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Higher education in the 2020s remains deeply divided on the role of religion, or what the Council on the Advancement of Standards (CAS) in 2023 describes as "religious, secular, and spiritual identities." In two previous articles in this Journal, one 2010 article by the late Peter Magolda and one in 2014 by Perry Glanzer, detail the ways in which students and the student groups themselves should be considered in relationship with their institutions. However, ten years after those arguments, questions of how religious leadership should relate to and interact with the institution still remain. The ways in which institutions are utilizing critical religious pluralism theory are at the forefront of three relationship-minded considerations the authors wish to highlight. Initially, understanding the relationships requires reexamination of the ways interpretations of the First Amendment affect public and the private university settings for religious life. This article explores the relevance of professionalizing the relationship between religious leaders and the institution, the ways in which such a relationship can support stability of the religious communities themselves, and the importance of progressive Christian groups as a part of a more religiously diverse campus's pluralistic religious and spiritual ethos. The gaps in Magolda and Glanzer's arguments, plus the emergence of critical religious pluralism theory, offers new opportunities to consider higher education policies and practices related to "religious, secular, and spiritual" identities.

Since 2011, the Global Energy and Water cycle Exchanges (GEWEX) Water Vapor Assessment (G-VAP) has provided performance analyses for state-of-the-art reanalysis and satellite water vapour products to the GEWEX Data and Analysis Panel (GDAP) and the user community in general. A significant component of the work undertaken by G-VAP is to characterise the quality and uncertainty of these water vapour records to (i) ensure full exploitation and (ii) avoid incorrect use or interpretation of results. This study presents results from the second phase of G-VAP, where we have extended and expanded our analysis of total column water vapour (TCWV) from phase 1, in conjunction with updating the G-VAP archive. For version 2 of the archive, we consider 28 freely available and mature satellite and reanalysis data products, remapped to a regular longitude–latitude grid of 2° × 2° and on monthly time steps between January 1979 and December 2019. We first analysed all records for a “common” short period of 5 years (2005–2009), focusing on variability (spatial and seasonal) and deviation from the ensemble mean. We observed that clear-sky daytime-only satellite products were generally drier than the ensemble mean, and seasonal variability/disparity in several regions up to 12 kg m−2 related to original spatial resolution and temporal sampling. For 11 of the 28 data records, further analysis was undertaken between 1988–2014. Within this “long period”, key results show (i) trends between −1.18 ± 0.68 to 3.82 ± 3.94 kg m−2 per decade and −0.39 ± 0.27 to 1.24 ± 0.85 kg m−2 per decade were found over ice-free global oceans and land surfaces, respectively, and (ii) regression coefficients of TCWV against surface temperatures of 6.17 ± 0.24 to 27.02 ± 0.51 % K−1 over oceans (using sea surface temperature) and 3.00 ± 0.17 to 7.77 ± 0.16 % K−1 over land (using surface air temperature). It is important to note that trends estimated within G-VAP are used to identify issues in the data records rather than analyse climate change. Additionally, breakpoints have been identified and characterised for both land and ocean surfaces within this period. Finally, we present a spatial analysis of correlations to six climate indices within the long period, highlighting regional areas of significant positive and negative correlation and the level of agreement among records.

Motivated by the global rise in demand for marine products, there is increased interest in exploitation of the mesopelagic zone. However, the feasibility of this potential fishery remains uncertain, partly due to limited biological data and knowledge on sustainability of exploitation, and due to questions related to its economic viability. Consequently, there is a demand for better insights into these factors before any commencement of a fishery. Here we use the DISPLACE individual-vessel based bio-economic model to evaluate economic and biological trade-offs of a fishery on Maurolicus muelleri and Benthosema glaciale, the main potential target fish species in the mesopelagic zone of the Northeast Atlantic. We found that a fish price between 1.6-5.0 €/kg is necessary for mesopelagic resources to assure a profitable mesopelagic fishery, which is twice that expected for species with similar fat content. These high fish prices are necessary to cover the high fuel consumption costs due to the distant fishing grounds. Furthermore, the distance of the fishing grounds makes the fuel tank capacity a limiting factor for the fishery. A first evaluation of preliminary harvest control strategies indicated that a low fishing mortality of F = 0.2 year-1 resulted in the highest potential profitability of the fishery. Restriction of gear mesh sizes did not significantly affect the profitability of the fishery. We show that the current ecological uncertainties, especially regarding the life-history, species-specific and spatio-temporal abundance and distribution estimates have a significant impact on the estimates of potential viability of the fishery. It is therefore of the utmost importance to gain more insights in those factors before investments are made into the development of such fishery.

