The colorimetric gas sensor offers an opportunity for the simple and rapid detection of toxic gaseous substances based on visually discernible changes in the color of the sensing material. In particular, the accurate detection of trace amounts of certain biomarkers in a patient's breath provides substantial clues regarding specific diseases, for example, hydrogen sulfide (H 2 S) for halitosis and ammonia (NH 3 ) for kidney disorder. However, conventional colorimetric sensors often lack the sensitivity, selectivity, detection limit, and mass-productivity, impeding their commercialization. Herein, we report an inexpensive route for the meter-scale synthesis of a colorimetric sensor based on a composite nanofiber yarn that is chemically functionalized with an ionic liquid as an effective H 2 S adsorbent and lead acetate as a colorimetric dye. As an eyereadable and weavable sensing platform, the single-strand yarn exhibits enhanced sensitivity supported by its high surface area and well-developed porosity to detect the breath biomarker (1 ppm of H 2 S). Alternatively, the yarn loaded with lead iodide dyes could reversibly detect NH 3 gas molecules in the ppm-level, demonstrating the facile extensibility. Finally, we demonstrated that the freestanding yarns could be sewn into patterned textiles for the fabrication of a wearable toxic gas alarm system with a visual output.

[1] This study assesses how well the East Asian monsoon index (EAMI), developed on the basis of zonal and meridional land -sea thermal contrasts over the AsiaPacific region, can represent the seasonal and interannual variations of the East Asian summer and winter monsoons (EASM and EAWM). It suggests that the EAMI can be used to estimate the timing of the onset and the relative intensity of the EASM, characterized by dominant meridional circulation and rainfall patterns over the Asia-Pacific region, as well as represent the EAWM, which is dominated by a nearly zonal dipole structure composed of Siberian high and Aleutian low prevailing in the middle and high latitudes. The EAMI is therefore of benefit in understanding the seasonal evolution of the East Asian monsoon circulation and interannual variation of the individual monsoons both in summer and in winter. Citation: Zhu, C., W.-S. Lee, H. Kang, and C.-K. Park (2005), A proper monsoon index for seasonal and interannual variations of the East Asian monsoon, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L02811,

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We fabricated metal-insulator-metal (MIM) thin film capacitors with Bi1.5Zn1.0Nb1.5O7 (BZN) dielectric films. The BZN films were deposited at room temperatures by pulsed laser deposition and annealed below 200°C which is compatible with the used polymer-based substrates. The dielectric constant of BZN films increases from 2 to 70, when they are annealed at 150°C, but still in amorphous phase. We found that a considerable portion of Bi metallic phase still remains in the as-deposited film. They turn into oxides upon annealing at >120°C, causing the dramatic change of the dielectric properties. Amorphous BZN thin films exhibit superior dielectric characteristics, capacitance density of 150nF∕cm2, and leakage current less than 1μA∕cm2 at 5V. The MIM capacitors using amorphous BZN thin films will be a promising candidate for the PCB-embedded capacitors.

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UNCERTAINTY IN SEASONAL FORE CAST ING. Any prediction of the future evolution of the Earth system requires an associated assessment of its uncertainty. This is true whether the forecast is for the days ahead or is a longer-term prediction for the following months and seasons. For seasonal forecasts, the uncertainty associated with inexact initial conditions, which can grow rapidly in time, is usually addressed by running multiple forecasts with perturbations applied to the initial state of the ocean and atmosphere (Arribas et al. 2011; Stockdale et al. 2011). The idea is that the perturbed initial conditions are of a suitable magnitude to represent the uncertainty in the observational measurements and the analysis tools that are used to process them. As the forecast evolves, the differences between the forecasts, known as the ensemble "spread," should therefore reflect the typical forecast error, or "uncertainty"; in other words, the eventual real-world evolution should be contained within the cluster of this forecast ensemble. In tandem, uncertainty in forecasts is also contributed to by our inexact representations of the Earth system physics. This contribution to uncertainty is sampled by employing different Earth system models (Yun et al. 2005; Weisheimer et al. 2009; Smith et al. 2013), the so-called multimodel approach, which is often supplemented by the use of perturbations to physical processes, known as stochastic physics schemes, to