ALBERT

Beschreibung: The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) is characterized by extensional tectonics and volcanism, associated with active hydrothermal systems, hydrothermal alteration and fumarolic deposits. The spatial distribution of these hydrothermal products and their link with faults and rock types provides important clues to what controls fluid flow in the subsurface. However, little is known about this in the East African Rift. We address this issue with a multidisciplinary approach in the Fentale-Dofan magmatic segment of the MER, an area characterized by intense volcanic and tectonic activity and a geothermal prospect. Primarily we conduct mapping of hydrothermal alteration and fumarolic deposits, and rock lithologies using a surface feature classification technique of multispectral satellite images. Then we interpret the map using a new database of faults and active hydrothermal manifestations such as hot-springs and fumaroles. We find that the surface hydrothermal alteration and deposits are mainly focused near Fentale and the Dofan Volcanic Complex (DVC). At DVC the hydrothermal products are focused on rhyolites on the western side of the volcano, in an area of intense NNE striking, rift parallel faults. At Fentale volcano the hydrothermal products are mainly associated with ignimbrite and show a circular pattern around the volcanic edifice, but also in places follow the NNE striking faults. At Fentale, the more complex association of hydrothermal products and active manifestations around the edge of the ignimbrite suggests formation contacts may also localize fluid flow in places. At both volcanoes the association between hydrothermal products with either the rhyolites and ignimbrites is likely due to them being relatively easily altered (in comparison to basalt), and also their brittle nature allows for fracturing through which localized fluid flow can occur (as opposed to the sediments). The general pattern of hydrothermal products suggests a stronger structural influence at the DVC with respect to Fentale. The presence of hydrothermal products and active hydrothermal manifestations, along with other lines of evidence such as locus of subsurface dike intrusion at the volcanic centres, suggest that discrete and localized magma reservoirs beneath Fentale and the DVC are the heat source for hydrothermal circulation. Our study also demonstrates that geology, including hydrothermal deposits, can be successfully mapped using automated remote sensing based classification.

Beschreibung: This study was to investigate the effects of UPro as a new nutritive fortifier on high-quality egg production from the perspective of egg properties, intestinal histomorphology, and oviduct function of laying hens. Four hundred thirty-two Hy-Line Brown laying hens aged 56 weeks were allocated to four groups. Layers were given a basal diet or supplemented with different levels of small peptides (0.2, 0.4, and 0.8%) to replace soybean meal. After 1-week adaptation period, the feeding trial was conducted for 12 weeks. The results showed that UPro addition significantly decreased (P 〈 0.05) the hardness, stickiness, and chewiness of albumen of layers on weeks 12. A linear elevation (P 〈 0.05) in the albumen height, Haugh unit (HU), and crude protein content of albumen of layers were noted on week 12 along with dietary UPro addition increasing, and the villus height (VH) and villus height-to-crypt depth radio (VCR) of jejunum also linearly increasing (P 〈 0.05). In addition, there were linear elevations (P 〈 0.05) in the relative mRNA expression of Sec23 homolog A (Sec23A) and protein-O-mannosyltransferase1 (POMT1) in layers as dietary UPro addition increased. In conclusion, dietary UPro addition could improve intestinal health, increase the absorption of nutrients, and improve egg quality of laying hens. The possible mechanism underlying UPro improving the quality and processing characteristics of albumen is up-regulating Sec23A and POMT1 expression of magnum. These findings will promote the application of UPro as a new nutritional additive in the production of high-quality eggs.

Beschreibung: Milk polar lipids provide choline, ethanolamine, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are needed for the growth and plasticity of the tissues in a suckling child. They may also inhibit cholesterol absorption by interacting with cholesterol during micelle formation. They may also have beneficial luminal, mucosal, and metabolic effects in both the neonate and the adult. The milk fat globule membrane contains large proportions of sphingomyelin (SM), phosphatidylcholine (PC), and phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), and some phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylinositol (PI), and glycosphingolipids. Large-scale technical procedures are available for the enrichment of milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) in milk replacement formulations and food additives. Pancreatic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and mucosal phospholipase B digest glycero-phospholipids in the adult. In the neonate, where these enzymes may be poorly expressed, pancreatic lipase-related protein 2 probably has a more important role. Mucosal alkaline SM-ase and ceramidase catalyze the digestion of SM in both the neonate and the adult. In the mucosa, the sphingosine is converted into sphingosine-1-phosphate, which is both an intermediate in the conversion to palmitic acid and a signaling molecule. This reaction sequence also generates ethanolamine. Here, we summarize the pathways by which digestion and absorption may be linked to the biological effects of milk polar lipids. In addition to the inhibition of cholesterol absorption and the generation of lipid signals in the gut, the utilization of absorbed choline and ethanolamine for mucosal and hepatic phospholipid synthesis and the acylation of absorbed lyso-PC with polyunsaturated fatty acids to chylomicron and mucosal phospholipids are important.

Beschreibung: In this study, we demonstrated generation and transmission of 114 Gbaud and 126 Gbaud faster-than-Nyquist (FTN) discrete Fourier transform-spread (DFT-spread) quadrature phase shift keying orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (QPSK-OFDM) with 88-Gsa/s sampling rate digital-to-analog converters (DACs) experimentally. It is the first time to realize 400G FTN DFT-spread QPSK-OFDM signal per optical carrier for metro and regional applications, which will be a solution for network operators to address the issue of increasing bandwidth derived from the rapid popularization of mobile Internet and the wide application of IoT (Internet of Things technology). Delay-and-add filter (DAF) is adopted to realize frequency shaping at the transmitter to keep higher portions of energy of signal at low frequencies, which makes the OFDM much more robust to strong filtering effect. After pre-equalization, bit error rate (BER) performance of 114 GBaud and 126 GBaud FTN DFT-spread QPSK-OFDM has been significantly improved, and maximum-likelihood sequence estimation (MLSE) shows a better effect than binary decoding in the aspect of against the inter symbol interference (ISI) introduced by spectrum compression. The effective bit rate of dual polarization 126 Gbaud FTN DFT-spread QPSK-OFDM which is generated with 88 GSa/s sampling rate is 410.08 Gb/s, to the exclusion of all overhead including TSs, cyclic prefix (CP), and 20% forward error correction (FEC) coding. We successfully transmit 8 × 400 Gbit/s FTN DFT-spread QPSK-OFDM signal generated from 88 Gsa/s sampling rate DAC over 420 km single mode fiber (SMF) with the BER under 2.4 × 10−2.

Beschreibung: In Ganzhou City, China, a complex bedrock lithology and structure, diverse topography, frequent engineering works, and abundant rainfall generate frequent, sudden, small-scale landslides that are difficult to prevent and control. This study integrates evidence data from a field investigation of landslides with geological-engineering analogues to document the distribution and development of these geohazards in Ganzhou City. Based on the distribution of landslides across different types of bedrock and soil, we identify five lithological groups prone to slope failure: granite, metamorphics (slate and phyllite), red sedimentary layers, clastic sedimentary rocks with weak interlayers, and loose Quaternary deposits. Granite and metamorphic bedrock are the two lithologies most prone to landslides. Our analysis of the genesis and mode of slope failure suggests that most landslides in Ganzhou City originated from four modes of slope failure: scouring erosion collapse, steep slope collapse, rock sliding along a rock stratum, and wedge-shaped block sliding and caving. An in-situ model test and numerical simulations were used to explore the evolution of slope deformation and failure on the most landslide-prone lithological groups, and the accumulation of debris post-failure. This work provides a reference for the assessment of the risk from, and the management of, landslide geohazards in Ganzhou City and geologically similar regions.