Mesopelagic fish are considered a possible future fisheries resource, but the biological sustainability of their potential exploitation has not yet been assessed. Sustainability should be evaluated at the population level, for which accurate stock-specific life-history parameters are required. Here, we use a length-based model to estimate life-history parameters related to growth and natural mortality, and their uncertainty, for the assessment of Northeast Atlantic populations of Maurolicus muelleri (Gmelin, 1789, Mueller’s Pearlside) and Benthosema glaciale (Reinhardt, 1837, glacier lantern fish). We compare three different approaches to estimate natural mortality rates and provide recommendations for future data collection and monitoring programs. For M. muelleri, we estimated an asymptotic length of 57.98 mm and a von Bertalanffy growth constant of 1.28 year−1, while for B. glaciale, we estimated an asymptotic length of 78.93 mm and a von Bertalanffy growth constant of 0.41 year−1. Estimates of natural mortality rates for M. muelleri were around 1.29 year−1 and 1.80 year−1 based on empirical formulae with the estimated growth parameters and maximum age, respectively, and around 1.51 year−1 with the length-converted catch curve method for B. glaciale estimates ranged between 0.5, 0.68, and 0.75 year−1, with the three respective methods. Due to limited data availability, the estimated uncertainty of the provided life-history parameters is large and should be considered in the evaluation of the sustainability of potential mesopelagic exploitation following the precautionary approach.

Introduction: New EU regulations for increased sustainability and better utilization of side-streams are pushing the European mussel farming and processing industry to adapt to new regulations regarding their wastewater production, which leads to incentives for optimizing methods for better utilization of this side-stream resource. In this study, one such European company is faced with a choice of a filtration system out of three possible options, to invest in and achieve the option with the best balance between economic gain and environmentally sound production.Method: For this, a specialized Analytical Hieratical Processes (AHP) tool was utilized together with a supplementary Debias Your Decisions (DYD) tool to visualize the local best choice for the company.Results: Based on the generated user weights from the company it was apparent that the user weights were biased towards certain criteria in the AHP tool, which meant that half of the tool’s criteria had greatly diminished influence on the tool’s scores. This brought into question the objectivity of the Performance index (Pi) score results from the AHP tool when the user weights were applied, since these Pi scores deviated significantly from the expert Pi scores. The supplement tool DYD was found to be able to identify the dominant decision biases influencing the user weights in the current case, which enabled the implementation of relevant debiasing techniques to correct for the overweighted user weights from the company. With these corrections and the case company’s input data, the optimum alternative suggested for the case company is membrane filtration based on the final Pi scores for all weight sets.Discussion: This process and final debiased results further validated the AHP tools results as objectively grounded due to their convergence with the experts’ scoring results. This study also served as further validation for the new supplement DYD tool as the current sensitivity analysis showed the tool’s robustness to be high.

Abstract Background On 1 January 2018 a four-year test scheme concerning use of medicinal cannabis (MC) was enacted. It has recently been extended for four more years by the Danish Parliament permitting all Danish physicians to prescribe MC to their patients. Previous studies have shown that general practitioners (GPs) have varying prescription experience, little knowledge, and mixed attitudes about MC. However, the present evidence is still limited, and no studies exist about Danish GPs’ prescription experience, knowledge, and attitudes towards MC. Therefore, our aim was to examine Danish GPs’ prescription experience, knowledge, and attitudes towards MC. Methods A national online survey-based study addressing Danish GPs was performed from September 2018 to July 2019. We performed separate multivariable logistic regression analyses including GPs’ prescription experience, knowledge, and attitudes towards MC as outcome variables. Results A total of 427 (38.4%) of 1112 GPs completed the questionnaire. Of these, 37 (8.7%) had experience in prescribing MC. The majority had little or no knowledge about MC (80.6%) as well as a negative view on prescription of MC (71.4%) to patients. Factors associated with prescribing MC to patients were: Single-handed practices (OR = 1.6, 95% CI 1.1;1.8) and perception of having quite some knowledge about MC (OR = 4.8, 95% CI 2.2;10.4). Factors associated with having quite some knowledge about MC were: having a positive attitude towards prescribing MC (OR = 5.2, 95% CI 1.9;14.0), being male (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.4;1.8), and being at least 60 years of age (OR = 2.8, 95% CI 1.3;6.0). Factors associated with having a positive attitude towards prescribing MC were: having quite some knowledge about MC (OR = 5.2, 95% CI 2.2;12.5) and GPs being male (OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.1;1.9). Conclusion In this first study on prescription experience, knowledge, and attitudes about MC among Danish GPs, conducted one year after the Danish test scheme was enacted, we find a very low proportion of prescribers, little knowledge, and an overall negative attitude towards MC. Among the prescribing GPs, four in ten have little to no knowledge and a negative attitude towards MC. We stress that prescribing patterns, knowledge, and attitudes may change throughout the remaining time of the test scheme.

