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Systematic benchmarking of climate models: methodologies, applications, and new directions
No full textAs climate models become increasingly complex, there is a growing need to comprehensively and systematically assess model performance with respect to observations. Given the increasing number and diversity of climate model simulations in use, the community has moved beyond simple model intercomparison and toward developing methods capable of benchmarking a large number of simulations against a suite of climate metrics. Here, we present a detailed review of evaluation and benchmarking methods and approaches developed in the last decade, focusing primarily on scientific implications for Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP) simulations and CMIP6 results that contributed to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report (AR6). Based on this review, we explain the resulting contemporary philosophy of model benchmarking, and provide clear distinctions and definitions of the terms model verification, process validation, evaluation, and benchmarking. While significant progress has been made in model development based on systematic evaluation and benchmarking efforts, some climate system biases still remain. The development of open-source community software packages has played a fundamental role in identifying areas of significant model improvement and bias reduction. We review the key features of several software packages that have been commonly used over the past decade to evaluate and benchmark global and regional climate models. Additionally, we discuss best practices for the selection of evaluation and benchmarking metrics and for interpreting the obtained results, the importance of selecting suitable sources of reference data and accurate uncertainty quantification
Viktor Frankl’s thought and its potential to enrich humanistic management from a personalist perspective
No full textViktor E. Frankl’s logotherapy is grounded in experience and in an explicit philosophical anthropology influenced by existentialist thinkers such as Søren Kierkegaard and Gabriel Marcel, by Martin Buber’s philosophy of dialogue, Max Scheler’s phenomenology, and Aristotelian-Thomistic ontology. Frankl’s conception of the person recognises the human being as an indivisible unity, irreducible to larger wholes, unique in existence, endowed with a spiritual dimension, oriented toward meaning, and essentially relational—entailing existence-with-others. The person is also endowed with freedom and the corresponding responsibility, characterised by a transcendent orientation (not closed in on self), and possesses inherent dignity rather than mere utility value. Although Frankl is often described as an existentialist psychiatrist, this article argues that he is more accurately situated within the tradition of personalism. His conception of the human being can contribute to enriching the philosophical foundations of the contemporary Humanistic Management movement by providing new horizons for a humanistic-personalist approach that places the person and his or her existential characteristics at the centre of management
Impact of anthocyanin-rich black rice consumption on cognitive function, inflammation and microvascular function in older adults: a crossover intervention trial.
Full text linkTypical and atypical declines in cognitive function, as well as increases in chronic, low-grade inflammation and impaired vascular function are all impacted by the ageing process. Flavonoid-rich foods/beverages have been extensively shown to impact human cognition and to modulate immune and/or vascular function, although the cause-and-effect relationship between these factors is unclear. Here, we examine the acute (2 hours) and short-term (8 days) effects of anthocyanin-rich black rice on cognition, inflammation, and vascular function in older adults. Twenty-four older adults (65 ± 7 years) participated in a randomized, single-blind, crossover trial with one-week washout periods. Participants consumed either 210 g of anthocyanin-rich black rice (208 mg of anthocyanins) or the brown rice control (0 mg of anthocyanins) daily for 9 days. Acute effects were assessed 2 hours after consumption on days 1 and 9, and short-term effects were evaluated after completing 8 days of intake. Cognitive performance (RAVLT, digit span, Stroop, and digit symbol substitution), microvascular blood flow, and blood pressure were measured for both acute and short-term interventions, while serum inflammatory biomarkers were assessed for the short-term intervention. Anthocyanins and phenolic acids in rice were identified by using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). Data were analyzed using linear mixed models with Bonferroni-corrected comparisons. Eight days of black rice intake significantly improved verbal memory (RAVLT final recall: 12.64 vs. 11.92, p = 0.04; total recall: 52.57 vs. 49.54, p = 0.02) and enhanced digit span backward (change from baseline (CFB) = 0.83, p = 0.03) compared with brown rice. In parallel, black rice significantly reduced interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels (CFB: -0.67, p = 0.03), an effect not seen with the control. Acute black rice consumption attenuated declines in delayed recall (CFB: -1.17, p = 0.09) and recognition (CFB: -0.67, p = 0.19), while significant reductions were observed following brown rice intake. No significant treatment effects were observed for microvascular blood flow or blood pressure. Consumption of anthocyanin-rich black rice for 8 days improved verbal memory and reduced blood IL-6 in older adults. These data suggest for the first time that cognitive benefits induced by anthocyanin-rich black rice may be mediated by anti-inflammatory mechanisms. The clinical trial registry number is NCT06583785 (https://clinicaltrials.gov)