Beschreibung: The impact of heat-absorbing viscoelastic nanofluidic flow along with a convectively heated porous Riga plate with Cattaneo-Christov double flux was analytically investigated. The Buongiorno model nanofluid was implemented with the diversity of Brownian motion and thermophoresis. Making use of the transformations; the PDE systems are altered into an ODE system. We use the homotopy analysis method to solve these systems analytically. The reaction of the apposite parameters on fluid velocity, fluid temperature, nanoparticle volume fraction skin friction coefficients (SFC), local Nusselt number and local Sherwood number are shown with vividly explicit details. It is found that the fluid velocities reflect a declining nature for the development of viscoelastic and porosity parameters. The liquid heat becomes rich when escalating the radiation parameter. In addition, the nanoparticle volume fraction displays a declining nature towards the higher amount of thermophoresis parameter, whereas the inverse trend was obtained for the Brownian motion parameter. We also found that the fluid temperature is increased in viscoelastic nanofluid compared to the viscous nanofluid. When we change the fluid nature from heat absorption to heat generation, the liquid temperature also rises. In addition, the fluid heat is suppressed when we change the flow medium from a stationary plate to a Riga plate for heat absorption/generation cases.

Beschreibung: An earthquake early warning system (EEWS) is a monitoring infrastructure that allows alerting strategic points (targets) before the arrival of strong shaking waves during an earthquake. In a region like Central Italy, struck by recent and historical destructive earthquakes, the assessment of implementation of an EEWS is a significant challenge due to the proximity of seismic sources to many potential targets, such as historical towns, industrial plants, and hospitals. In order to understand the feasibility of an EEWS in such an area, we developed an original method of event declaration simulation (EDS), a tool for assessing the effectiveness of an EEWS for existing seismic networks, improving them with new stations, and designing new networks for EEW applications. Values of the time first alert (TFA), blind zone radius (BZ), and lead time (LT) have been estimated with respect to selected targets for different network configurations in the study region. Starting from virtual sources homogeneously arranged on regular mesh grids, the alert response was evaluated for actual and improved seismic networks operating in the area, taking into account the effects of the transmission and acquisition systems. In the procedure, the arrival times of the P wave picks, the association binder, the transmission latencies, and the computation times were used to simulate the configuration of PRESTo EEWS, simulating both real-time and playback elaborations of real earthquakes. The NLLOC software was used to estimate P and S arrival times, with a local velocity model also implemented in the PRESTo EEWS. Our results show that, although Italy’s main seismic sources are located close to urban areas, the lead times calculated with the EDS procedure, applied to actual and to improved seismic networks, encourage the implementation of EEWS in the study area. Considering actual delays due to data transmission and computation time, lead times of 5–10 s were obtained simulating real historical events striking some important targets of the region. We conclude that EEWSs are useful tools that can contribute to protecting people from the harmful effects of earthquakes in Italy.

Beschreibung: The cascades prediction aims to predict the possible information diffusion path in the future based on cascades of the social network. Recently, the existing researches based on deep learning have achieved remarkable results, which indicates the great potential to support cascade prediction task. However, most prior arts only considered either cascade features or user relationship network to predict cascade, which leads to the performance limitation because of the lack of unified modeling for the potential relationship between them. To that end, in this paper, we propose a recurrent neural network model with graph attention mechanism, which constructs a seq2seq framework to learn the spatial-temporal cascade features. Specifically, for user spatial feature, we learn potential relationship among users based on social network through graph attention network. Then, for temporal feature, a recurrent neural network is built to learn their structural context in several different time intervals based on timestamp with a time-decay attention. Finally, we predict the next user with the latest cascade representation which obtained by above method. Experimental results on two real-world datasets show that our model achieves better performance than the baselines on the both evaluation metrics of HITS and mean average precision.

Beschreibung: Increasing demand on water resources, reduced land water availability, and concerns over food security have spurred the evolution of many innovative and complex food production. An aquaponic system is a productive, innovative, and sustainable fish and vegetable production system that is revolutionizing agriculture in the face of drought, soil fertility losses, and climate change. Aquaponics, as an advanced aquaculture-agriculture system, is expected to improve food security in developing countries. However, as an emerging technology, there is very limited information on the system in Africa. Questions about the ecological and socio-economic sustainability of aquaponics are answered in this comprehensive review. This review considers aquaponics projects in Africa, categorizes the technology by evidences of their effectiveness, fish and plant yields, and juxtaposes the technology within best-use practices to make recommendations that will inform evidence-based policymaking. It also maps the present spatial adoption of the technology in sub-Saharan Africa and highlights the system's contribution to improving food security on the continent. Egypt and South Africa are countries where aquaponics is emerging and being adopted at faster rates and contributing to food security. In West Africa, significantly lower net-discounted benefit-cost ratios were realized when aquaponics systems were constructed using imported materials compared to using locally available materials. Despite aquaponics systems generally having higher start-up costs currently, its potential to be economically viable when undertaken with local materials is very high.

Beschreibung: An application of the PLUM (Propagation of Local Undamped Motion) method to real-time seismic intensity distribution from a dense seismic intensity network maintained by a local government in Japan is demonstrated. The JMA (Japan Meteorological Agency) has employed the PLUM method from March 2018 as a supplement to the traditional EEW (Earthquake Early Warning) which requires hypocenter determination. A dense observation network is desirable for upgrading accuracy and immediateness of EEW including the PLUM method. Seismic intensity meters in Tottori Prefecture, Japan, are suitable for the purpose because they have been improved to broadcast packets with peak ground acceleration and JMA seismic intensity at every 1 s. Also, 34 seismic intensity meters are installed in the target area while only six observation sites are used for the EEW by the JMA. The packet data are received at Tottori University, and the modified PLUM method considers wave propagation with damping from not only the observation points but also all evaluating grid points at a 1 km mesh. Additionally, P-wave amplitudes in preliminary tremors are also introduced to estimate seismic intensities from an empirical relationship. Applying the methodology to past earthquake data, more detailed and rapid evaluations of seismic intensity distribution are achieved. We expect the system will be utilized for earthquake disaster mitigation measures of local governments.

Beschreibung: Flows with chemical reactions in porous media are fundamental phenomena encountered in many natural, industrial, and scientific areas. For such flows, most existing studies use continuum assumptions and focus on volume-averaged properties on macroscopic scales. Considering the complex porous structures and fluid–solid interactions in realistic situations, this study develops a sophisticated lattice Boltzmann (LB) model for simulating reactive flows in porous media on the pore scale. In the present model, separate LB equations are built for multicomponent flows and chemical species evolutions, source terms are derived for heat and mass transfer, boundary schemes are formulated for surface reaction, and correction terms are introduced for temperature-dependent density. Thus, the present LB model offers a capability to capture pore-scale information of compressible/incompressible fluid motions, homogeneous reaction between miscible fluids, and heterogeneous reaction at the fluid–solid interface in porous media. Different scenarios of density fingering with homogeneous reaction are investigated, with effects of viscosity contrast being clarified. Furthermore, by introducing thermal flows, the solid coke combustion is modeled in porous media. During coke combustion, fluid viscosity is affected by heat and mass transfer, which results in unstable combustion fronts.