Abstract Understanding the distribution and abundance of heat tolerant corals across seascapes is imperative for predicting responses to climate change and to support novel management actions. Thermal tolerance is variable in corals and intrinsic and extrinsic drivers of tolerance are not well understood. Traditional experimental evaluations of coral heat and bleaching tolerance typically involve ramp-and-hold experiments run across days to weeks within aquarium facilities with limits to colony replication. Field-based acute heat stress assays have emerged as an alternative experimental approach to rapidly quantify heat tolerance in many samples yet the role of key methodological considerations on the stress response measured remains unresolved. Here, we quantify the effects of coral fragment size, sampling time point, and physiological measures on the acute heat stress response in adult corals. The effect of fragment size differed between species (Acropora tenuis and Pocillopora damicornis). Most physiological parameters measured here declined over time (tissue colour, chlorophyll-a and protein content) from the onset of heating, with the exception of maximum photosynthetic efficiency (F v /F m ) which was surprisingly stable over this time scale. Based on our experiments, we identified photosynthetic efficiency, tissue colour change, and host-specific assays such as catalase activity as key physiological measures for rapid quantification of thermal tolerance. We recommend that future applications of acute heat stress assays include larger fragments (> 9 cm2) where possible and sample between 10 and 24 h after the end of heat stress. A validated high-throughput experimental approach combined with cost-effective genomic and physiological measurements underpins the development of markers and maps of heat tolerance across seascapes and ocean warming scenarios.

Random uncertainties and vertical error correlations are estimated for three independent data sets. The three collocated data sets are (1) refractivity profiles of radio occultation measurements retrieved from the Metop-A and B and COSMIC-1 missions, (2) refractivity derived from GRUAN-processed RS92 sondes, and (3) refractivity profiles derived from ERA5 forecast fields. The analysis is performed using a generalization of the so-called three-cornered hat method to include off-diagonal elements such that full error covariance matrices can be calculated. The impacts from various sources of representativeness error on the uncertainty estimates are analysed. The estimated refractivity uncertainties of radio occultations, radiosondes, and model data are stated with reference to the vertical representation of refractivity in these data sets. The existing theoretical estimates of radio occultation uncertainty are confirmed in the middle and upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, and only little dependence on latitude is found in that region. In the lower troposphere, refractivity uncertainty decreases with latitude. These findings have implications for both retrieval of tropospheric humidity from radio occultations and for assimilation of radio occultation data in numerical weather prediction models and reanalyses.

Abstract The expected increase in global food demand, as a consequence of a rising and wealthier world population, and an awareness of the limits and drawbacks of modern agriculture, has resulted in a growing attention to the potential of the seas and oceans to produce more food. The capture production of presently exploited marine fish stocks and other species has more or less reached its maximum and can only be slightly improved by better management. This leaves four alternative options open to increase marine food production: (1) manipulating the entire food web structure via removal of high trophic level species to allow an increasing exploitation of low trophic level species, (2) harvesting so far unexploited stocks, such as various fish species from the mesopelagic zone of the ocean or the larger zooplankton species from polar regions, (3) low‐trophic mariculture of seaweeds and herbivorous animals, and (4) restoration of impoverished coastal ecosystems or artificially increasing productivity by ecological engineering. In this paper, we discuss these four options and pay attention to missing scientific knowledge needed to assess their sustainability. To assess sustainability, it is a prerequisite to establish robust definitions and assessments of the biological carrying capacity of the systems, but it is also necessary to evaluate broader socio‐economic and governance sustainability.

Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tools are essentially methods to enable a decision maker to achieve a more objective approach to a given decision scenario using quantitative methods. One such complex decision scenario is the underutilization of side-streams in the seafood industry, which is brought about by a combination of complex decision challenges related to processing methods, storage methods, logistics, technical viability, status quo mindset, and the attitude of the decision maker. However, the influence and identification of cognitive biases (e.g., loss aversion bias) in MCDM tools are rarely accounted for and may result in a less objective decision process due to subjective influences, which can influence the valorization and utilization of seafood side-streams in a company. To enable a more objective approach where the influence of these cognitive biases is corrected, in this paper, we propose a debiasing method based on the UN’s 14 SDGs, cognitive mapping (CM), and attribute substitution (AS) as an extension of MCDM tools and the modeling of seafood processing. The results of the case-specific implementation show that the proposed method can identify cognitive biases and correct these by enabling the implementation of relevant debiasing techniques that can aid a decision marker in choosing the best alternative when it comes to decisions on reducing wasted side-streams and increasing the sustainability of their food processing. It was found that the debiasing application provided a correction of the user ranking for the best-evaluated alternative within a side-stream scenario to be in line with the experts’ ranking for the same scenario in terms of environmentally and economically efficient production. This is a novel approach combining existing theories and methods into a single bias identification and debiasing method, which is designed to be generic and can be implemented in other sectors and industries using MCDM tools in their decision process. The approach provides industry and science with a verified and structured method to achieve objectivity through the identification and correction of decision-making biases that also supports a balance between a company’s economic and environmental goals.

