ALBERT

Beschreibung: Deep focus earthquakes within the underthrust Indian lower crust beneath the Himalaya occur in very specific regions and have distinct source characteristics. The study of the source mechanisms of these earthquakes provides valuable constraints on the kinematics of deformation of the underthrust Indian Plate, and its influence on the active deformation of the overlying Himalayan wedge. One of the most significant regions of these deep focus earthquakes is beneath the Sikkim and Bhutan Himalaya. We study the source characteristics of the 2011 September 18 ( M w 6.9) deep focus Sikkim main shock and its major aftershocks using global, regional and local waveform data. We determined the focal mechanism of the main shock using moment tensor inversion of global P and SH waveforms, and ascertained the earthquake fault plane using rupture directivity from regional P -wave spectra. The main shock originated at 53 ± 4 km depth and ruptured at least 20 km thickness of the underthrust Indian lower crust. Faulting occurred on a near vertical dextral strike-slip fault oriented NW-SE (strike 127°, dip 81° and rake 167°), oblique to the local strike of the Himalayan arc. The rupture initiated from the SE end of the fault and propagated to the northwest. The main shock was followed by 20 small-to-moderate aftershocks ( m b  〉 3.0), which we relocated using phase arrival times. We computed the focal mechanisms of the larger ones ( m b  ≥ 3.5) using local waveform inversion. We find that all aftershocks originated SE of the main shock, between depths of 12 and 50 km, and have dominantly strike-slip mechanisms. Our results, combined with the source mechanisms of earthquakes from previous studies, reveals that the entire underthrust Indian crust is seismogenic and deforms by dextral strike-slip motion on oblique structures beneath the Sikkim and Bhutan Himalaya. These active oblique structures with transverse motion possibly mark the western boundary of the clock-wise rotating ‘microplates’ in northeast India observed from GPS geodesy.

Beschreibung: Deep focus earthquakes within the underthrust Indian lower crust beneath the Himalaya occur in very specific regions and have distinct source characteristics. The study of the source mechanisms of these earthquakes provides valuable constraints on the kinematics of deformation of the underthrust Indian Plate, and its influence on the active deformation of the overlying Himalayan wedge. One of the most significant regions of these deep focus earthquakes is beneath the Sikkim and Bhutan Himalaya. We study the source characteristics of the 2011 September 18 ( M w 6.9) deep focus Sikkim main shock and its major aftershocks using global, regional and local waveform data. We determined the focal mechanism of the main shock using moment tensor inversion of global P and SH waveforms, and ascertained the earthquake fault plane using rupture directivity from regional P -wave spectra. The main shock originated at 53 ± 4 km depth and ruptured at least 20 km thickness of the underthrust Indian lower crust. Faulting occurred on a near vertical dextral strike-slip fault oriented NW-SE (strike 127°, dip 81° and rake 167°), oblique to the local strike of the Himalayan arc. The rupture initiated from the SE end of the fault and propagated to the northwest. The main shock was followed by 20 small-to-moderate aftershocks ( m b  〉 3.0), which we relocated using phase arrival times. We computed the focal mechanisms of the larger ones ( m b  ≥ 3.5) using local waveform inversion. We find that all aftershocks originated SE of the main shock, between depths of 12 and 50 km, and have dominantly strike-slip mechanisms. Our results, combined with the source mechanisms of earthquakes from previous studies, reveals that the entire underthrust Indian crust is seismogenic and deforms by dextral strike-slip motion on oblique structures beneath the Sikkim and Bhutan Himalaya. These active oblique structures with transverse motion possibly mark the western boundary of the clock-wise rotating ‘microplates’ in northeast India observed from GPS geodesy.