Beschreibung: Omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids (FA) play an essential role in human physiology and health. As a result, a variety of n-3 FA-fortified functional foods have become commercially available for human consumption. These fortified functional foods are created through various processes; however, nutri-priming, a potentially promising fortification approach, has not been utilized to develop plant-based n-3 fortified foods. We sought to determine whether nutri-priming is a viable option to enrich seeds and sprouts with n-3 FA. Additionally, we assessed whether n-3 FA nutri-priming would inhibit germination of the primed seeds. To address these goals, we nutri-primed brown flax in three priming solutions, control [0% fish oil (FO)], 10% FO and a 20% FO solution, and determined the FA content and profile of seeds and sprouts and germination percentage of primed seeds. n-3 FA nutri-priming with FO altered the FA profile in seeds and sprouts, with increases in the absolute content of 20:5 n-3, 22:6 n-3, 22:5 n3, 18:4 n-3, and 20:4 n-6. However, n-3 FA nutri-priming did not increase the absolute content of 18:2 n-6, 18:3 n-3, total saturated FA, total monounsaturated FA, total polyunsaturated FA, total n-6 FA, or total n-3 FA. Our results also showed that n-3 nutri-priming decreased the germination percentage of primed seeds, with 10 and 20% FO priming solution reducing germination by 4.3 and 6.2%, respectively. Collectively, n-3 nutri-priming modified the n-3 FA profile in flax; however, the process does not increase the total n-3 FA content and inhibits germination of primed seeds. Further research utilizing different seed types, oil types, and oil concentrations needs to be conducted to fully determine if n-3 nutri-priming is a commercially viable approach for n-3 fortification of seeds and sprouts.

Beschreibung: Pozol is an acidic, refreshing, and non-alcoholic traditional Mayan beverage made with nixtamalized corn dough that is fermented spontaneously. The extensive analysis of the microbiology, biochemistry and metaproteomics of pozol allowed the construction of a comprehensive image of the fermentation system. The main changes in both the substrate and the microbiota occurred in the first 9 h of fermentation. The increase in microorganisms correlated with the drop in pH and with the decrease in the contents of carbohydrates, lipids, and nitrogen, which shows that this stage has the highest metabolic activity. Bacterial proteins were mainly represented by those of lactic acid bacteria, and among them, the proteins from genus Streptococcus was overwhelmingly the most abundant. Yeast proteins were present in all the analyzed samples, while proteins from filamentous fungi increased up to 48 h. The metaproteomic approach allowed us to identify several previously unknown enzyme complexes in the system. Additionally, enzymes for hydrolysis of starch, hemicellulose and cellulose were found, indicating that all these substrates can be used as a carbon source by the microbiota. Finally, enzymes related to the production of essential intermediates involved in the synthesis of organic acids, acetoin, butanediol, fatty acids and amino acids important for the generation of compounds that contribute to the sensorial quality of pozol, were found.

Beschreibung: This study was performed to determine the antifungal activity of loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl) leaf extract (LLE) against the citrus postharvest pathogen Penicillium digitatum (P. digitatum). The LLE exhibited an antifungal activity against P. digitatum, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 0.625 mg/ml and a minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of 1.25 mg/ml. Significant inhibitory effects of LLE on mycelial growth and spore germination of P. digitatum were seen in a dose-dependent manner. Simultaneously, to investigate possible antifungal mechanisms by LLE, we analyzed their influence on morphological changes, cell membrane permeability, cell wall and cell membrane integrity, and adenosine phosphates (ATP, ADP, and AMP) levels. Alterations, such as sunken surface and malformation, occurred in the LLE-treated P. digitatum spores. Furthermore, intracellular inclusion content decreased after LLE treatment, indicating an increase in cell membrane permeability. Besides, the LLE treatment induced a significant decline in the level of adenosine monophosphate (AMP), adenosine diphosphate (ADP), and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) with a noticeable addition of extracellular ATP, ADP, and AMP during the entire treatment period. Overall, the results manifested that the antifungal activity of LLE against P. digitatum can be attributed to the derangement of cell membrane permeability and disordered energy metabolism. This is the first report on the mechanism of antifungal activity of LLE and could be useful in the development of targeted fungicides from natural origin.

Beschreibung: In the present study, we extensively explored the phase stabilities and elastic behaviors of Cu2O with elevated pressures up to 29.3 GPa based on single-crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. The structural sequence of Cu2O is different than previously determined. Specifically, we have established that Cu2O under pressure, displays a cubic-tetragonal-monoclinic phase transition sequence, and a novel monoclinic high-pressure phase assigned to the P1a1 or P12/a1 space group was firstly observed. The monoclinic phase Cu2O exhibits anisotropic compression with axial compressibility βb 〉 βc 〉 βa in a ratio of 1.00:1.64:1.45. The obtained isothermal bulk modulus of cubic and monoclinic phase Cu2O are 125(2) and 41(6) GPa, respectively, and the KT0’ is fixed at 4. Our results provide new insights into the phase stability and elastic properties of copper oxides and chalcogenides at extreme conditions.

Beschreibung: Coastal seas, including coastal bays, are the geographically critical transitional zone that links terrestrial and open oceanic ecosystems. Organic carbon cycling in this area is a dynamic and disproportionally key component in the global carbon cycle and budget. As the thermally-transformed organic carbon produced exclusively from the incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuels, the recalcitrance and resultant longer environmental residence times result in important implications of black carbon (BC) in the global carbon budget. However, the environmental dynamics of BC in coastal seas have not well been constrained. In this study, we conducted one seawater sampling campaign in the high-intensity BC emission influenced Bohai Bay (BHB) and Laizhou Bay (LZB) in 2013, and quantified both particulate and dissolved BC (PBC and DBC). We elaborated the distributions, sources, and associated influencing factors of PBC and DBC in BHB and LZB in 2013, and simultaneously contrasted the PBC and DBC quantity and quality under two distinct fluvial hydrological regimes of 2013 and 2014 [discussed in Fang et al. (Environ. Sci. Technol., 2021, 55, 788–796)]. Except for the overwhelmingly high PBC in northern BHB caused by anthropogenic point-source emission, horizontally, both PBC and DBC showed a seaward decreasing trend, suggesting that riverine discharge was the major source for PBC and DBC. Vertically, in contrast to the uniform concentrations of DBC between surface and bottom waters, the PBC levels in bottom waters was significantly higher than that in surface waters, which was primarily resulted from the intense sediment re-suspension process during this sampling period. The nearly simultaneous investigations in 2013 and 2014 revealed consistent spatial patterns of PBC and DBC quantity and quality. But significantly lower PBC and DBC quantity and quality were found in 2014 than in 2013, which were largely due to the significantly different climatic conditions (including the watershed hydrology and sunlit radiation) between these 2 years.

Beschreibung: As a step towards understanding the fundamental drivers of polar climate change, we evaluate contributions to polar warming and its seasonal and hemispheric asymmetries in Coupled Model Intercomparison Project phase 6 (CMIP6) as compared with CMIP5. CMIP6 models broadly capture the observed pattern of surface- and winter-dominated Arctic warming that has outpaced both tropical and Antarctic warming in recent decades. For both CMIP5 and CMIP6, CO2 quadrupling experiments reveal that the lapse-rate and surface albedo feedbacks contribute most to stronger warming in the Arctic than the tropics or Antarctic. The relative strength of the polar surface albedo feedback in comparison to the lapse-rate feedback is sensitive to the choice of radiative kernel, and the albedo feedback contributes most to intermodel spread in polar warming at both poles. By separately calculating moist and dry atmospheric heat transport, we show that increased poleward moisture transport is another important driver of Arctic amplification and the largest contributor to projected Antarctic warming. Seasonal ocean heat storage and winter-amplified temperature feedbacks contribute most to the winter peak in warming in the Arctic and a weaker winter peak in the Antarctic. In comparison with CMIP5, stronger polar warming in CMIP6 results from a larger surface albedo feedback at both poles, combined with less-negative cloud feedbacks in the Arctic and increased poleward moisture transport in the Antarctic. However, normalizing by the global-mean surface warming yields a similar degree of Arctic amplification and only slightly increased Antarctic amplification in CMIP6 compared to CMIP5.