This paper reviews the state of the art in storm surge forecasting and its particular application in the northern Adriatic Sea. The city of Venice already depends on operational storm surge forecasting systems to warn the population and economy of imminent flood threats, as well as help to protect the extensive cultural heritage. This will be more important in the future, with the new mobile barriers called MOSE (MOdulo Sperimentale Elettromeccanico, Experimental Electromechanical Module) that will be completed by 2021. The barriers will depend on accurate storm surge forecasting to control their operation. In this paper, the physics behind the flooding of Venice is discussed, and the state of the art of storm surge forecasting in Europe is reviewed. The challenges for the surge forecasting systems are analyzed, especially in view of uncertainty. This includes consideration of selected historic extreme events that were particularly difficult to forecast. Four potential improvements are identified: (1) improve meteorological forecasts, (2) develop ensemble forecasting, (3) assimilation of water level measurements and (4) develop a multimodel approach.

To effectively future-proof the management of the European Union fishing fleets we have explored a suite of case studies encompassing the northeast and tropical Atlantic, the Mediterranean, Baltic and Black Seas. This study shows that European Union (EU) fisheries are likely resilient to climate-driven short-term stresses, but may be negatively impacted by long-term trends in climate change. However, fisheries’ long-term stock resilience can be improved (and therefore be more resilient to increasing changes in climate) by adopting robust and adaptive fisheries management, provided such measures are based on sound scientific advice which includes uncertainty. Such management requires regular updates of biological reference points. Such updates will delineate safe biological limits for exploitation, providing both high long-term yields with reduced risk of stock collapse when affected by short-term stresses, and enhanced compliance with advice to avoid higher than intended fishing mortality. However, high resilience of the exploited ecosystem does not necessarily lead to the resilience of the economy of EU fisheries from suffering shocks associated with reduced yields, neither to a reduced carbon footprint if fuel use increases from lower stock abundances. Fuel consumption is impacted by stock development, but also by changes in vessel and gear technologies, as well as fishing techniques. In this respect, energy-efficient fishing technologies already exist within the EU, though implementing them would require improving the uptake of innovations and demonstrating to stakeholders the potential for both reduced fuel costs and increased catch rates. A transition towards reducing fuel consumption and costs would need to be supported by the setup of EU regulatory instruments. Overall, to effectively manage EU fisheries within a changing climate, flexible, adaptive, well-informed and well-enforced management is needed, with incentives provided for innovations and ocean literacy to cope with the changing conditions, while also reducing the dependency of the capture fishing industry on fossil fuels. To support such management, we provide 10 lessons to characterize ‘win-win’ fishing strategies for the European Union, which develop leverages in which fishing effort deployed corresponds to Maximum Sustainable Yield targets and Common Fisheries Policy minimal effects objectives. In these strategies, higher catch is obtained in the long run, less fuel is spent to attain the catch, and the fisheries have a higher resistance and resilience to shock and long-term factors to face climate-induced stresses.

Abstract Background Antibiotic (AB) consumption in production animals has a high awareness among politicians and consumers due to the risk of selection for AB resistance among potentially zoonotic bacteria. However, AB treatment of animals is at times necessary to treat diseases and ensure the wellbeing of the animals we take into our care. Raised without antibiotics (RWA) is a concept where pigs are individually ear-tagged for tracking, and if pigs are AB treated, they lose their RWA status. At slaughter, the farmer receives an additional price for non-AB treated pigs. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors for AB treatment and to investigate growth performance of pigs in two Danish RWA herds. Results A total of 518 pigs in herd A and 436 pigs in herd B, were individually ear-tagged and subjected to weekly investigations of AB treatment status from birth to 12 weeks of age. Bodyweight was recorded at birth, 2, 4 and 12 weeks of age. The results showed, that at 12 weeks of age, 82 of 518 liveborn pigs were AB treated in herd A and 31 of 436 liveborn pigs were AB treated in herd B. Individual pigs that required AB treatment had a reduced average daily gain from day 0 to 28 in both herds (herd A, P