Untangling value-based customer management approaches in business markets: value-based selling, customer success management, key account management
Full text linkAlthough there has been increasing research attention to value-based selling, customer success management, and key account management over the last decade, these concepts have largely been explored in independent streams of literature. As a result, the boundaries and relationships between these customer management approaches remain blurred, and their implementation in business practice often leads to unclear responsibilities and conflicts across organizational units, which may adversely affect customer satisfaction and loyalty. Drawing on recent conceptualizations of customer-perceived value in business markets that build an overarching goal shared by value-based selling, customer success management, and key account management, this article unravels the existing conceptual understandings of these approaches at the specific activity level. We develop an integrated conceptual model that not only articulates the three approaches' conceptual distinctions but also illuminates their interrelationships and complementarities. This study contributes theoretical insights, offers actionable management implications, and identifies promising avenues for future research
Genetic components associated with R2 and R4 powdery mildew resistance in hop
Full text linkEpidemics of powdery mildew disease in hop (Humulus lupulus var. lupulus) lead to
cone spoilage, and in severe cases, crop abandonment. In order to prevent disease-
associated yield losses, hop must be treated with an intensive fungicide management
program. However, the chemical toolbox available is shrinking, and the horticultural
industry is now increasing the uptake of sustainable biological disease control strate-
gies, including genic-based resistance, which can offer a low chemical input strategy.
We investigate the genetic components associated with powdery mildew resistance
in (1) a hop population that segregates for R2 resistance and (2) a diversity panel
containing 736 individuals with differential resistance responses to the hop powdery
mildew race-structure. Both populations were phenotyped using the “Zenith” isolate
(V1, V3, and Vb virulence) and genotyped to enable the association mapping of the
biparental population and a genome-wide association study analysis, respectively.
We identified the same location on chromosome 6 associated with R2 resistance in
both populations. However, an additional resistance allele was associated with R4
resistance. Notably, the most significant single nucleotide polymorphisms on chro-
mosome 6 fall on either side of three RPM1 disease resistance genes, which are prime
candidates for downstream analysis. RPM1 mediates a localized cell death disease
response reminiscent of the R2 phenotype. These results provide novel validated
markers for use in international hop breeding programs. In doing so, we facilitate
the pyramiding of disease resistance genes against multiple races of powdery mildew
and reduce reliance upon chemical applications through providing a varietal control
solution for this major hop pathogen
Radiomics dataset from chest CT of clinically healthy adults
Full text linkThis data note describes a structured dataset of lung radiomic features derived from thoracic noncontrast computed tomography examinations of 100 subjects (47 males, 53 females; aged 15–74 years). Participants were selected on the basis of the absence of known lung, pleura, and mediastinum diseases in clinical records and radiology reports, as well as systemic diseases affecting the respiratory system. The included computed tomography studies were performed on a single multidetector CT scanner (Siemens Healthineers SOMATOM go. Now), using a uniform protocol (110 kVp; reconstructed slice thickness 0.8 mm; Br60-type lung kernel).
For each case, the target thin-slice DICOM series was converted to the NIfTI format. The lung lobes (“raw” masks), vessels and air pathways were segmented automatically with TotalSegmentator. In addition to “raw” lobe masks, vessel/airway-subtracted (parenchyma) masks were generated. Lobe masks (left lung - 2, right lung - 3) were also combined into the left lung, right lung, and both lungs, resulting in eight ROIs per subject for each mask type—with (“raw”) and without vessel/air pathways (“parenchyma”).
