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Coastal flood damage is primarily the result of extreme sea levels. Climate change is expected to drive an increase in these extremes. While proper estimation of changes in storm surges is essential to estimate changes in extreme sea levels, there remains low confidence in future trends of surge contribution to extreme sea levels. Alerting local populations of imminent extreme sea levels is also critical to protecting coastal populations. Both predicting and projecting extreme sea levels require reliable numerical prediction systems. The SurgeMIP (surge model intercomparison) community has been established to tackle such challenges. Efforts to intercompare storm surge prediction systems and coordinate the community's prediction and projection efforts are introduced. An overview of past and recent advances in storm surge science such as physical processes to consider and the recent development of global forecasting systems are briefly introduced. Selected historical events and drivers behind fast increasing service and knowledge requirements for emergency response to adaptation considerations are also discussed. The community's initial plans and recent progress are introduced. These include the establishment of an intercomparison project, the identification of research and development gaps, and the introduction of efforts to coordinate projections that span multiple climate scenarios.

Objectives: The extent to which dentists are happy with their profession and their life has not been well studied. The present study aimed to explore the level of happiness, satisfaction with life and psychological well-being among a sample of dental professionals from 21 countries. Materials and Methods: The sample comprised 2,200 dentists from 21 countries. Three scales – Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS), and Affect Balance Scale (ABS) – were used to measure the subjective responses. Data related to demographic and social characteristics were recorded. Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis tests were used as appropriate. Scales were correlated, and multiple linear regression analyses were employed to identify the independent determinants of SHS, SWLS and ABS. Data were analysed using the SPSS software program; a value of P lt 0.05 was considered significant. Results: The overall mean scores of SHS, SWLS and ABS were 18.53 ± 5.06, 23.06 ± 6.25 and 1.26 ± 2.40, respectively, with significant differences found across countries: dentists working in Croatia, Peru and Serbia recorded the highest scores, unlike dentists practicing in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq, who recorded the lowest scores. There were significant, moderately positive correlations between the various scales: SHS and SWLS: r = 0.535, P lt 0.001; SHS and ABS: r = 0.58, P lt 0.001; and SWLS and ABS: r = 0.533, P lt 0.001. Country of practice, age, qualification and monthly income were the significant independent predictors of SHS, SWLS and ABS. Conclusion: Country of residence and social characteristics were associated with dentists’ responses regarding their feelings and subjective well-being.

The generation and evolution of ocean waves by wind is one of the most complex phenomena in geophysics, and is of great practical significance. Predictive capabilities of respective wave models, however, are impaired by lack of field in situ observations, particularly in extreme Metocean conditions. The paper outlines and highlights important gaps in understanding the Metocean processes and suggests a major observational program in the Southern Ocean. This large, but poorly investigated part of the World Ocean is home to extreme weather around the year. The observational network would include distributed system of buoys (drifting and stationary) and autonomous surface vehicles (ASV), intended for measurements of waves and air-sea fluxes in the Southern Ocean. It would help to resolve the issues of limiting fetches, extreme Extra-Tropical cyclones, swell propagation and attenuation, wave-current interactions, and address the topics of wave-induced dispersal of floating objects, wave-ice interactions in the Marginal Ice Zone, Metocean climatology and its connection with the global climate.

A strategy to produce HLB-resistant citrus using genetic engineering is the overexpression of genes identified in the citrus genome. Plants respond to pathogen attacks by producing several pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. Therefore, individual PR overexpression in transgenic plants can lead to an increased resistance. In this study, we have chosen to use one PR-8 isoform cloned from Citrus sinensis (CsPR-8). The PR-8 is an endochitinase that also has lysozyme activity, to be potentially used against bacterial attacks. We constructed an expression transformation vector (pCAMBIA2201) containing the CsPR-8 gene and the selection gene nptII that confers kanamycin resistance in plants, both driven by the CaMV35S constitutive promoter. Epicotyl segments collected from in vitro seedlings of ‘Hamlin’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) were used for transformation via Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105. The developed shoots were excised from the explants and in vitro grafted onto Carrizo citrange [C. sinensis x Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf] seedlings. The grafted plants were analyzed by PCR, using specific primers for detection of the nptII gene. Acclimation of transgenic plants is under way in order to be transferred to the greenhouse. These plants will be analyzed by Southern blot to confirm the integration of the transgene and by RT-qPCR to evaluate the transgene expression, prior to their evaluation for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus resistance.

