The analysis of the sea-ice diatom biomarker IP25 (a mono-unsaturated Highly Branched Isoprenoid (HBI) alkene) in Arctic marine sediments has previously been shown to provide a useful qualitative proxy measure for the past spring sea-ice occurrence. In the Southern Ocean the occurrence and variable abundance of a structurally similar di-unsaturated HBI (HBI diene II) has previously been proposed as a proxy measure of paleo sea-ice extent. However, the use of such biomarker proxies remains under development. In the current study, a number of additional palaeoceanographic developments of HBIs as sea-ice biomarkers in both polar regions has been undertaken. For the Arctic, an investigation into the combined analysis of IP25 and certain phytoplankton biomarkers has been conducted with the aim of providing more detailed and semi-quantitative descriptions of sea-ice conditions in the Barents Sea. In contrast, analysis of HBIs and other lipids within water column, surface sediment and sea-ice samples has been undertaken to provide further insights into the use of HBIs as proxies for Antarctic sea-ice. Analysis of surface sediments from across the Barents Sea has shown that the relative abundances of IP25 and a tri-unsaturated HBI lipid (HBI triene IIIa) are characteristic of the overlying surface oceanographic conditions, most notably, the location of the seasonal sea-ice edge. A semi-quantitative approach, in the form of the PIP25 index, showed a good positive linear relationship between PIP25 indices and spring sea-ice concentration, with a particularly strong relationship found when using HBI triene IIIa (PIIIaIP25) as the open-water counterpart to IP25. The quality of the linear fits were not especially dependent on the balance factor c, used in the PIP25 calculation, which may have important positive consequences for down-core sea-ice reconstruction, and when making comparisons between outcomes from different Arctic regions or climatic epochs. Further, a lower limit threshold for PIIIaIP25 (0.8) might represent a useful qualitative proxy for the past occurrence of summer sea-ice. The re-evaluation of biomarker data from three dated marine sequences in the Barents Sea suggests that the combined analysis of IP25 and HBI triene IIIa can provide information on temporal variations in the position of the maximum (winter) Arctic sea-ice extent, together with more quantitative sea-ice reconstructions. In the Southern Ocean, the distributions of di- and tri-unsaturated HBIs (HBI diene II and HBI trienes IIIa and IIIb) in surface waters were shown to be extremely sensitive to the local sea-ice conditions, consistent with significant environmental control over their biosynthesis by sea-ice diatoms and open water phytoplankton, respectively. Within the water column, the apparent alteration to HBI and other lipid abundances was evident between the photic and benthic parts of the water column, which, along with additional local factors (e.g. polynya formation), may have important implications for paleo sea-ice reconstructions. The sedimentary occurrence and distribution of HBI diene II (termed here as IPSO25) were consistent with the recent identification of the diatom Berkeleya adeliensis Medlin as a source of IPSO25. The tendency for B. adeliensis to flourish in platelet ice, the formation of which is strongly associated with super-cooled freshwater inflow, means that sedimentary IPSO25 may provide a potentially sensitive proxy indicator of landfast sea-ice influenced by meltwater discharge from nearby glaciers and ice shelves. Re-examination of some previous IPSO25 down-core records supports this suggestion, although further down-core analysis is required to confirm this hypothesis. The similar sedimentary distribution relationship between phytoplankton-derived HBI trienes and IPSO25, further indicates that the former may reflect production of these biomarkers by certain diatoms that flourish within the region of the retreating ice edge; however, the source identification of the HBI trienes is still needed to place this interpretation on a firmer footing.

