilars could be reallocated on a budget-neutral basis to provide expanded access to additional prophylaxis or to anti-neoplastic treatment. To demonstrate this, we simulated: 1) the savings that could be realized from CIN/FN prophylaxis with biosimilar pegfilgrastim-cbqv (BIOSIM-PEG) over reference pegfilgrastim with or without on-body injector (PEG/PEG-OBI), 2) a model of expanded access to BIOSIM-PEG from cost-savings achieved from conversion from PEG/PEG-OBI, 3) a model of expanded access to chemotherapy with oxaliplatin, leucovorin, irinotecan, and fluorouracil (FOLFIRINOX) for metastatic pancreatic cancer (mPC), 4) the number-needed-to-convert (NNC) to BIOSIM-PEG to purchase one additional treatment of BIOSIM-PEG, and 5) the NNC to purchase one cycle of FOLFIRINOX. Methods: This simulation modeling from the US payer perspective utilized: 1) a blended rate of average selling price (ASP; derived from CMS Q4 2020 reimbursement) and wholesale acquisition cost (WAC; Redbook) for PEG/PEG-OBI, BIOSIM-PEG, and all FOLFIRINOX agents proportionate to the estimated 2020 incident pancreatic cancer age distribution per Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program (67.6% Medicare-insured patients ≥65 years of age; 32.4% commercially insured patients <65 years); 2) between one and twelve cycles of prophylaxis in a panel of 2,500 mPC patients treated with FOLFIRINOX; and 3) conversion rates from PEG/PEG-OBI to BIOSIM-PEG ranging from 10%—100%. Results: Using a current blended ASP/WAC rate, cost-savings of BIOSIM-PEG over PEG/PEG-OBI in a panel of 2,500 mPC patients range from $188,780 (for 1 cycle of prophylaxis at 10% conversion) to $22,653,609 (12 cycles at 100%). In a single cycle of chemotherapy, these savings translate into expanded access to additional BIOSIM-PEG prophylaxis ranging from 53 cycles at 10% conversion from PEG/PEG-OBI to 528 cycles at 100% or to between 321 to 3,214 cycles of FOLFIRINOX, respectively. The savings over twelve cycles could provide up to 6,330 additional cycles of BIOSIM-PEG or 38,571 cycles of FOLFIRINOX (at 100% conversion). The NNC from PEG/PEG-OBI to purchase one additional cycle of BIOSIM-PEG is 4.74; the NNC to purchase once cycle of FOLFIRINOX is 0.78. Conclusions: These simulated models demonstrate the magnitude of the cost savings for CIN/FN prophylaxis that can be generated by conversion to biosimilar pegfilgrastim-cbqv. Further, these savings could be reallocated to provide access to anti-neoplastic treatment on a budget-neutral basis, thus enhancing the value of cancer care to both payers and patients.


2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiuwen Cao ◽  
Zhiping Lin

Extreme learning machine (ELM) has been developed for single hidden layer feedforward neural networks (SLFNs). In ELM algorithm, the connections between the input layer and the hidden neurons are randomly assigned and remain unchanged during the learning process. The output connections are then tuned via minimizing the cost function through a linear system. The computational burden of ELM has been significantly reduced as the only cost is solving a linear system. The low computational complexity attracted a great deal of attention from the research community, especially for high dimensional and large data applications. This paper provides an up-to-date survey on the recent developments of ELM and its applications in high dimensional and large data. Comprehensive reviews on image processing, video processing, medical signal processing, and other popular large data applications with ELM are presented in the paper.