For each SubjectID×ROI, radiomic features (107 “original” features—shape, first-order, and texture families) were extracted via a PyRadiomics-based pipeline with fixed settings (B-spline interpolation; resampling to 1×1×1 mm; bin width 25 HU; absolute resegmentation) in two attenuation ranges: −1000 to +200 HU and −950 to 0 HU. The dataset is distributed as (i) a CT protocol table, (ii-iii) two feature tables (“raw” and parenchyma masks), (iv) a JSON file with a computational environment description, (v) a Python extraction script, and (vi) a dictionary file.
This dataset can serve as a normative reference for lung radiomics, a benchmark for harmonization and robustness studies, and a control cohort for comparative modelling in diffuse lung diseases, as well as region-specific diseases requiring lobar or single-lung-specific radiomic features (such as emphysema, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Swyer–James–MacLeod syndrome, asbestosis, and silicosis)
pyfive: A pure-Python HDF5 reader
Full text linkpyfive is an open-source and thread-safe pure Python package for reading data stored in
HDF5. While it is not a complete implementation of all the specifications and capabilities
of HDF5, it includes all the core functionality necessary to read gridded datasets, whether
stored contiguously or with chunks (with or without standard compression options). All data
access is fully lazy as the data is only read from storage when the numpy data arrays are
manipulated. Originally developed some years ago, the package has recently been expanded to
support lazy data access, and to add missing features necessary for handling all the HDF5-based
environmental data known to the authors. It is now a realistic option for production data
access in environmental science and more broadly across other domains. The API is based
on that of h5py (https://github.com/h5py/h5py, a Python shimmy over the HDF5 C-library
which itself is not thread-safe), with some API extensions to help optimise remote access. With
these extensions, coupled with thread safety, many of the limitations precluding the efficient
use of HDF5 (and netCDF4) on cloud storage have been removed
Politics and politicization at the Human Rights Council
No full textAt the heart of the human rights project is a need to bridge the gap between the idealism of international human rights law and the realism of international relations. This requires balancing the need for States to remain engaged with the UN human right system while not allowing excessive politicization that undermines or derails the human rights project. This chapter proposes a three-part model for understanding politicization of human rights bodies, how it is manifests, and the ways in which it impacts upon the Human Rights Council. It focuses first on the theory and practice of politicization, applying it to the UN context, and suggesting there are three main motivations for States’ tactics to politicize. The chapter then turns to the politicization of the Commission on Human Rights that led to its abolition, and the proposals for reform aimed to address those issues. The remainder of the chapter is devoted to thematic discussions of politicization of the Council
Actionable information and climate change awareness drive consumer selection of environmentally beneficial garden plant
No full textDomestic gardens worldwide cover approximately 15-30% of residential urban space and with the appropriate plant composition, have potential to help manage urban water flows, regulate temperatures and air-pollution. However, the provision of these regulating ecosystem services depends upon the preferences and willingness of private garden owners to adopt environmentally beneficial planting, with associated traits that confer these benefits. This study tested whether the way information on beneficial plant traits is presented influences taxa choices. In an experimental online survey, participants were divided into two groups: one received only ‘system information’ (basic facts about environmental problems: climate change, urban flooding, and poor air quality, n = 208), while the other also received ‘action-related information’ (how to potentially address environmental problems by choosing plants with certain traits, n = 211). Receiving ‘action-related information’ significantly influenced plant taxa selection; fewer choices were made for ornamental plants without traits that are beneficial for flood or pollution mitigation. Additionally, participants concerned about climate change were more willing to choose environmentally beneficial taxa, regardless of information group. These findings indicate that pro-environmental planting choices in domestic gardens can be encouraged by providing actionable information and linking to existing climate change concerns