The Late Devonian-Early Mississippian-age New Albany Shale is both a source rock and reservoir rock for hydrocarbons in the Illinois Basin. Previously suggested models for organic carbon enrichment consider productivity, anoxia, and the interdependent roles of sedimentation, primary production, and microbial metabolism. This study attempts to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions during deposition and re-evaluates these models using geochemical data from multiple cores across the eastern edge of the Illinois Basin in west-central Kentucky. Geochemical methods utilizing redox-sensitive major elements (C, S, Fe, P, K, Ti, and Si), trace elements (V and Mo), and ratios (Ni/Co, V/Cr, and V/(V+Ni) are used. Analysis of paleo-redox indicators suggests variable bottom-water conditions during accumulation of the New Albany Shale members including: anoxic to possibly euxinic conditions for the Clegg Creek Member, anoxic to periodically dysoxic conditions for the Camp Run, and dysoxic to oxic (normal marine) for the Morgan Trail and Blocher Members. Variability in redox proxy results suggests that multiple parameters should be utilized in such studies rather than relying on a single proxy. High C/P ratios observed in these members may be controlled by regeneration of P, enhanced productivity, and sequestration of organic carbon (the productivity-anoxia feedback (PAF) mechanism) under anoxic conditions. The lack of correlation between organic carbon content and clastic-influx proxies suggests that organic matter (OM) accumulation was not controlled by sedimentation rate or increased nutrient supply associated with increased sediment influx.

This research is an attempt to introduce and operationalize a new concept of proxy diplomacy by exploring how some nations, in this fast changing world, are evolving some effective ways of enhancing their interests and foreign policy objectives in areas in which they do not have vital interests, but which are worth intervening in. To do this, the researcher established Angola as the theater of the practice of proxy diplomacy, and the United States, the Soviet Union, South Africa and Cuba as actors. It is further established that the United States and the Soviet Union actually practice proxy diplomacy by deputizing South Africa and Cuba, respectively, to enhance their interests in Angola.

Tornadoes cause numerous deaths and significant property damage each year, yet how tornado activity varies across climate states, particularly under global warming, remains poorly understood. Importantly, severe weather events arise during transient periods of extreme thermodynamic environments whose variability may differ from that of the environmental mean state. This study analyzes the climatological relationships between commonly-used severe weather environmental proxies (the product of convective available potential energy and bulk vertical wind shear, energy-helicity index, and the significant tornado parameter) and tornado density on three dominant timescales of climate forcing: diurnal, seasonal, and interannual. We utilize reanalysis data to calculate the spatial distributions of the mean, median, and a range of extreme percentiles of these proxies across each timescale as well as for the full climatology. We then test the extent to which each measure captures the spatiotemporal variability of tornado density over the continental United States. Results indicate that the mean is a suitable statistic when used with the full climatology of the energy-helicity index and the significant tornado parameter without using convective inhibition in calculations, the diurnal cycle for convective available potential energy and the product of convective available potential energy and bulk vertical wind shear, and the interannual variations for all proxies except convective available potential energy. The mean is outperformed by extreme percentiles otherwise. This understanding of climatological relationships between tornadoes and the large scale environments can improve prediction of tornado frequency and provides a foundation for understanding how changes in the statistics of large-scale environments may affect tornado activity in a future warmer climate state.

Nowadays, Web caching technique has been widely used and become one of the most promising ways to reduce network traffic, server load, and user-experienced latency while users surf the Web. In the context of traditional systems, caching techniques have been extensively studied. However, these techniques are not directly applicable to Web due to larger size of working set and cache storage in proxies. Many studies have presented their approaches to improving the performance of Web caching. Two of most representative approaches are hash routing [25] and directory-base digest [12]. Hash routing provides amapping fromthe URL of object to the location of proxy, which has the cached object, while directory-based digest records the pairs of proxy locations and object URLs for answering the query when local misses occur in any proxy. Hash routing can best utilize storage space by eliminating duplicated objects among proxies,while directory-based digest allows object replicas among proxies to resist proxy failures. These two conventional approaches have complementary tradeoffs. In this thesis, a comprehensive approach to cooperative caching for Web proxies, using a combination of hash routing and directory-based digest, is presented. Our approach tends to subsume these widely used approaches and thus gives a spectrum of trade-off between the overall hit ratio and its associated overhead. Through the simulations using real-life proxy traces, the performance and overhead of our proposed mechanism were evaluated. The experimental results showed that our approach outperforms the previous competitors.