2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (28n29) ◽  
pp. 1567-1570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. T. CHEW ◽  
H. M. XIA ◽  
C. SHU ◽  
S. Y. M. WAN

With fast development of microfluidic systems, fluid micro-mixing becomes a very important issue. In this paper, recent developments on various micromixers and their working mechanisms are reviewed, including the external agitation methods applied in active mixing and the channel geometries adopted in passive mixer design. The chaotic mixing and the influences of Re would be mainly discussed. At moderate and high Re , the fluid inertial effects usually facilitate the chaotic mixing. At low Re , generation of chaotic advection becomes more difficult but can still be achieved through fluid manipulations such as stretching and folding. Chaotic mixers can be characterized using dynamical system techniques, such as Poincaré plot, and Lyapunov exponent.


Author(s):  
A.D. Williams ◽  
J.L. Humphries

Abstract Over recent years, with the drive for new higher power, higher efficiency Gas Turbine engines, manufacturers have had to look at new alloys and new coating techniques to achieve and support the industry requirements. Repair technology has therefore had to keep pace with the OEM advances and much research and development has been undertaken in developing new repair processes. Many of the alloys now used are directionally solidified or single crystal, which until now have been deemed irreparable by traditional welding techniques. Recent developments in the use of lasers have not only rendered these alloys salvageable but have also reduced the overall repair time and therefore the cost. This paper looks at the use of laser technology as a repair process for gas turbine components, touching briefly on laser cutting and drilling but concentrating mainly on laser powder feed welding and its applications.


1984 ◽  
Vol 79 ◽  
pp. 755-765
Author(s):  
Jerry E. Nelson

The University of California has been actively designing a ten meter telescope (TMT) for optical and infrared groundbased astronomical observations since 1977. The project, now developed in considerable detail, is described in a series of Ten Meter Telescope Reports, technical notes, and publications (see, for example, Nelson 1980,1981,1982). In order to achieve an acceptable cost for the project, the design departs substantially from conventional telescope designs. Recognizing that the cost is roughly proportional to the weight of the structure and to the enclosed volume, we have made the reduction of weight and size a high priority goal of the design. To achieve these objectives a light-weight segmented primary mirror was designed. The parabolic primary is a mosaic of 36 hexagonal segments. In addition, the primary focal ratio is f/1.75, thus resulting in a short telescope tube; this allows a very compact dome.


2002 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 258-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Blose ◽  
Marinus DeBruine ◽  
Parvez Sopariwala

The General Motors/UAW strike in June-July 1998 involved a 54-day work stoppage. General Motors and automobile analysts have attempted to quantify the loss from this strike and have come up with varied numbers. The stock market analysts' reactions to the strike, and consequently, the stock market price reaction, vary depending on which estimation method is employed. There is no real consensus among these various sources because their “economic loss” estimates rely on predictions of how many of the vehicles could not be produced and sold as a result of the strike (or recovered in future quarters). Using recent developments in the cost management literature, we determine the cost of unused capacity or the “accounting loss” suffered by General Motors during the second and third quarters of 1998. We show that General Motors may have lost about $2,332.7 million after taxes (excluding Delphi) due to the strike and an additional $1,313.8 million after taxes (excluding Delphi) due to capacity unused for other reasons. More importantly, such “accounting losses,” to the extent they are not strike-related, are expected to continue each year unless market conditions improve or the company takes action to reduce its capacity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Domínguez-Villar ◽  
Juan A. Vázquez-Navarro ◽  
Kristina Krklec ◽  
Sonja Lojen ◽  
José A. López-Sáez ◽  
...  

Abstract The controls that affect the structure and timing of terminations are still poorly understood. We studied a tufa deposit from the Iberian Peninsula that covers Termination II (T-II) and whose chronology was synchronized to speleothem records. We used the same chronology to synchronize ocean sediments from the North Atlantic to correlate major climate events in a common timescale. We identify two stages within T-II. The first stage started with the increase of boreal summer integrated solar insolation, and during this stage three millennial climate oscillations were recorded. These oscillations resulted from complex ocean–atmosphere interactions in the Nordic seas, caused by the progressive decay of Northern Hemisphere ice-sheets. The second stage commenced after a glacial outburst that caused the collapse of the Thermohaline Circulation, a massive Heinrich event, and the onset of the Bipolar Seesaw Mechanism (BSM) that eventually permitted the completion of T-II. The pace of the millennial oscillations during the first stage of T-II controlled the onset of the second stage, when the termination became a non-reversible and global phenomenon that accelerated the deglaciation. During the last the two terminations, the BSM was triggered by different detailed climate interactions, which suggests the occurrence of different modes of terminations.