Weather radar has become an invaluable tool for monitoring rainfall and studying its link to hydrological response. However, when it comes to accurately measuring small-scale rainfall extremes responsible for urban flooding, many challenges remain. The most important of them is that radar tends to underestimate rainfall compared to gauges. The hope is that by measuring at higher resolutions and making use of dual-polarization radar, these mismatches can be reduced. Each country has developed its own strategy for addressing this issue. However, since there is no common benchmark, improvements are hard to quantify objectively. This study sheds new light on current performances by conducting a multinational assessment of radar's ability to capture heavy rain events at scales of 5 min up to 2 h. The work is performed within the context of the joint experiment framework of project MUFFIN (Multiscale Urban Flood Forecasting), which aims at better understanding the link between rainfall and urban pluvial flooding across scales. In total, six different radar products in Denmark, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden were considered. The top 50 events in a 10-year database of radar data were used to quantify the overall agreement between radar and gauges as well as the bias affecting the peaks. Results show that the overall agreement in heavy rain is fair (correlation coefficient 0.7–0.9), with apparent multiplicative biases on the order of 1.2–1.8 (17  %–44  % underestimation). However, after taking into account the different sampling volumes of radar and gauges, actual biases could be as low as 10 %. Differences in sampling volumes between radar and gauges play an important role in explaining the bias but are hard to quantify precisely due to the many post-processing steps applied to radar. Despite being adjusted for bias by gauges, five out of six radar products still exhibited a clear conditional bias, with intensities of about 1 %–2 % per mmh−1. As a result, peak rainfall intensities were severely underestimated (factor 1.8–3.0 or 44 %–67 %). The most likely reason for this is the use of a fixed Z–R relationship when estimating rainfall rates (R) from reflectivity (Z), which fails to account for natural variations in raindrop size distribution with intensity. Based on our findings, the easiest way to mitigate the bias in times of heavy rain is to perform frequent (e.g., hourly) bias adjustments with the help of rain gauges, as demonstrated by the Dutch C-band product. An even more promising strategy that does not require any gauge adjustments is to estimate rainfall rates using a combination of reflectivity (Z) and differential phase shift (Kdp), as done in the Finnish OSAPOL product. Both approaches lead to approximately similar performances, with an average bias (at 10 min resolution) of about 30 % and a peak intensity bias of about 45 %.

We here present results from an evaluation of the Radio Occultation Meteorology Satellite Application Facility (ROM SAF) gridded monthly mean climate data record (CDR v1.0), based on Global Positioning System (GPS) radio occultation (RO) data from the CHAMP (CHAllenging Minisatellite Payload), GRACE (Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment), COSMIC (Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere, and Climate), and Metop satellite missions. Systematic differences between RO missions, as well as differences of RO data relative to ERA-Interim reanalysis data, are quantified. The methods used to generate gridded monthly mean data are described, and the correction of monthly mean RO climatologies for sampling errors, which is essential for combining data from RO missions with different sampling characteristics, is evaluated. We find good overall agreement between the ROM SAF gridded monthly mean CDR and the ERA-Interim reanalysis, particularly in the 8–30 km height interval. Here, the differences largely reflect time-varying biases in ERA-Interim, suggesting that the RO data record has a better long-term stability than ERA-Interim. Above 30–40 km altitude, the differences are larger, particularly for the pre-COSMIC era. In the 8–30 km altitude region, the observational data record exhibits a high degree of internal consistency between the RO satellite missions, allowing us to combine data into multi-mission records. For global mean bending angle, the consistency is better than 0.04 %, for refractivity it is better than 0.05 %, and for global mean dry temperature the consistency is better than 0.15 K in this height interval. At altitudes up to 40 km, these numbers increase to 0.08 %, 0.11 %, and 0.50 K, respectively. The numbers can be up to a factor of 2 larger for certain latitude bands compared to global means. Below about 8 km, the RO mission differences are larger, reducing the possibilities to generate multi-mission data records. We also find that the residual sampling errors are about one-third of the original and that they include a component most likely related to diurnal or semi-diurnal cycles.

Abstract Background Archival tags that measure the Earth’s magnetic field could provide a new geolocation method for demersal fishes in the North Pacific Ocean. However, the presence of local magnetic field anomalies caused by geological formations such as volcanic rock and temporal fluctuations from solar storms could complicate its use in some high-latitude areas of the North Pacific Ocean. We assessed the potential value of adding geomagnetic data to a depth-based state-space model for geolocation of demersal fishes in Glacier Bay National Park, USA, a high-latitude magnetic anomaly area. We developed a high-resolution (100 m) magnetic field map of the study area and assessed in situ tag resolution by deploying 5 geomagnetic archival tags on a stationary mooring for 8 months. We compared performance of 4 theoretical geomagnetic tag measurement resolutions (low = ± 1000 nT, medium = ± 500 nT, high = ± 300 nT, and very high = ± 150 nT), 2 map resolutions (coarse- or fine-scale), and 5 methods of geomagnetic variance specification by estimating locations of simulated random walk trajectories under the different treatment scenarios using a hidden Markov model. Results Geomagnetic data improved model performance for both fine-scale and coarse-scale magnetic maps when tag resolutions were medium to very high and geomagnetic variance specification was based on error between measured and mapped values instead of study area attributes such as slope or roughness. Overall, the best model performance was observed for the highest tag resolution, the fine-scale map, and variance based on anomaly magnitudes. However, the coarse-scale map with a constant variance of 165 nT resulted in improvements over depth alone for all tag resolutions. In situ testing of mooring data suggests that the precision of the geomagnetic archival tags was comparable to the low and medium tag measurement resolutions tested in simulations, but variation in performance was high among tags. Conclusions Our results suggest that inclusion of geomagnetic data could improve geolocation of demersal fishes in the North Pacific Ocean, but improvements to geomagnetic tags and additional information on magnetic field values measured at the seafloor compared to the sea surface are needed to ensure its utility.