Proxies, software deployed inside the network, play a fundamental role in the Internet by providing enhanced functionality to the network. Deployment of proxies is a flexible way of extending the Internet architecture with new services and to cope with problems that were not foreseen at the time the original Internet protocols were defined. The creation of the Internet is an enormous investment in time, effort and money, and proxies allow us to build on the existing infrastructure to enhance its functionality, rather than replace it. As the use of proxies increase, so does the problem of proxy configuration and deployment, especially with respect to interference between different proxies. With a limited number of different proxies, this problem can be dealt with manually, or by encoding knowledge of interfering proxies into each proxy. As the number of proxies grow, methods to automatically detect and cope with conflicts must be devised. Therefore, proxies need to coordinate with each other. Towards this end, a signalling protocol that can be used to establish and configure a sequence of one or more proxies along an end-to-end flow is proposed. The protocol is realized as an extension of IP, using an IP option, which simplifies its deployment in the Internet. In order to facilitate reasoning about coordination, conflicts and deployment of proxies, a model has been developed. The model is based on the concept of regions, also developed in the thesis. Regions are interconnected parts of the network that share a common property, e.g. administrative control or error characteristic. Along with the model, a classification of proxy architectures with respect to how they gather information and deploy proxies is presented. A method based on this model is also proposed. We also propose an algorithm for controlling compression to maximize perceived throughput in situations where available bandwidth and CPU power varies. Along with the algorithm, experimental results that show that the algorithm approximates the best non-adaptive choice in a number of situations are presented. This algorithm has been implemented as an end-to-end enhancement.

No description available.

Proxies geoquímicos (n-alcanos, alquenonas, GDGTs, δ13C, Fe/Ca e Ti/Ca), obtidos em amostras de um testemunho sedimentar, foram utilizados para avaliar as mudanças paleoclimáticas e paleoceanográficas na região da Plataforma Continental de São Sebastião ao longo do Holoceno Tardio. O modelo de idade, obtido através da análise conjunta dos métodos de 210Pb e 14C, demonstrou que testemunho aqui estudado cobre os últimos 1500 anos. A avaliação dos marcadores terrígenos permitiu a identificação das mudanças na drenagem e erosão continental, as quais estão relacionadas às alterações no regime de precipitação do continente adjacente. Variações ao longo do tempo na temperatura da superfície do mar foram relacionadas às mudanças no regime de ventos predominante, os quais são responsáveis por um aumento ou uma redução da frequência dos eventos de ressurgência. Já as mudanças nos valores de temperatura de subsuperfície foram relacionadas com a entrada e saída da Água Central do Atlântico Sul próxima às regiões costeiras, e com os processos de mistura na coluna d\'água. As variações na temperatura média do ar (TMA), por sua vez, provavelmente estiveram relacionadas com mudanças na irradiação total solar. Períodos representados pelos valores mais elevados de TMA correspondem aos períodos de máxima irradiação solar conhecidos como Máxima Medieval (1100 a 1250 DC) e Máxima Moderna (1950 - presente) e o período representado pelos menores valores de TMA coincide com o período de mínima solar conhecido como Spörer. Além disso, foi possível observar uma redução na entrada de material terrígeno para a plataforma continental durante a Anomalia Climática Medieval. Em contrapartida, o período que corresponde a Pequena Era do Gelo foi caracterizado por um aumento da contribuição terrígena. No geral, foi possível observar que o gradiente de temperatura da superfície do mar entre o Oceano Atlântico Norte e o Atlântico Sul parece desempenhar um papel importante desencadeando ou amplificando as mudanças climáticas observados nos trópicos. Este dipolo de temperatura pode ocasionar mudanças na posição da Zona de Convergência Intertropical e no regime de ventos predominantes, que por sua vez irão influenciar, direta e indiretamente, nas mudanças na circulação marinha de superfície e no regime de chuvas da região. / Geochemical proxies (n-alkanes, alkenones, GDGTs, δ13C, Fe / Ca and Ti / Ca) were used to evaluate the paleoclimatic and paleoceanographic changes in the Continental Shelf of São Sebastião during the Late Holocene. The age model, obtained through the combined analyses of 210Pb and 14C methods, indicated that the core used in this study covers the last 1500 years. Variations in the sea surface temperature may be related to changes in the prevailing winds, which in turn are responsible for an increase or reduction in the frequency of the upwelling events. Changes in subsurface temperature values can be related to the presence of the South Atlantic Central Water near the coastal regions, and the mixing processes in the water column. Changes in mean air temperature (MAT), in turn, are probably related to fluctuations in total solar radiation, since periods represented by higher values of MAT correspond to the periods of maximum solar irradiation known as Medieval (1100-1250 AD) and Modern Maximum (1950 - present). While the period represented by the lower MAT values can be linked to the solar minimum period known as Spörer. The evaluation of terrigenous markers allowed the identification of variations in the drainage and continental erosion, which in turn are related to changes in the precipitation of the adjacent continent. Furthermore, the Medieval Climate Anomaly was characterized by a decrease in the terrigenous input, while the Little Ice Age could be characterized as a period of increased terrestrial contribution. Overall, it was observed that the sea surface temperature gradient between the North Atlantic and the South Atlantic Oceans appears to play an important role in triggering or amplifying climate change observed in the tropics. This temperature dipole can cause changes in the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone and the direction of prevailing winds, which in turn will influence, directly and indirectly, the marine circulation and the rainfall.

