A Climatology of Extreme Convective Storms in Tropical and Subtropical East Asia and Their Ingredients for Heavy Rainfall as Seen by TRMM.

Heavy rainfall is a challenge to forecast due to the variety of rainfall intensities and durations across a wide spectrum of high-impact storm types. In this study, we analyze extreme storms in Tropical and Subtropical East Asia, a moisture-rich environment with complex terrain and oceanic regions. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission's Precipitation Radar is utilized to characterize the frequency and rainfall intensity of four extreme storm types.

Statistical-thermodynamic model for light scattering from eye lens protein mixtures.

We model light-scattering cross sections of concentrated aqueous mixtures of the bovine eye lens proteins γB- and α-crystallin by adapting a statistical-thermodynamic model of mixtures of spheres with short-range attractions. The model reproduces measured static light scattering cross sections, or Rayleigh ratios, of γB-α mixtures from dilute concentrations where light scattering intensity depends on molecular weights and virial coefficients, to realistically high concentration protein mixtures like those of the lens. The model relates γB-γB and γB-α attraction strengths and the γB-α size ratio to the free energy curvatures that set light scattering efficiency in tandem with protein refractive index increments.

Computational cardiac electrophysiology: implementing mathematical models of cardiomyocytes to simulate action potentials of the heart.

Mathematical models are now an important tool for studying cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias. Utilizing these models to quantify behavior and make predictions requires solving the models computationally using numerical schemes. We discuss different solution methods and other computational considerations for simulating cardiac action potentials in single cells and multicellular preparations.

Q fever diagnosis in domestic ruminants: comparison between complement fixation and commercial enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays.

Q fever is an important zoonotic disease caused by infection with the bacterium Coxiella burnetii. Veterinary diagnostic laboratories, including the Veterinary Laboratories Agency (VLA) in England and Wales, have traditionally relied on the complement fixation test (CFT) for serological diagnosis. However, Q fever has assumed greater significance in recent years following several large human outbreaks linked to exposure to infected ruminants and it is essential that more reliable tests are introduced to detect the presence of C.

Hurricane intensity and eyewall replacement.

Observations made during the historic 2005 hurricane season document a case of "eyewall replacement." Clouds outside the hurricane eyewall coalesce to form a new eyewall at a greater radius from the storm center, and the old eyewall dies. The winds in the new eyewall are initially weaker than those in the original eyewall, but as the new eyewall contracts, the storm reintensifies.