Atmospheric climate monitoring requires observations of high quality that conform to the criteria of the Global Climate Observing System (GCOS). Radio occultation (RO) data based on Global Positioning System (GPS) signals are available since 2001 from several satellite missions with global coverage, high accuracy, and high vertical resolution in the troposphere and lower stratosphere. We assess the consistency and long-term stability of multi-satellite RO observations for use as climate data records. As a measure of long-term stability, we quantify the structural uncertainty of RO data products arising from different processing schemes. We analyze atmospheric variables from bending angle to temperature for four RO missions, CHAMP, Formosat-3/COSMIC, GRACE, and Metop, provided by five data centers. The comparisons are based on profile-to-profile differences aggregated to monthly medians. Structural uncertainty in trends is found to be lowest from 8 to 25 km of altitude globally for all inspected RO variables and missions. For temperature, it is

Abstract Background Testicular germ cell tumours (TGCTs) are characterised by an overall high cisplatin-sensitivity which has been linked to their continued expression of pluripotency factors. Recently, the Nodal signalling pathway has been implicated in the regulation of pluripotency factor expression in fetal germ cells, and the pathway could therefore also be involved in regulating expression of pluripotency factors in malignant germ cells, and hence cisplatin-sensitivity in TGCTs. Methods We used in vitro culture of the TGCT-derived cell line NTera2, ex vivo tissue culture of primary TGCT specimens and xenografting of NTera2 cells into nude mice in order to investigate the consequences of manipulating Nodal and Activin signalling on pluripotency factor expression, apoptosis, proliferation and cisplatin-sensitivity. Results The Nodal signalling factors were markedly expressed concomitantly with the pluripotency factor OCT4 in GCNIS cells, seminomas and embryonal carcinomas. Despite this, inhibition of Nodal and Activin signalling either alone or simultaneously did not affect proliferation or apoptosis in malignant germ cells in vitro or ex vivo. Interestingly, inhibition of Nodal signalling in vitro reduced the expression of pluripotency factors and Nodal pathway genes, while stimulation of the pathway increased their expression. However, cisplatin-sensitivity was not affected following pharmacological inhibition of Nodal/Activin signalling or siRNA-mediated knockdown of the obligate co-receptor CRIPTO in NTera2 cells in vitro or in a xenograft model. Conclusion Our findings suggest that the Nodal signalling pathway may be involved in regulating pluripotency factor expression in malignant germ cells, but manipulation of the pathway does not appear to affect cisplatin-sensitivity or tumour cell proliferation.

It is unclear whether plant trait relationships found at the global scale extend to climatic extremes. Here the authors analyse six major aboveground traits to show that known plant trait relationships extend to the tundra biomes and exhibit the same two dimensions of variation detected at the global scale.

Mesopelagic fish species represent a large potentially unexploited resource for the fishing industry and the fish meal, oil, nutraceutical, and pharmaceutical production. However, thorough investigation on ecological sustainability and socio-economic viability are fundamental prerequisites for potential exploitation. The current study explores the economic viability of a potential mesopelagic fishery investigating minimum catch rates, under the assumption of previous assessments of biological sustainability of such exploitation. We analyzed fishery data from the North-East Atlantic fisheries of the Danish large pelagic fleet from 2015 to 2019, by comparing the combined data on fishing dynamics and cost-structures with data from interviews of key pelagic producer organization representatives to develop scenarios of profitability. The results show full year-round fleet occupation with the ongoing fisheries, exposing the need of switching from existing activities, or investing into new vessels for conducting potential mesopelagic fishery. Economic analyses revealed that the minimum revenue to break even (zero profit) by trip varies among métiers between 60,000 and 200,000 euro showing strong positive correlation with vessel sizes. High profitability was discovered for herring, Atlantic mackerel and blue whiting fisheries while low profitability was observed for the Norway pout fishery. Due to the lack of mesopelagic fishery data, different scenarios of profitability were investigated as informed by the pelagic catch sector stakeholder perceptions of prices and costs and compared to current economic dynamics. A high break-even revenue per trip was forecasted given the increased perceived costs for fuel, modifications of gears and on-board processing methods and potential new vessel investments. High profitability may be reached if the catches exceed 220–1,060 tons per trip depending on costs and vessel storage capacity. If the conservation methods are improved from current refrigerated sea water, fishing trips could last longer than 5 days, being the major limiting economic factor for potential mesopelagic fishery. Future investigations on realistic mesopelagic catches, trip durations and spatio-temporal distribution of fisheries in relation to location, resource abundance, fishing rights, storage and conservation methods will be essential to test the robustness of the scenarios proposed in this study, and will in turn benefit of the economic requirements evaluated herein.