O conhecimento da paleoceanografia do Oceano Atlântico Sul tem aumentado nas últimas décadas, porém ainda são raros os trabalhos sobre o Atlântico Sudoeste que utilizam dados de proxies de condições redox de massas d\'água, relacionados às mudanças climáticas entre os períodos Pleistoceno superior e Holoceno. Diante disso, esta Dissertação de Mestrado avaliou as condições redox das águas intermediárias do Atlântico Sudoeste nos últimos 40 mil anos. Este trabalho fez estudos de proxies geoquímicos - de condições redox (V/Sc, V/Cr, V/Al, Mn/Al e Ni/Co), de aporte de sedimentos terTMTMrígenos (Fe/Ca e Ti/Ca), de produtividade (COT, CaCO3) e origem da matéria orgânica (δ13C e C/N) - em um registro sedimentar marinho coletado na região do talude continental da margem sudeste brasileira, e os relacionou com as mudanças da Célula de Revolvimento Meridional do Atlântico (sigla em inglês AMOC - Atlantic Medirional Overturning Circulation) e com os principais eventos climáticos em escala orbital, como o Último Máximo Glacial, e de escala milenar, como os eventos tipo Heinrich Stadials, Younger Dryas e 8.2. Os resultados demonstram que, nos últimos 40 mil anos, as águas intermediárias que banham a costa sudeste brasileira apresentam níveis óxicos, o que classifica o ambiente como oxidante, porém foi possível observar variações na quantidade de oxigênio dissolvido nessas águas durante determinados eventos climáticos, bem como variações no aporte de sedimentos terrígenos e na produtividade. Em escala orbital a insolação de verão do Hemisfério Sul e a variação do nível do mar, governadas pelo ciclo de precessão, apresentam-se como os principais mecanismos que influenciam essas variações. Em escala milenar a variabilidade da AMOC apresenta-se como o principal mecanismo responsável por essas variações. Dentre os eventos climáticos de escala milenar, o evento 8.2 demonstrou complexa variabilidade nas condições redox das águas intermediárias do Atlântico Sudoeste, uma vez que, durante sua ocorrência, observamos aumento das concentrações de oxigênio dessas águas e baixos valores de produtividade. / The interest in the paleoceanographic history of the South Atlantic Ocean has increased in the last decades, however there are still few studies regarding the redox conditions of the intermediate water masses of the Southwest Atlantic and their relationship to the climatic changes during the upper Pleistocene and Holocene. Within this context, this work aims to evaluate the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Southwest Atlantic in the last 40 ka. For this, geochemical proxies - of redox conditions (V/ Sc, V/ Cr, V/ Al, Mn/ Al and Ni/ Co), of terrigenous sediments supply (Fe/ Ca and Ti/ Ca), of productive (COT, CaCO3), and organic matter source (δ13C and C / N) - were applied to marine sediments from a core collected on the continental slope of the Brazilian Southeastern margin and then related it to changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and with the main cold climatic events of North Atlantic, such as the Last Glacial Maximum and millennial scale, such as events type the Heinrich Stadials, Younger Dryas and 8.2. Our results show that, over the last 40,000 years, the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Brazilian Southeast margin present oxic levels, which classifies the environment as oxidant, however, variations was noticed in the amount of oxygen dissolved in these waters influenced by certain climatic events, as well as changes in the input of terrigenous sediments and in the productivity. In orbital scale, the summer insolation of the Southern Hemisphere and the variation of sea level, leaded by the cycle of precession, are presented as the main mechanisms that influence these variations. On the other hand, at millennia scale, the AMOC variability is the main mechanism responsible of these variations. Among the climate events at millennia scale, the event 8.2 demonstrated a complex variability of the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Southwest Atlantic, once during its occurrence we observed increase concentrations of oxygen in these waters and a decrease of productivity.