A strategy to produce HLB-resistant citrus using genetic engineering is the overexpression of genes identified in the citrus genome. Plants respond to pathogen attacks by producing several pathogenesis-related (PR) proteins. Therefore, individual PR overexpression in transgenic plants can lead to an increased resistance. In this study, we have chosen to use one PR-8 isoform cloned from Citrus sinensis (CsPR-8). The PR-8 is an endochitinase that also has lysozyme activity, to be potentially used against bacterial attacks. We constructed an expression transformation vector (pCAMBIA2201) containing the CsPR-8 gene and the selection gene nptII that confers kanamycin resistance in plants, both driven by the CaMV35S constitutive promoter. Epicotyl segments collected from in vitro seedlings of ‘Hamlin’ sweet orange (Citrus sinensis L. Osbeck) were used for transformation via Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain EHA105. The developed shoots were excised from the explants and in vitro grafted onto Carrizo citrange [C. sinensis x Poncirus trifoliata (L.) Raf] seedlings. The grafted plants were analyzed by PCR, using specific primers for detection of the nptII gene. Acclimation of transgenic plants is under way in order to be transferred to the greenhouse. These plants will be analyzed by Southern blot to confirm the integration of the transgene and by RT-qPCR to evaluate the transgene expression, prior to their evaluation for Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus resistance.

La cultura física y el deporte son categorías que se han relacionado con la actividad física y la educación física a lo largo del tiempo, retomando diferentes paradigmas de conocimiento; sin embargo, el paradigma imperante ha sido el empírico-analítico, que reduce la mirada a los fenómenos medibles y observables. Objetivo: identificar las concepciones y enfoques de la cultura física y el deporte en los diferentes momentos de la historia, planteados desde la lógica del modelo de la determinación social propio de la epidemiología crítica. Metodología: revisión sistemática que permite reconocer los conceptos, teorías y modelos planteados nacional e internacionalmente alrededor de las categorías cultura física y deporte, tomando como modelo de análisis la determinación social. Resultados: la cultura física es un concepto relacionado con el cuerpo, la cultura y el movimiento que no se reconoce en las bases de datos; por el contrario, se relaciona con términos de búsqueda como deporte, recreación y actividad física. No obstante, en algunos países la cultura física se considera como un conjunto de programas y acciones desarrollados desde las áreas del deporte, la recreación y la actividad física, la cual se incluye dentro de las políticas públicas y planes de gobierno. Discusión: en Colombia no hay claridad sobre el significado y la implementación de la cultura física, por esto, se hace necesario revisar este concepto, el cual se ha utilizado dentro los procesos de formación de los profesionales de cultura física, el deporte y la recreación.

We are witnessing increasing demand for applications that are runnable on a wide range of mobile devices (e.g. wireless laptops, mobile phones, sensors). In addition, the emergence of new software technologies (e.g. component approaches, publish subscribe bindings, web services, service discovery protocols) has demanded that such applications face heterogeneous software platforms. However, existing approaches for building mobile device applications are often targeted to a particular platform (e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, sensors) and software technology (Web Services, Microsoft COM, Java components). This paper discusses the use of a generic component approach for the construction of adaptive applications that can integrate and re-use technologies (e.g. middleware and legacy components) and deploy them across heterogeneous devices. We have implemented a Java prototype for J2ME virtual machines and evaluated the potential benefits using development case-studies and performance measures. We show that we can address a wide range of heterogeneity with minimal resource overheads.

We are witnessing increasing demand for applications that are runnable on a wide range of mobile devices (e.g. wireless laptops, mobile phones, sensors). In addition, the emergence of new software technologies (e.g. component approaches, publish subscribe bindings, web services, service discovery protocols) has demanded that such applications face heterogeneous software platforms. However, existing approaches for building mobile device applications are often targeted to a particular platform (e.g. mobile phones, PDAs, sensors) and software technology (Web Services, Microsoft COM, Java components). This paper discusses the use of a generic component approach for the construction of adaptive applications that can integrate and re-use technologies (e.g. middleware and legacy components) and deploy them across heterogeneous devices. We have implemented a Java prototype for J2ME virtual machines and evaluated the potential benefits using development case-studies and performance measures. We show that we can address a wide range of heterogeneity with minimal resource overheads.