We present a full-year online global simulation of tropospheric chemistry (158 coupled species) at cubed-sphere c720 ( ∼ 12.5×12.5 km2) resolution in the NASA Goddard Earth Observing System Model version 5 Earth system model (GEOS-5 ESM) with GEOS-Chem as a chemical module (G5NR-chem). The GEOS-Chem module within GEOS uses the exact same code as the offline GEOS-Chem chemical transport model (CTM) developed by a large atmospheric chemistry research community. In this way, continual updates to the GEOS-Chem CTM by that community can be seamlessly passed on to the GEOS chemical module, which remains state of the science and referenceable to the latest version of GEOS-Chem. The 1-year G5NR-chem simulation was conducted to serve as the Nature Run for observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) in support of the future geostationary satellite constellation for tropospheric chemistry. It required 31 wall-time days on 4707 compute cores with only 24 % of the time spent on the GEOS-Chem chemical module. Results from the GEOS-5 Nature Run with GEOS-Chem chemistry were shown to be consistent to the offline GEOS-Chem CTM and were further compared to global and regional observations. The simulation shows no significant global bias for tropospheric ozone relative to the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite and is highly correlated with observations spatially and seasonally. It successfully captures the ozone vertical distributions measured by ozonesondes over different regions of the world, as well as observations for ozone and its precursors from the August–September 2013 Studies of Emissions, Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) aircraft campaign over the southeast US. It systematically overestimates surface ozone concentrations by 10 ppbv at sites in the US and Europe, a problem currently being addressed by the GEOS-Chem CTM community and from which the GEOS ESM will benefit through the seamless update of the online code.

The performance of short-range operational forecasts of significant wave height (SWH) in the Baltic Sea is evaluated. Forecasts produced by a base configuration are intercompared with forecasts from two improved configurations: one with improved horizontal and spectral resolution and one with ensembles representing uncertainties in the physics of the forcing wind field and the initial conditions of this field. Both of the improved forecast classes represent an almost equal increase in computational costs. Therefore, the intercomparison addresses the question of whether more computer resources would be more favorably spent on enhancing the spatial and spectral resolution or, alternatively, on introducing ensembles. The intercomparison is based on comparisons with hourly observations of significant wave height from seven observation sites in the Baltic Sea during the 3-year period from 2015 to 2017. We conclude that for most wave measurement sites, the introduction of ensembles enhances the overall performance of the forecasts, whereas increasing the horizontal and spectral resolution does not. These sites represent offshore conditions, in that they are well exposed from all directions, are a large distance from the nearest coast and in deep water. Therefore, there is the a priori expectation that a detailed shoreline and bathymetry will not have any impact. Only at one site do we find that increasing the horizontal and spectral resolution significantly improves the forecasts. This site is situated in nearshore conditions, close to land and a nearby island, and is therefore shielded from many directions. Consequently, this study concludes that to improve wave forecasts in offshore areas, ensembles should be introduced. For near shore areas, in comparison, the study suggests that additional computational resources should be used to increase the resolution.

Abstract Background The aim of this study was to investigate whether the syndrome New Neonatal Porcine Diarrhoea Syndrome (NNPDS) is associated with a viral aetiology. Four well-managed herds experiencing neonatal diarrhoea and suspected to be affected by NNPDS were included in a case-control set up. A total of 989 piglets were clinically examined on a daily basis. Samples from diarrhoeic and non-diarrhoeic piglets at the age of three to seven days were selected for extensive virological examination using specific real time polymerase chain reactions (qPCRs) and general virus detection methods. Results A total of 91.7% of the animals tested positive by reverse transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) for porcine kobuvirus 1 (PKV-1) while 9% and 3% were found to be positive for rotavirus A and porcine teschovirus (PTV), respectively. The overall prevalence of porcine astrovirus (PAstV) was 75% with 69.8% of the PAstV positive pigs infected with PAstV type 3. No animals tested positive for rotavirus C, coronavirus (TGEV, PEDV and PRCV), sapovirus, enterovirus, parechovirus, saffoldvirus, cosavirus, klassevirus or porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2). Microarray analyses performed on a total of 18 animals were all negative, as were eight animals examined by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Using Next Generation de novo sequencing (de novo NGS) on pools of samples from case animals within all herds, PKV-1 was detected in four herds and rotavirus A, rotavirus C and PTV were detected in one herd each. Conclusions Our detailed analyses of piglets from NNPDS-affected herds demonstrated that viruses did not pose a significant contribution to NNPDS. However, further investigations are needed to investigate if a systemic virus infection plays a role in the pathogenesis of NNPDS.