O conhecimento da paleoceanografia do Oceano Atlântico Sul tem aumentado nas últimas décadas, porém ainda são raros os trabalhos sobre o Atlântico Sudoeste que utilizam dados de proxies de condições redox de massas d\'água, relacionados às mudanças climáticas entre os períodos Pleistoceno superior e Holoceno. Diante disso, esta Dissertação de Mestrado avaliou as condições redox das águas intermediárias do Atlântico Sudoeste nos últimos 40 mil anos. Este trabalho fez estudos de proxies geoquímicos - de condições redox (V/Sc, V/Cr, V/Al, Mn/Al e Ni/Co), de aporte de sedimentos terTMTMrígenos (Fe/Ca e Ti/Ca), de produtividade (COT, CaCO3) e origem da matéria orgânica (δ13C e C/N) - em um registro sedimentar marinho coletado na região do talude continental da margem sudeste brasileira, e os relacionou com as mudanças da Célula de Revolvimento Meridional do Atlântico (sigla em inglês AMOC - Atlantic Medirional Overturning Circulation) e com os principais eventos climáticos em escala orbital, como o Último Máximo Glacial, e de escala milenar, como os eventos tipo Heinrich Stadials, Younger Dryas e 8.2. Os resultados demonstram que, nos últimos 40 mil anos, as águas intermediárias que banham a costa sudeste brasileira apresentam níveis óxicos, o que classifica o ambiente como oxidante, porém foi possível observar variações na quantidade de oxigênio dissolvido nessas águas durante determinados eventos climáticos, bem como variações no aporte de sedimentos terrígenos e na produtividade. Em escala orbital a insolação de verão do Hemisfério Sul e a variação do nível do mar, governadas pelo ciclo de precessão, apresentam-se como os principais mecanismos que influenciam essas variações. Em escala milenar a variabilidade da AMOC apresenta-se como o principal mecanismo responsável por essas variações. Dentre os eventos climáticos de escala milenar, o evento 8.2 demonstrou complexa variabilidade nas condições redox das águas intermediárias do Atlântico Sudoeste, uma vez que, durante sua ocorrência, observamos aumento das concentrações de oxigênio dessas águas e baixos valores de produtividade. / The interest in the paleoceanographic history of the South Atlantic Ocean has increased in the last decades, however there are still few studies regarding the redox conditions of the intermediate water masses of the Southwest Atlantic and their relationship to the climatic changes during the upper Pleistocene and Holocene. Within this context, this work aims to evaluate the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Southwest Atlantic in the last 40 ka. For this, geochemical proxies - of redox conditions (V/ Sc, V/ Cr, V/ Al, Mn/ Al and Ni/ Co), of terrigenous sediments supply (Fe/ Ca and Ti/ Ca), of productive (COT, CaCO3), and organic matter source (δ13C and C / N) - were applied to marine sediments from a core collected on the continental slope of the Brazilian Southeastern margin and then related it to changes in the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) and with the main cold climatic events of North Atlantic, such as the Last Glacial Maximum and millennial scale, such as events type the Heinrich Stadials, Younger Dryas and 8.2. Our results show that, over the last 40,000 years, the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Brazilian Southeast margin present oxic levels, which classifies the environment as oxidant, however, variations was noticed in the amount of oxygen dissolved in these waters influenced by certain climatic events, as well as changes in the input of terrigenous sediments and in the productivity. In orbital scale, the summer insolation of the Southern Hemisphere and the variation of sea level, leaded by the cycle of precession, are presented as the main mechanisms that influence these variations. On the other hand, at millennia scale, the AMOC variability is the main mechanism responsible of these variations. Among the climate events at millennia scale, the event 8.2 demonstrated a complex variability of the redox conditions of the intermediate waters of the Southwest Atlantic, once during its occurrence we observed increase concentrations of oxygen in these waters and a decrease of productivity.