Beschreibung: Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) is an effective tool for the extraction of natural antioxidants. Thus, differentially roasted Arabica-coffee beans known as light (LC), medium (MC), and dark coffee (DC) were prepared and extracted under the influence of UAE. Following that, they were examined specifically on theirs physicochemical and biological characteristics: nutritional values, pH, °Brix, antioxidant activities, polyphenol content, caffeine, and chlorogenic-acid levels. Various parameters, such as extraction temperatures (20, 40, and 80°C) and extraction time periods (5, 10, and 20 min), were examined. DC extract was less acidic than those on MC and LC extracts. LC showed higher moisture content than the MC and DC (1.56, 1.3, and 0.92%, respectively). MC displayed the highest polyphenol content and potent antioxidant activity. Caffeine and chlorogenic acid contents trend to decrease during roasting. The maximum caffeine level was found in MC at 80°C for 5 min (27.65 mg/g extract). The highest chlorogenic acid content was in LC at 80°C for 10 min (16.67 mg/g extract). The caffeine and chlorogenic acid contents were related to the polyphenol content and depended on the roasting and extraction conditions. These results suggest that the UAE at various temperature and extraction time period may alter the physicochemical and biological characteristics of different coffee roasts.

Beschreibung: Increased global production of animal-based protein results in high greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and other adverse consequences for human and planetary health. Recently, commercial insect rearing has been claimed a more sustainable source of animal protein. However, this system also leaves residues called frass, which—depending on the insect diet—is rich in carbon (C) and nitrogen (N), and could thus be used as fertilizer in agriculture. The impact of this kind of fertilizer on soil GHG emissions is yet unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effect of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens L.) frass derived from a carbohydrate (Carb-) or a protein (Prot-) based diet applied at two different application rates to an arable soil on C and N fluxes and microbial properties in a 40-day incubation experiment. CO2, N2O, NO, N2, CH4, water extractable organic C (WEOC), and inorganic N were continuously measured quantitatively. At the end of the incubation, microbial biomass (MB), stoichiometry, community composition, and abundance of functional genes were assessed. Along with a strong increase in WEOC and CO2, Carb-frass caused strong initial N2O emissions associated with high N and C availability. In contrast, Prot-frass showed lower CO2 emissions and N2O release, although soil nitrate levels were higher. At the end of incubation, MB was significantly increased, which was more pronounced following Carb-frass as compared to Prot-frass application, and at higher amendment rates. Fungal abundance increased most from both frass types with an even stronger response at higher application rates, whereas bacterial abundance rose following Carb-frass as compared to Prot-application. Abundance of functional genes related to ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea were enhanced by high frass application but did not clearly differ between frass types. C use efficiency of microorganisms, as revealed by the metabolic quotient, was most strongly reduced in the high Prot-frass application rate. Overall, insect diet influenced available C and N in frass and thus affected mineralization dynamics, GHG emissions, and microbial growth. Overall, emissions were very high undermining the potential environmental benefit of insect based protein production and calling for more detailed analyses before frass is widely applied in agriculture.

Beschreibung: From the observed datasets, we should be able to produce curve surfaces that have the same characteristics as the original datasets. For instance, if the given data are positive, then the resulting curve or surface must be positive on entire given intervals, i.e., everywhere. In this study, a new partial blended rational bi-quartic spline with C1 continuity is constructed through the partially blended scheme. This rational spline is defined on four corners of the rectangular meshes. The sufficient condition for the positivity of rational bi-quartic spline is derived on four boundary curve networks. There are eight free parameters that can be used for shape modification. The first-order partial derivatives are estimated by using numerical techniques. We also show that the proposed scheme is local quadratic reproducing such that it can exactly reproduce the quadratic surface. We test the proposed scheme to interpolate various types of positive surface data. Based on statistical indicators such as the root mean square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination (R2), we found that the proposed scheme is on par with some established schemes. In fact, it requires less CPU times (in seconds) to generate the interpolating surface on rectangular meshes. Furthermore, by combining the statistical indicators’ result and graphically visualizing the test functions, the proposed method has the capability to reconstruct very comparable smoothing interpolating positive surfaces compared to some existing schemes. This finding is significant in producing a better interpolating surface for computer graphics applications since the proposed scheme has a smaller error compared with existing schemes.

Beschreibung: We study theoretically the properties of local heat originated from energy exchange between electrons passing through a quantum dot (QD) coupled to a phonon bath. The dot is sandwiched between two normal metal leads and also side-coupled to Majorana bound states (MBSs) formed at opposite ends of a topological superconductor nanowire. We find that in addition to the negative differential of heat generation (NDHG) in the Coulomb blockade regime, another NDHG emerges near the leads’ Fermi level due to the dot-MBS coupling. This dual NDHG effect is robust against the variation of intradot Coulomb interaction strength, and disappears if the QD is coupled to regular Fermions. Direct hybridization between the MBSs reduces their impacts on the electronic transport processes, and eliminates the dual NDHG effect. Our results show that the dual NDHG effect is quite efficient for inferring the existence of MBSs, and may remedy some limitations of the detection schemes relying on tunneling spectroscopy technique.

Beschreibung: Novel human coronavirus disease (COVID-19), an infectious respiratory disease, has affected more than 50 million people around the world up to November 2020, thereby becoming the fifth documented pandemic since the Spanish flu in 1918. SARS-CoV-2 virus originated in China and evolved for 4 months within the country before becoming a global threat. There is currently no drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for which efficacy on the virus has been proved. Therefore, the only strategy against this virus is to apply measures that are capable of reducing its spread, such as isolation and quarantine, social distancing, community-wide containment, and strict enforcement of hygiene. Quarantine has proved to be effective in combating the spread of the virus; however, it has inevitably led to a radical change in the lives of people. Studies have been conducted in Italy and some European countries to highlight the role that quarantine has played in determining the lifestyle changes both in eating habits and physical activity and their possible correlation with increase in weight. The selection criteria involved answering a questionnaire that included information on the weight status and at least one of the other two aspects: changes in eating habits and/or physical activity during the quarantine period. The results obtained indicate, in general, that the negative effect of quarantine was on eating habits and physical activity. This was based on the observation that there has been an increase in food consumption and a reduction in physical activity with a consequent increase in weight.

Beschreibung: We numerically calculate the quasinormal frequencies of the Klein-Gordon and Dirac fields propagating in a two-dimensional asymptotically anti-de Sitter black hole of the dilaton gravity theory. For the Klein-Gordon field we use the Horowitz-Hubeny method and the asymptotic iteration method for second order differential equations. For the Dirac field we first exploit the Horowitz-Hubeny method. As a second method, instead of using the asymptotic iteration method for second order differential equations, we propose to take as a basis its formulation for coupled systems of first order differential equations. For the two fields we find that the results that produce the two numerical methods are consistent. Furthermore for both fields we obtain that their quasinormal modes are stable and we compare their quasinormal frequencies to analyze whether their spectra are isospectral. Finally we discuss the main results.