Abstract Red blood cells infected by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum are correlatively imaged by tomography using soft X-rays as well as by scanning hard nano-X-ray beam to obtain fluorescence maps of various elements such as S and Fe. In this way one can deduce the amount of Fe bound either in hemoglobin or in hemozoin crystals in the digestive vacuole of the malaria parasite as well as determine the hemoglobin concentrations in the cytosols of the red blood cell and of the parasite. Fluorescence map of K shows that in the parasite’s schizont stage the K concentration in the red blood cell cytosol is diminished by a factor of seven relative to a pristine red blood cell but the total amount of K in the infected red blood cell is the same as in the pristine red blood cell.

Application of weather radar data in urban hydrological applications has evolved significantly during the past decade as an alternative to traditional rainfall observations with rain gauges. Advances in radar hardware, data processing, numerical models, and emerging fields within urban hydrology necessitate an updated review of the state of the art in such radar rainfall data and applications. Three key areas with significant advances over the past decade have been identified: (1) temporal and spatial resolution of rainfall data required for different types of hydrological applications, (2) rainfall estimation, radar data adjustment and data quality, and (3) nowcasting of radar rainfall and real-time applications. Based on these three fields of research, the paper provides recommendations based on an updated overview of shortcomings, gains, and novel developments in relation to urban hydrological applications. The paper also reviews how the focus in urban hydrology research has shifted over the last decade to fields such as climate change impacts, resilience of urban areas to hydrological extremes, and online prediction/warning systems. It is discussed how radar rainfall data can add value to the aforementioned emerging fields in current and future applications, but also to the analysis of integrated water systems.

The GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model (CTM), used by a large atmospheric chemistry research community, has been re-engineered to also serve as an atmospheric chemistry module for Earth system models (ESMs). This was done using an Earth System Modeling Framework (ESMF) interface that operates independently of the GEOS-Chem scientific code, permitting the exact same GEOS-Chem code to be used as an ESM module or as a stand-alone CTM. In this manner, the continual stream of updates contributed by the CTM user community is automatically passed on to the ESM module, which remains state of science and referenced to the latest version of the standard GEOS-Chem CTM. A major step in this re-engineering was to make GEOS-Chem grid independent, i.e., capable of using any geophysical grid specified at run time. GEOS-Chem data sockets were also created for communication between modules and with external ESM code. The grid-independent, ESMF-compatible GEOS-Chem is now the standard version of the GEOS-Chem CTM. It has been implemented as an atmospheric chemistry module into the NASA GEOS-5 ESM. The coupled GEOS-5–GEOS-Chem system was tested for scalability and performance with a tropospheric oxidant-aerosol simulation (120 coupled species, 66 transported tracers) using 48–240 cores and message-passing interface (MPI) distributed-memory parallelization. Numerical experiments demonstrate that the GEOS-Chem chemistry module scales efficiently for the number of cores tested, with no degradation as the number of cores increases. Although inclusion of atmospheric chemistry in ESMs is computationally expensive, the excellent scalability of the chemistry module means that the relative cost goes down with increasing number of cores in a massively parallel environment.

Achieving good environmental status in the Baltic Sea region requires decision support tools which are based on scientific knowledge across multiple disciplines. Such tools should integrate the complexity of the ecosystem and enable exploration of different natural and anthropogenic pressures such as climate change, eutrophication and fishing pressures in order to compare alternative management strategies. We present a new framework, with a Baltic implementation of the spatially-explicit end-to-end Atlantis ecosystem model linked to two external models, to explore the different pressures on the marine ecosystem. The HBM-ERGOM initializes the Atlantis model with high-resolution physical-chemical-biological and hydrodynamic information while the FISHRENT model analyses the fisheries economics of the output of commercial fish biomass for the Atlantis terminal projection year. The Baltic Atlantis model composes 29 sub-areas, 9 vertical layers and 30 biological functional groups. The balanced calibration provides realistic levels of biomass for, among others, known stock sizes of top predators and of key fish species. Furthermore, it gives realistic levels of phytoplankton biomass and shows reasonable diet compositions and geographical distribution patterns for the functional groups. By simulating several scenarios of nutrient load reductions on the ecosystem and testing sensitivity to different fishing pressures, we show that the model is sensitive to those changes and capable of evaluating the impacts on different trophic levels, fish stocks, and fisheries associated with changed benthic oxygen conditions. We conclude that the Baltic Atlantis forms an initial basis for strategic management evaluation suited for conducting medium to long term ecosystem assessments which are of importance for a number of pan-Baltic stakeholders in relation to anthropogenic pressures such as eutrophication, climate change and fishing pressure, as well as changed biological interactions between functional groups.