Beschreibung: Inherited retinal diseases are a group of clinically and genetically heterogeneous disorders for which a significant number of cases remain genetically unresolved. Increasing knowledge on underlying pathogenic mechanisms with precise phenotype–genotype correlation is, however, critical for establishing novel therapeutic interventions for these yet incurable neurodegenerative conditions. We report phenotypic and genetic characterization of a large family presenting an unusual autosomal dominant retinal dystrophy. Phenotypic characterization revealed a retinopathy dominated by inner retinal dysfunction and ganglion cell abnormalities. Whole-exome sequencing identified a missense variant (c.782A〉C, p.Glu261Ala) in ITM2B coding for Integral Membrane Protein 2B, which co-segregates with the disease in this large family and lies within the 24.6 Mb interval identified by microsatellite haplotyping. The physiological role of ITM2B remains unclear and has never been investigated in the retina. RNA in situ hybridization reveals Itm2b mRNA in inner nuclear and ganglion cell layers within the retina, with immunostaining demonstrating the presence of the corresponding protein in the same layers. Furthermore, ITM2B in the retina co-localizes with its known interacting partner in cerebral tissue, the amyloid β precursor protein, critical in Alzheimer disease physiopathology. Interestingly, two distinct ITM2B mutations, both resulting in a longer protein product, had already been reported in two large autosomal dominant families with Alzheimer-like dementia but never in subjects with isolated retinal diseases. These findings should better define pathogenic mechanism(s) associated with ITM2B mutations underlying dementia or retinal disease and add a new candidate to the list of genes involved in inherited retinal dystrophies.

Beschreibung: The paper deals with a theoretical model for interacting dark energy (DE). The interaction between the cold dark matter (dust) and the DE has been assumed to be non-gravitational in nature. Exact analytic cosmological solutions are obtained both for constant and variable EoS for DE. It is found that, for very small value of the coupling parameter (in the interaction term), the model asymptotically extends up to cold dark matter, while the model can enter into the phantom domain asymptotically, if the coupling parameter is not so small. Both the solutions are then analysed with 194 Supernovae Type Ia data. The best-fitting parameters are shown with 1 and 2 confidence intervals. Finally, we have discussed the cosmographic parameters for both the cases.

Beschreibung: The advent of space-based observatories such as Convection, Rotation and planetary Transits ( CoRoT ) and Kepler has enabled the testing of our understanding of stellar evolution on thousands of stars. Evolutionary models typically require five input parameters, the mass, initial helium abundance, initial metallicity, mixing length (assumed to be constant over time), and the age to which the star must be evolved. Some of these parameters are also very useful in characterizing the associated planets and in studying Galactic archaeology. How to obtain these parameters from observations rapidly and accurately, specifically in the context of surveys of thousands of stars, is an outstanding question, one that has eluded straightforward resolution. For a given star, we typically measure the effective temperature and surface metallicity spectroscopically and low-degree oscillation frequencies through space observatories. Here we demonstrate that statistical learning, using artificial neural networks, is successful in determining the evolutionary parameters based on spectroscopic and seismic measurements. Our trained networks show robustness over a broad range of parameter space, and critically, are entirely computationally inexpensive and fully automated. We analyse the observations of a few stars using this method and the results compare well to inferences obtained using other techniques. This method is both computationally cheap and inferentially accurate, paving the way for analysing the vast quantities of stellar observations from past, current, and future missions.

Beschreibung: Nanocomposites have become a new paradigm for thermoelectric research in recent years and have resulted in the reduction of thermal conductivity via the nano-inclusion and grain boundary scattering. In this work, we report the preparation and thermoelectric study of SiGe-yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) nanocomposites prepared by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS). We experimentally investigated the reduction of lattice thermal conductivity ( κ L ) in the temperature range (30–800 K) of n-type Si 80 Ge 20 P 2 alloys with the incorporation of YSZ nanoparticles (20–40 nm diameter) into the Si-Ge matrix. These samples synthesized by using the SPS technique were found to have densities 〉 95% of the theoretical density. The thermal conductivity, at both low and high temperatures, was measured by steady state and laser flash techniques, respectively. At room temperature, we observed approximately a 50% reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity as result of adding 10% YSZ by volume to the Si 80 Ge 20 P 2 host matrix. A phenomenological model developed by Callaway was used to corroborate both the temperature dependence and reduction of κ L over the measured temperature range (30–800 K) of both Si 80 Ge 20 P 2 and Si 80 Ge 20 P 2  + YSZ samples. The observed κ L is discussed and interpreted in terms of various phonon scattering mechanisms such as alloy disorder, the Umklapp phonon scattering, and boundary scattering. In addition, a contribution from the phonon scattering by YSZ nanoparticles was further included to account for the κ L of Si 80 Ge 20 P 2  + YSZ sample. The theoretical calculations are in reasonably good agreement with the experimental results for both the Si 80 Ge 20 P 2 and Si 80 Ge 20 P 2  + YSZ alloys.