Beschreibung: In this review, we report on recent progress in the generation and application of multichromatic polarization-tailored pulse sequences for the coherent control of multiphoton ionization (MPI) dynamics and present unpublished experimental results that complement our previous findings. Specifically, we utilize single-color, bichromatic, and trichromatic polarization-controlled pulse sequences generated by spectral amplitude, phase and polarization modulation of a carrier-envelope phase (CEP)-stable white light supercontinuum for MPI. The analysis of the number of ionization pathways and the number of distinct final free electron states shows that both increase significantly, but scale differently with the number of absorbed photons and the number of pulses in the sequence. In our experiments, ultrafast polarization shaping is combined with high-resolution photoelectron tomography to generate, control, and reconstruct three-dimensional photoelectron momentum distributions from atomic and molecular MPI. We discuss the use of polarization-controlled single-color and bichromatic pulse sequences in perturbative and non-perturbative coherent control of coupled electron-nuclear dynamics in molecules, atomic spin-orbit wave packet dynamics and the directional photoemission from atoms and chiral molecules. We compare the coherent control of CEP-insensitive intraband multipath interference in the MPI with a fixed number of photons with CEP-sensitive interband multipath interference in the ionization with a different number of photons. The generation and control of free electron vortices with even-numbered rotational symmetry by MPI with single-color pulse sequences is contrasted with the bichromatic control of CEP-sensitive electron vortices with odd-numbered rotational symmetry. To illustrate the potential of multichromatic pulse sequences for coherent control, we present a trichromatic scheme for shaper-based quantum state holography.

Beschreibung: Objective: At present, the association of body mass index (BMI) with the prognosis of liver cirrhosis is controversial. Our retrospective study aimed to evaluate the impact of BMI on the outcome of liver cirrhosis.Methods: In the first part, long-term death was evaluated in 436 patients with cirrhosis and without malignancy from our prospectively established single-center database. In the second part, in-hospital death was evaluated in 379 patients with cirrhosis and with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (AGIB) from our retrospective multicenter study. BMI was calculated and categorized as underweight (BMI

Beschreibung: In this paper, a biological template method is introduced and investigated to fabricate ionic polymer-metal composite (IPMC) strain sensor with bionic hierarchical structures. We utilized the multi-level structure of reed leaf surface, which can improve the contact area between the substrate and the electrode layers. Hierarchical structures were observed on the IPMC samples, including pyramid strips with the width in the range of 60–80 μm as well as synaptic scatters with diameter around 10 μm. In addition, five kinds of sensors with different interface structures were obtained by combining the traditional microneedle roller roughening and chemical plating processes. It was found that the IPMC sensor with reed-leaf and microneedle structure on each side presented the best performance, along with a high linearity, a sensitivity of 62.5 mV/1% and a large generated voltage peak under given mechanical stimuli, which is 3.7 times that of the sample fabricated without roughening.

Beschreibung: Managed and wild bee populations contribute over $15 billion in pollination services to US agriculture, yet both are declining or becoming increasingly vulnerable to parasites and disease. The loss of healthy and diverse forage is a key driver in bee declines, so incentivizing land managers to adopt diversified bee-friendly management practices such as forage plantings and reduced pesticide use can directly increase food security, pollinator health, and farmer adaptive capacity. To better understand what might incentivize growers to adopt bee-friendly practices, we conducted a survey of California almond growers, whose orchards are entirely dependent on bee pollination and draw nearly 88% of US bee colonies each February to pollinate almond bloom. We asked 329 respondents across all major almond growing regions of CA about their adoption rate and incentives for planting cover crops, pollinator habitat, and practicing the recommended and legally required bee-friendly best management practices, as well as their interest in bee-friendly certification programs. Using a model selection framework, we evaluated which geographic, social, operational, and pollination-service related factors were predictive of bee-friendly practice adoption. We found that no single factor was a statistically significant predictor of adoption across all models, suggesting there is no silver bullet determining bee-friendly practice adoption. However, we discovered that region and concerns about future pollination services consistently emerged as important factors related to all the practices we investigated, except the adoption of legally required BMPs. These findings suggest that a regionally flexible pollinator conservation strategy focused on supporting honey bee colonies might have the highest likelihood of grower participation and adoption.

Beschreibung: Edible insects are proposed as a nutritious and environmentally sustainable alternative source to animal proteins, due to their numerous advantages in terms of reduced ecological impact and high nutritional value. However, the novelty for edible insects relies on the content of bioactive ingredients potentially able to induce a functional effect in the body. The present review summarizes the main findings on the antioxidant properties of edible insects available in the literature. A total of 30 studies involving animals, cell cultures, or in vitro experimental studies evaluating the antioxidant effect of edible insects are presented in this work. When the antioxidant activity was investigated, using a wide variety of in vitro tests and in cellular models, positive results were shown. Dietary supplementation with edible insects was also able to counteract dietary oxidative stress in animal models, restoring the balance of antioxidant enzymes and reducing the formation of oxidation damage markers. On the basis of the reviewed evidences, edible insects might represent a source of novel redox ingredients at low ecological impact able to modulate oxidative stress. However, due to the fact that majority of these evidences have been obtained in vitro and in cellular and animal models, dietary intervention trials are needed to assess the efficacy of edible insect consumption to modulate redox status in humans.

Beschreibung: In this work we present results of the magnetic properties characterization of sediment samples from a brownfield site that is generating methane biogas in São Paulo–Brazil. We applied interpretation procedures (frequency dependent susceptibility and time-dependent Isothermal Remanent Magnetization) appropriate to study the ultrafine magnetic fraction response of the samples. The higher content of superparamagnetic (SP) particles correlates well with the detected biogas pockets, suggesting that the methanogens activity produces these ultrafine particles, different from the magnetic particles at other depth levels. We propose the use of two simple measurement and interpretation techniques to identify such magnetic particles fingerprints. The results presented here support the use of environmental magnetism techniques to investigate biogeochemical processes of anaerobic microbial activity.

Beschreibung: Infants hospitalized for critical illnesses are at a high risk of undernutrition because of increased nutrient requirements (due to increased metabolism) and decreased nutrient intake (due to disease-related problems such as anorexia or feeding difficulties). This can result in a slowing down of their normal growth, referred to as “growth faltering.” Appropriate nutritional management of these infants is extremely important to avoid long-term adverse outcomes. Administration of energy- and nutrient-dense formula (ENDF; 100 kcal energy and 2.6 g protein per 100 mL, with added micronutrients) can be an effective means of increasing the nutrient and energy intake of these children. Despite the high prevalence of undernutrition and growth faltering among pediatric patients in India, there is a paucity of literature on the use of ENDF in Indian infants. Herein, we report the successful use of ENDF for the nutritional management of two infants hospitalized for growth faltering because of severe upper airway obstruction. The aim of nutritional management was to achieve satisfactory weight gain, which can lead to spontaneous resolution of upper airway obstruction. ENDF was initially administered to provide 50–100 kcal/kg/day, and the dose was gradually increased to 160–185 kcal/kg/day. Both infants tolerated the formula well and showed satisfactory weight gain. These cases clearly demonstrate that early administration of ENDF is an effective means of increasing nutrient and energy intake of critically ill infants, thereby facilitating catchup growth, without any notable adverse effects.

