In this paper we show that integrated environmental modelling (IEM) techniques can be used to generate a catastrophe model for groundwater flooding. Catastrophe models are probabilistic models based upon sets of events representing the hazard and weights their likelihood with the impact of such an event happening which is then used to estimate future financial losses. These probabilistic loss e...

BACKGROUND Impaired visual memory seems to be a core feature of depression, while increased microRNA-132 (miR-132) levels have been widely reported in depression patients. The authors aimed to explore the relationship between miR-132 changes and visual memory deficits in unmedicated patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). PATIENTS AND METHODS A total of 62 medication-free MDD patients ...

In the insurance market, the insurers who provide catastrophe insurance face with the risk of rare, but huge catastrophe claims. The introduction of catastrophe related securities into the marketplace provide the insurers the instruments to hedge some of the catastrophe risks they are facing. A catastrophe related security is tied to the prespecified catastrophe claims, while independent to oth...

It is now widely accepted that global climate change is affecting many ecosystems around the globe and that its impact is increasing rapidly. Many studies predict that impacts will consist largely of shifts in latitudinal and altitudinal distributions. However, we demonstrate that the impacts of global climate change in the tropical rainforests of northeastern Australia have the potential to re...

A semi-analytic model of cluster cooling flows is presented. The model assumes that episodic nuclear activity followed by radiative cooling without mass-dropout cycles the cluster gas between a relatively homogeneous, nearly isothermal post-outburst state and a cuspy configuration in which a cooling catastrophe initiates the next nuclear outburst. Fitting the model to Chandra data for the Hydra...

miRNAs are small RNAs that are key regulators of gene expression in eukaryotic organisms. The processing of miRNAs is regulated by structural characteristics of the RNA and is also tightly controlled by auxiliary protein factors. Among them, RNA binding proteins play crucial roles to facilitate or inhibit miRNA maturation and can be controlled in a cell, tissue and species-specific manners or i...

This paper presents a nonlinear cusp catastrophe model of landslides and discusses the conditions leading to rapid-moving and slow-moving landslides. It is assumed that the sliding surface of the landslides is planar and is a combination of two media: one is elasto-brittle and the other is strain-softening. It is found that the instability of the slope relies mainly on the ratio of the sti€ness...