1991 ◽  
Vol 112 ◽  
pp. 71-76
Author(s):  
A. M. Smith ◽  
D. L. Dilaura

ABSTRACTAtmospheric scattering of outdoor nighttime electric illumination produces the principal component of background sky luminance that seriously affects ground-based optical astronomy. The sources for this scattering are Tight emitted skyward directly from luminaires, and light reflected off the ground and other illuminated objects. Careful illumination engineering can thus significantly reduce background sky luminance in two ways: 1) by providing outdoor electric lighting equipment that controls the directions in which light is emitted, and; 2) by proper design of outdoor lighting systems which make efficient use of the east amount of light. Recent developments in applied mathematics and computer software have produced computational tools that are being used to design lighting equipment and lighting systems. The software system for luminaire design significantly reduces the cost of this process by eliminating the need for extensive prototyping and provides for inexpensive experimentation with new designs. The system for outdoor lighting calculations permits the design of highly controlled lighting systems that eliminate glare and upward directed light while providing light appropriate for the visual task. These two software systems are described, along with examples of their use in areas that directly affect astronomical observations.


1969 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anuj K Chandel ◽  
Om V Singh ◽  
Gajula Chandrasekhar ◽  
Linga Venkateswar Rao ◽  
Mangamoori Lakshmi Narasu

The imposition of ethanol derived from biomass for blending in gasoline would make countries less dependent on current petroleum sources, which would save foreign exchange reserves, improve rural economies and provide job opportunities in a clean and safe environment. The key drivers for successful commercial ethanol production are cheap raw materials, economic pretreatment technologies, in-house cellulase production with high and efficient titers, high ethanol fermentation rates, downstream recovery of ethanol and maximum by-products utilization. Furthermore, recent developments in engineering of biomass for increased biomass, down-regulation of lignin synthesis, improved cellulase titers and re-engineering of cellulases, and process integration of the steps involved have increased the possibility of cheap bioethanol production that competes with the price of petroleum. Recently, many companies have come forward globally for bioethanol production on a large scale. It is very clear now that bioethanol will be available at the price of fossil fuels by 2010. This article intends to provide insight and perspectives on the important recent developments in bioethanol research, the commercialization status of bioethanol production, the step-wise cost incurred in the process involved, and the possible innovations that can be utilized to reduce the cost of ethanol production.


1980 ◽  
Vol 25 (92) ◽  
pp. 315-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Obled ◽  
Walter Good

AbstractDifferent statistical methods have been tested to answer the challenging problem of forecasting avalanche activity. For each approach, the theoretical background is briefly described, and the main advantages and drawbacks are discussed. The first method consists of a simple discriminant analysis applied to a sample of avalanche days against a sample of non-avalanche days. The second approach tries to take into account different types of avalanche phenomena associated with different types of snow and weather situations. It requires the development of an avalanche typology compatible with the available variables, and leads to a two-stage decision model. A given day is first allocated to a weather type, within which the proper model avalanche-non-avalanche is then processed. A third method, a local non-parametric one, consists of drawing, for the day under study and in an appropriate predictor space, its nearest neighbours from the sample file in order to get an estimate of the probability of avalanche occurrence. For each approach, the explanatory variables may be processed directly as quantitative continuous data or as qualitative categorized data. This removes the problems associated with the very asymmetric distribution of half of them, at the cost of a moderate loss of information. As a rule, the methods were calibrated and then applied to the winters 1972–73 and 1973–74 used as a test sample, thus allowing comparison of their respective potentials in operational forecast.


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