Beschreibung: Insulin resistance in obesity coincides with abnormalities in lipid profile and lipoprotein subclass distribution and size even before abnormalities in glucose homeostasis manifest. We aimed to assess this relationship in the absence of obesity. Insulin sensitivity (3-h intravenous glucose tolerance test and minimal modeling) and lipoprotein particle concentrations and sizes (proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) were evaluated in 15 insulin-resistant and 15 insulin-sensitive lean Asians of Chinese descent with normal glucose tolerance, matched on age, sex, and body mass index. Despite a ~50% lower insulin sensitivity index (Si) in insulin-resistant than in insulin-sensitive subjects, which was accompanied by significantly greater acute insulin response to glucose (AIRg) and fasting insulin concentration but not different fasting glucose concentration, there were no significant differences between groups in the blood lipid profile (p ≥ 0.44) or the lipoprotein subclass concentrations (p ≥ 0.30) and particle sizes (p ≥ 0.43). We conclude that, contrary to observations in subjects with obesity, insulin resistance is not accompanied by unfavorable changes in the plasma lipid profile and lipoprotein particle concentrations and sizes in lean Asians with normal glucose tolerance. Therefore, insulin resistance at the level of glucose metabolism is mechanistically or temporally dissociated from lipid and lipoprotein metabolism.Trial Registration:clinicaltrials.gov, NCT03264001.

Beschreibung: The records of maintenance activities are required for modeling the track irregularity deterioration process. However, it is hard to guarantee the completeness and accuracy of the maintenance records. To tackle this problem, an adaptive piecewise modeling framework for the rail track deterioration process driven by historical measurement data from the comprehensive inspection train (referred to as CIT) is proposed. The identification of when maintenance activities occurred is reformulated as a model selection optimization problem based on Bayesian Information Criterion. An efficient solution algorithm utilizing adaptive thresholding and dynamic programming is proposed for solving this optimization problem. This framework’s validity and practicability are illustrated by the measurement data from the CIT inspection of the mileage section of K21 + 184 to K220 + 308 on the Nanchang-Fuzhou railway track from 2014 to 2019. The results indicate that this framework can overcome the disturbance of contaminated measurement data and accurately estimate when maintenance activities were undertaken without any historical maintenance records. What is more, the adaptive piecewise fitting model provided by this framework can describe the irregular deterioration process of corresponding rail track sections.

Beschreibung: An increasing number of web services providing convenient access to seismological data have become available in recent years. A huge effort at multiple levels was required to achieve this goal and the seismological community was engaged in the standardization of both data formats and web services. Although access to seismological data is much easier than in the past, users encounter problems because of the large number of web services, and due to the complexity of the discipline-specific data encodings. In addition, instead of adopting cross-disciplinary standards such as those by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), most seismological web services created their own standards, primarily those by the International Federation of Digital Seismograph Networks (FDSN). This article introduces “QQuake,” a plugin for QGIS—the Open Source Geographic Information System—that aims at making access to seismological data easier. The plugin is based on an Open Source code available on GitHub, and it is designed in a modular and customizable way, allowing users to easily include new web services.

Beschreibung: Fuel cell technology is continuously gaining ground in E-mobility applications. Fuel cells require a constant supply of pressurized air, for which high-speed turbo compressors with air bearings are an optimal choice to reduce size, guarantee oil-free operation required for the lifetime of the fuel cell, and increase efficiency. However, the inverter driving the electric motor of the turbo compressor does not scale down with increasing speed; therefore, other technology advances are required to achieve an overall compressor system with low weight. New power electronic topologies (double-bridge voltage sources inverter), cutting edge power semiconductor technology (gallium nitride), and multiobjective optimization techniques allow reducing the inverter size, increasing inverter efficiency, and improving the output current quality and in return lowering the losses in the electric motor. This enables the electrical, mechanical, and thermal integration of the inverter into the compressor housing of very high-speed and compact turbo compressors, thereby reducing the size and weight of the overall compressor system by a factor of two. Furthermore, a turbo compressor with an integrated inverter reduces complexity and cost for operators with savings in casing, cables, coolant piping, and connectors and reduces EMI noise by shielding the high-frequency motor currents with one housing. Beside its main application for fuel cell air supply, the advantages gained by an integrated inverter can also be used in other boosting and air handling applications such as advanced air and exhaust handling in combustion engines. The proposed integration concept is verified with a 280,000 rpm, 1 kW turbo compressor, targeted for the Balance of Plant (BoP) of a 5–15 kW fuel cell. The experimental results show that the temperature limits on the power electronics parts can be kept below the limit of 90 °C up to a coolant temperature of 55 °C, and beside the advantage of lower cabling effort, the efficiency of the compressor system (turbo compressor and integrated inverter) is increased by 5.5% compared to a turbo compressor without an integrated inverter.

Beschreibung: Volcanic activity at the Santiaguito dome complex (Guatemala) is characterized by lava extrusion interspersed with small, regular, gas-and-ash explosions that are believed to result from shallow magma fragmentation; yet, their triggering mechanisms remain debated. Given that the understanding of source processes at volcanoes is essential to risk assessments of future eruptions, this study seeks to shed light on those processes. We use data from a permanent seismic and infrasound network at Santiaguito volcano, Guatemala, established in 2018 and additional temporary stations, including a seismic array deployed during a 13-day field investigation in January 2019 to analyze and resolve the source characteristics of fragmentation leading to gas-and-ash explosions. Seismic data gathered within a distance of 4.5 km from the vent show a weak seismic signal 2–6 s prior to the explosions and associated main seismic signal. To resolve the source location and origin of the seismic signals, we first used ambient noise analysis to assess seismic velocities in the subsurface and then used two-dimensional spectral element modeling (SPECFEM2D) to simulate seismic waveforms. The analyzed data revealed a two-layer structure beneath the array, with a shallow, low-velocity layer (vs = 650 m/s) above deeper, high-velocity rocks (vs = 2,650 m/s). Using this velocity structure, possible source mechanisms and depths were constrained using array and particle motion analyses. The comparison of simulated and observed seismic data indicated that the precursory signal is associated with particle motion in the RZ-plane, pointing toward the opening of tensile cracks at a depth of ∼600 m below the summit; in contrast, the main signal is accompanied by a vertical single force, originating at a shallow depth of about ∼200 m. This suggests that the volcanic explosions at Santiaguito are following a bottom-up process in which tensile fractures develop at depth and enable rapid gas rise which leads to the subsequent explosion. The result indicates that explosions at Santiaguito do not occur from a single source location, but from a series of processes possibly associated with magma rupture, gas channeling and accumulation, and fragmentation. Our study provides a good foundation for further investigations at Santiaguito and shows the value of comparing seismic observations with synthetic data calculated for complex media to investigate in detail the processes leading up to gas-ash-rich explosions found at various other volcanoes worldwide.

Beschreibung: Atmospheric gravity waves (GWs) are generated in the lower atmosphere by various weather phenomena. They propagate upward, carry energy and momentum to higher altitudes, and appreciably influence the general circulation upon depositing them in the middle and upper atmosphere. We use a three-dimensional first-principle general circulation model (GCM) with implemented nonlinear whole atmosphere GW parameterization to study the global climatology of wave activity and produced effects at altitudes up to the upper thermosphere. The numerical experiments were guided by the GW momentum fluxes and temperature variances as measured in 2010 by the SABER (Sounding of the Atmosphere using Broadband Emission Radiometry) instrument onboard NASA’s TIMED (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics Dynamics) satellite. This includes the latitudinal dependence and magnitude of GW activity in the lower stratosphere for the boreal summer season. The modeling results were compared to the SABER temperature and total absolute momentum flux and Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) data in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere. Simulations suggest that, in order to reproduce the observed circulation and wave activity in the middle atmosphere, GW fluxes that are smaller than observed fluxes have to be used at the source level in the lower atmosphere. This is because observations contain a broader spectrum of GWs, while parameterizations capture only a portion relevant to the middle and upper atmosphere dynamics. Accounting for the latitudinal variations of the source appreciably improves simulations.

