1,721,167 research outputs found
Classifying aerosol type using in situ surface spectral aerosol optical properties
Full text linkKnowledge of aerosol size and composition is important for determining radiative forcing effects of aerosols, identifying aerosol sources and improving aerosol satellite retrieval algorithms. The ability to extrapolate aerosol size and composition, or type, from intensive aerosol optical properties can help expand the current knowledge of spatiotemporal variability in aerosol type globally, particularly where chemical composition measurements do not exist concurrently with optical property measurements. This study uses medians of the scattering Ångström exponent (SAE), absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) and single scattering albedo (SSA) from 24 stations within the NOAA/ESRL Federated Aerosol Monitoring Network to infer aerosol type using previously published aerosol classification schemes.
Three methods are implemented to obtain a best estimate of dominant aerosol type at each station using aerosol optical properties. The first method plots station medians into an AAE vs. SAE plot space, so that a unique combination of intensive properties corresponds with an aerosol type. The second typing method expands on the first by introducing a multivariate cluster analysis, which aims to group stations with similar optical characteristics and thus similar dominant aerosol type. The third and final classification method pairs 3-day backward air mass trajectories with median aerosol optical properties to explore the relationship between trajectory origin (proxy for likely aerosol type) and aerosol intensive parameters, while allowing for multiple dominant aerosol types at each station.
The three aerosol classification methods have some common, and thus robust, results. In general, estimating dominant aerosol type using optical properties is best suited for site locations with a stable and homogenous aerosol population, particularly continental polluted (carbonaceous aerosol), marine polluted (carbonaceous aerosol mixed with sea salt) and continental dust/biomass sites (dust and carbonaceous aerosol); however, current classification schemes perform poorly when predicting dominant aerosol type at remote marine and Arctic sites and at stations with more complex locations and topography where variable aerosol populations are not well represented by median optical properties. Although the aerosol classification methods presented here provide new ways to reduce ambiguity in typing schemes, there is more work needed to find aerosol typing methods that are useful for a larger range of geographic locations and aerosol population
Variations of the chemical characteristics and source regions of aerosols at the Cape Point GAW station
Full text linkNitrogen is an essential component for life. The natural nitrogen cycle has been greatly disturbed by the production of fertilizer and use of fossil fuels, such that it has doubled the amount of reactive nitrogen (Nr) produced globally. Excessive additions of Nr to the environment can have negative effects, including eutrophication, loss of biodiversity, enhanced greenhouse gas emissions, acidification, increased tropospheric ozone, and damage to human health. Excess ammonia (NH3) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions lead to increased aerosol loading via secondary aerosol formation processes. Increased aerosol loading has impacts on the climate and on human health. Furthermore, the aerosols formed from Nr from continental sources can get deposited to the open ocean, which is usually nitrogen limited. Knowing the concentrations of different aerosol species from a pollution free environment, such as the remote open ocean, can give insights into the natural preindustrial conditions and be used as a baseline for looking into the impacts of anthropogenic activities. This thesis focuses on establishing the Cape Point Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station as a site for collecting aerosol samples from pristine marine air masses. The use of a tower site allows for high temporal resolution sampling across multiple seasons and years, which is logistically difficult when relying on ship-based sampling of pristine marine environments. Results are presented from the chemical composition analysis of aerosols sampled at the Cape Point GAW station, including comparisons of two different aerosol sampling systems (tall-tower PM10 and ground-based sizesegregated). Furthermore, the installation and testing of a sector-controlled sampling system designed to reduce continental influence on samples is evaluated. Air mass back trajectories and radon (222Rn) concentrations were used to classify the air masses of each aerosol sample as either marine, modified marine, or continental. We found that continental samples had elevated concentrations of NH4 + , NO3 - , and non-sea-salt SO4 2- , whereas the marine samples had elevated concentrations of Cl- , and Na+ , as expected. A comparison of the tall-tower PM10 and ground-based size-segregated sampling systems showed that the ground-based sampler measured higher concentrations of coarse mode aerosols. This is attributed to the settling of large aerosols within the long sampling intake tube from the tower sampling system. The sector-controlled sampling system based on wind speed and direction was able to remove some of the influence of continental air masses, however some continental influence could not be avoided as the continental air masses circulated over the ocean before being sampled from the marine sector. This system could be improved by having additional cut-off limits defined for sampling, such as particle number, black carbon, or carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
The Numerical Features of the Book of Isaiah:The Structural Design of Segment IV: Isaiah 28 - 35
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