Beschreibung: Mycobacterium phlei , a nontuberculosis mycobacterial species, was first described in 1898–1899. We present the complete genome sequence for the M. phlei CCUG21000 T type strain and the draft genomes for four additional strains. The genome size for all fiveis 5.3 Mb with 69.4% Guanine-Cytosine content. This is 0.35 Mbp smaller than the previously reported M. phlei RIVM draft genome. The size difference is attributed partly to large bacteriophage sequence fragments in the M. phlei RIVM genome. Comparative analysis revealed the following: 1) A CRISPR system similar to Type 1E ( cas 3) in M. phlei RIVM; 2) genes involved in polyamine metabolism and transport ( potAD , potF ) that are absent in other mycobacteria, and 3) strain-specific variations in the number of -factor genes. Moreover, M. phlei has as many as 82 mce (mammalian cell entry) homologs and many of the horizontally acquired genes in M. phlei are present in other environmental bacteria including mycobacteria that share similar habitat. Phylogenetic analysis based on 693 Mycobacterium core genes present in all complete mycobacterial genomes suggested that its closest neighbor is Mycobacterium smegmatis JS623 and Mycobacterium rhodesiae NBB3, while it is more distant to M. smegmatis mc2 155.

Beschreibung: In the quest for high- k dielectrics with decent magnetodielectric (MD) response, ball-milled processed (Li, Ti) doped NiO ceramics have been evaluated by various experimental techniques. Magnetic properties in these ceramics manifest with a pronounced anomaly appearing at ∼260 K, suggesting ferrimagnetic phase (related to cluster magnetism) and co-existence with a glassy-like antiferromagnetic phase at ∼7 K. Room temperature neutron diffraction pattern shows the existence of short-range magnetic correlations. In the magnetically ordered state below 250 K, the magnetic structure is found to be phase coexistence of G -type antiferromagnet and ferrimagnet. Impedance spectroscopy measurements over a wide temperature range can be perfectly described with appropriate microstructural model (internal barrier layer capacitor), based on domain and domain boundary relaxations, justifying the enhancement of the dielectric response. The low-temperature (T 

Beschreibung: We provide the genome sequences of the type strains of the polychlorophenol-degrading Mycobacterium chlorophenolicum (DSM43826), the degrader of chlorinated aliphatics Mycobacterium chubuense (DSM44219) and Mycobacterium obuense (DSM44075) that has been tested for use in cancer immunotherapy. The genome sizes of M. chlorophenolicum , M. chubuense , and M. obuense are 6.93, 5.95, and 5.58 Mb with GC-contents of 68.4%, 69.2%, and 67.9%, respectively. Comparative genomic analysis revealed that 3,254 genes are common and we predicted approximately 250 genes acquired through horizontal gene transfer from different sources including proteobacteria. The data also showed that the biodegrading Mycobacterium spp. NBB4, also referred to as M. chubuense NBB4, is distantly related to the M. chubuense type strain and should be considered as a separate species, we suggest it to be named Mycobacterium ethylenense NBB4. Among different categories we identified genes with potential roles in: biodegradation of aromatic compounds and copper homeostasis. These are the first nonpathogenic Mycobacterium spp. found harboring genes involved in copper homeostasis. These findings would therefore provide insight into the role of this group of Mycobacterium spp. in bioremediation as well as the evolution of copper homeostasis within the Mycobacterium genus.

Beschreibung: The wake response to three-dimensional forcing of flow over a circular cylinder was studied. Spanwise-segmented dielectric-barrier discharge plasma actuators were mounted on the cylinder in a square wave pattern for active forcing of the cylinder wake. The buried electrodes were placed periodically to create a spanwise-modulated blowing profile, with the aim of targeting three-dimensional instabilities in the wake. Considerable spanwise variation in the wake was achieved, which was a direct consequence of the difference in the location of shed spanwise vortices from the cylinder, along with the generation of streamwise vorticity. Two distinct power levels were used for forcing the flow, with different flow response observed between the two conditions. With low power, the segmented forcing caused the large-scale spanwise structures in the forcing region to lead those in the no-forcing region, with an accompanying shift away from the centerline and generation of streamwise vorticity. While vortex shedding was not substantially attenuated with low-power forcing, the shedding in the near wake was significantly attenuated with high-power forcing. This attenuation in the shedding strength was accompanied by a decrease in the peak shedding frequency, indicating an increase in the formation length. High-power forcing caused elongation of the Kármán vortices due to the induced strain field and strong differential development of the wake shedding frequency. In both forcing regimes, the wake three-dimensionality increased as shown by the increased width of the spectral peaks.