Beschreibung: This study investigated the interface morphology, microstructure composition and connection strength of 7A52 aluminum alloy-Al2O3 ceramic brazed joints under heat treatment conditions. Alumina ceramics were first treated with electroless nickel plating, followed by vacuum heat treatment at different temperatures. Then an Al-Si-Mg intermediate layer was placed between the treated alumina ceramic and 7A52 aluminum alloy for brazing under the conditions of welding temperature 590, holding time 1h, pressure 2 MPa. Results showed that when heat treatment was performed at 350°C and below, the nickel-plated metal had an amorphous structure, and when performed at 400°C, the nickel-plated layer had a crystalline structure and the brittle phase Ni3P was precipitated. When the heat treatment temperature was 350°C, the joint shear strength reached the maximum, which was 68.7 MPa.

Beschreibung: Rigid polyurethane foam (RPUF) was an organic porous material, which was applied in many fields for excellent thermal insulation and mechanical properties, especially in building insulation. However, the poor fire performance significantly suppresses its further application. In this work, aluminum diethylphosphinate (ADP) combined with expanded graphite (EG) to form a synergistic flame retarded system, which was introduced to fabricate flame retarded rigid polyurethane foam composites (FR-RPUF) by one-step water-blown method. Furthermore, thermal insulation, thermal stability, fire performance, and decomposition products of RPUF and FR-RPUF composites were systematically investigated. It was found that FR-RPUF composites possessed LOI of 25.9 vol% with V-1 rating in UL-94 test when 10 php of ADP and 20 php of EG were added, which were better than RPUF composites with ADP or EG added alone. MCC test showed that RPUF/ADP24/EG6 had the lowest PHRR value of 159.85 W/g, which was 52.01 W/g lower than that of pure RPUF. Gas phase products investigation implied that the combination of ADP and EG could decrease toxic and combustible gases intensities, thus significantly enhancing fire safety of FR-RPUF composites. SEM test indicated that ADP and EG promoted the formation of dense and continuous char residue, which significantly inhibited heat and substance transfer in combustion, thus significantly enhancing fire performance of FR-RPUF composites.

Beschreibung: Most piezoelectric materials are not interactive with visible light, meaning that their band gaps are beyond the photon energies of the visible part of the light spectrum. The first narrow band gap (1.1 eV, the same as silicon) ferroelectric material based on the oxide perovskite structure has been achieved by doping Ni on the B-sites of KNbO3 and paring the Ni2+ ions with oxygen vacancies to form defect dipoles to ease the band-band transition. This band gap engineered ferroelectric material has also been proved to be piezoelectric. The Ni-doping strategy for band gap engineering has been successfully applied to other perovskite compositions. As a result, several materials with simultaneously good piezoelectricity and a visible-range band gap have been developed. Such photoresponsive piezoelectrics have potential applications in opto-electrical dual-source actuators, single-material multi-sensors and multi-source energy harvesters. This mini review focuses on the works of simultaneous tuning of piezoelectricity and band gap, which have not previously been discussed as an individual topic in existing reviews. Pioneer works on the applications of photoresponsive piezoelectrics are also presented. Since most of such materials are built on the frame of lead-free perovskite oxides, their band gap (without degrading the piezoelectricity) provides an additional benefit to environmentally friendly lead-free piezoelectrics (compared to lead-based counterparts such as PZT [Pb(Zr,Ti)O3)]. This review aims to draw the attention of piezoelectric scientists and device engineers, so that potential applications of photoresponsive piezoelectrics can be comprehensively investigated, as well as more material options that can be offered in future works.

Beschreibung: Large-scale disturbances such as ice storms may increase in frequency and intensity as climate changes. While disturbances are a natural component of forest ecosystems, climatically driven alteration to historical patterns may impart fundamental change to ecosystem function. At Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest, NH, experimental ice storms of varying severity were applied to replicate plots of mature northern hardwoods to quantify their effects on forested ecosystems. We assessed ice storm treatment effects on insectivorous foliage-gleaning birds and evaluated insectivore predation on model caterpillars in the understory vegetation. These birds are charismatic, of conservation concern, and are major predators of caterpillars. In turn, lepidopterans are the dominant herbivores in temperate forests and are integral to ecosystem function. We predicted that avian abundance would increase due to additional structural heterogeneity caused by ice treatments, with a concomitant increase in caterpillar predation. Point counts were used to measure insectivorous bird activity in the ice storm experiment plots and additional control plots before and after treatments. We deployed and retrieved plasticine model caterpillars and estimated predation from characteristic marks to these surrogates. Abundance of foliage-gleaning birds was higher in the ice storm plots and birds responded to treatments as a single diffuse disturbance rather than on an individual plot level. All species except one were observed both before and after the ice treatments. Surprisingly, predation on caterpillar models was unaffected by ice storm treatments but rather was a function of caterpillar density. The increase in avian abundance in the ice storm treatment plots corroborates other studies of bird responses to relatively small-scale disturbances in forests and the limited change in species composition was expected given the plot size. We conclude that ice storms may provide beneficial changes for foliage-gleaning birds in the growing season following the disturbance.

Beschreibung: We previously discovered that gut microbiota can serve as universal microbial biomarkers for diagnosis, disease activity assessment, and predicting the response to infliximab treatment for inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). Much still remains unknown about the relationship between alterations in gut microbiota and IBD affected bowel region, in particular in the case of ulcerative colitis (UC) and colonic Crohn's disease (cCD) without endoscopic and biopsy data. In the current study gut microbiota from a population in China was found to be distinct from that of the Western world [Human Microbiome Project (HMP) data]. Furthermore, both gut microbiota greatly differed from microbiota of other anatomical locations (oral, skin, airway, and vagina), with higher alpha-diversity (Chinese gut 〉 HMP gut 〉 oral microbiome 〉 airway microbiome 〉 skin microbiome 〉 vaginal microbiome), and marked differences in microbiome composition. In patients with IBD in China, UC was characterized by the presence of Gardnerella, while cCD was characterized by the presence of Fusobacterium. Moreover, gut microbiota, such as Gardnerella and Fusobacterium, may be potential biomarkers for identifying UC from cCD. Together, this study revealed crucial differences in microbial communities across anatomical locations, and demonstrated that there was an important association between IBD affected bowel region and gut microbiota.

Beschreibung: The thermodynamic properties of the parabolic-well fluid are considered. The intermolecular interaction potential of this model, which belongs to the class of the so-called van Hove potentials, shares with the square-well and the triangular well potentials the inclusion of a hard-core and an attractive well of relatively short range. The analytic second virial coefficient for this fluid is computed explicitly and an equation of state is derived with the aid of the second-order thermodynamic perturbation theory in the macroscopic compressibility approximation and taking the hard-sphere fluid as the reference system. For this latter, the fully analytical expression of the radial distribution function, consistent with the Carnahan-Starling equation of state as derived within the rational function approximation method, is employed. The results for the reduced pressure of the parabolic-well fluid as a function of the packing fraction and two values of the range of the parabolic-well potential at different temperatures are compared with Monte Carlo and Event‐driven molecular dynamics simulation data. Estimates of the values of the critical temperature are also provided.

Beschreibung: Humans are participating in the sixth mass extinction, and for the first time in 200,000 years, our species may be on the brink of extinction. We are facing the greatest challenges we have ever encountered, namely how to nourish eight billion people in the face of changing climates ecologically, diminish disparity between the haves and the have-nots economically, and ease xenophobia, fear, and hatred socially? Historically, our tribal nature served us well, but the costs of tribalism are now far too great for one people inhabiting one tiny orb. If we hope to survive, we must mend the divides that isolate us from one another and the communities we inhabit. While not doing so could be our undoing, doing so could transform our collective consciousness into one that respects, nourishes, and embraces our interdependence with life on Earth. At a basic level, we can cultivate life by using nature as a model for how to produce and consume food; by decreasing our dependence on fossil fuels for energy to grow, process, and transport food; and by transcending persistent battles over one-size-fits-all plant- or animal-based diets. If we learn to do so in ways that nourish life, we may awaken individually and collectively to the wisdom of the Maori proverb Ko au te whenua. Ko te whenua Ko au: I am the land. The land is me. In this paper, we use “scapes” —foodscapes, landscapes, heartscapes, and thoughtscapes—as unifying themes to discuss our linkages with communities. We begin by considering how palates link animals with foodscapes. Next, we address how palates link foodscapes with landscapes. We then consider how, through our reverence for life, heartscapes link palates with foodscapes and landscapes. We conclude with transformations of thoughtscapes needed to appreciate life on Earth as a community to which we belong, rather than as a commodity that belongs to us.

Beschreibung: The El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is the most prominent climate system in the tropical Pacific. However, its simulation, including the amplitude, phase locking, and asymmetry of its two phases, is not well reproduced by the current climate system models. In this study, the sensitivity of the ENSO simulation to the convection schemes is discussed using the Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology Earth System version 3.0 (NESM3) model. Three convection schemes, including the default, the default coupled with the stochastic multicloud model (SMCM), and the default used in the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6), are implemented. The model results reveal that the low-level cloud cover and surface net shortwave radiation are best represented over the tropical Pacific in the model containing the SMCM. The simulations of the ENSO behavior’s response to changes in the convection scheme are not uniform. The model results reveal that the model containing the SMCM performs best in terms of simulating the seasonal cycle of the sea surface temperature anomaly along the equatorial Pacific, the phase locking, and the power spectrum of ENSO but with a modest ENSO amplitude. Compared to the model containing the default convection scheme, the coupling of the default scheme and the SMCM provides a good simulation of the ENSO’s asymmetry, while the model containing the CMIP6 convection scheme outperforms the others in terms of the simulation of the ENSO’s amplitude. Two atmospheric feedback processes were further discussed to investigate the factors controlling the ENSO’s amplitude. The analyses revealed that the strongest positive atmospheric Bjerknes feedback and the thermodynamic damping of the surface net heat flux occurred in the model containing the CMIP6 convection scheme, suggesting that the atmospheric Bjerknes feedback may overwhelm the heat flux damping feedback when determining the ENSO’s amplitude. The results of this study demonstrate that perfectly modeling and predicting the ENSO is not simple, and it is still a large challenge and issue for the entire model community in the future.

Beschreibung: The Sr isotopic composition of rivers and groundwaters in the Bengal Plain is a major contributor to the global oceanic Sr inventory. The stable strontium isotope ratios (δ88Sr) provide a new tool to identify chemical weathering reactions in terrestrial water. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal variations of δ88Sr in samples of river water, bedload sediment, and groundwater collected from the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna drainage basin in Bangladesh, which is known to strongly influence the 87Sr/86Sr ratio in seawater. The average δ88Sr values of waters of the Ganges, Brahmaputra, and Meghna rivers were 0.269, 0.316, and 0.278‰, respectively. Our data showed little difference between seasons of high and low discharge. The δ88Sr values measured in sequential leaching fractions of sediments varied from –0.258 to 0.516‰ and were highest in the silicate fraction, followed in turn by the carbonate fraction and the exchangeable fraction. Both 87Sr/86Sr and δ88Sr of these waters are primarily controlled by the inputs of Sr in weathering products from the Bengal Plain and Sr from the Himalayan rivers (Ganges and Brahmaputra). Values of δ88Sr and Sr/Ca were higher in the Brahmaputra River than in the Ganges River, a difference we attribute to greater input from silicate weathering. The variations of δ88Sr and 87Sr/86Sr were greater in groundwater than in river waters. Mineral sorting effects and dissolution kinetics can account for the large scatter in 87Sr/86Sr and δ88Sr values. The depth profile of δ88Sr showed wide variation at shallow depths and convergence to a narrow range of about 0.31‰ at depths greater than 70 m, which reflects more complete equilibration of chemical interactions between groundwater and ambient sediments owing to the longer residence time of deeper groundwater. We found that δ88Sr values in the groundwater of Bangladesh were almost identical to those of river water from the lower Meghna River downstream of its confluence with the Ganges–Brahmaputra river system, thus confirming that the δ88Sr composition of the groundwater discharge to the Bay of Bengal is very similar to that of the river discharge.

Beschreibung: Malnutrition among children of school-going age is a challenge of serious concern in developing countries especially Sub-Saharan Africa. Many programs focus on mothers and under-5-year-old children, leaving the school going age unattended. It has been shown that school meals can reduce school absenteeism, improve concentration in class and reduce early dropouts. In Tanzania, successful home-grown school feeding programs are localized in few areas but have not been scaled-out. The objective of this study was to analyze the policy and organizational environment which enables or promotes home-grown school feeding approaches. The study consisted of a systematic review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions in Arumeru and Babati Districts, Tanzania. In total, 21 key informant interviews with 27 participants and 27 focus group discussions with 217 participants were conducted. The results show that Tanzania lacks a clear policy on school feeding; there are no guidelines for school meal quality, participation in school feeding programs is not mandatory, leading to many students being left out and going hungry. Students in private schools tend to be better off than those in public schools in terms of provision and quality of school meals. We recommend that policies and practices are developed based on positive experiences of home-grown school feeding programs implemented in Tanzania by the World Food Programme and Project Concern International and emphasize that these policies need to be developed in a multi-sectoral manner. A conceptual framework for improving home-grown school feeding in public schools in Tanzania highlights four critical components: leadership and public awareness; operational modalities; contributions from parents; and meal diversity and nutrition. The home-grown school feeding model provides mechanisms to improve diversity of meals and their nutritional value, increase participation of communities and inclusion of students. Parents will still be responsible for the largest part of food supplies, but the model also requires participation of multiple stakeholders, and provision of natural resources such as land and water by the local government for production of nutritious food for young students. Minimum levels of social protection are recommended to ensure that no student is denied school meals.

Beschreibung: The Aso-4 caldera-forming event (86.4 ± 1.1 ka, VEI-8) is the second largest volcanic eruption Earth experienced in the past 100 ka. The ignimbrite sheets produced during this event are some of the first ever described compositionally zoned pyroclastic flow deposits exhibiting clear compositional, mineralogical and thermal gradients with stratigraphic position. Large quantities of the deposits are composed of crystal-poor, highly evolved juvenile pumices, while late-erupted pyroclastic flows are in many cases dominated by crystal-rich and less silicic scoria. These petrological gradients in the Aso-4 deposits have been linked to extensive magma mixing of two compositionally distinct magmas in a complex upper crustal reservoir. However, new studies on several other zoned ignimbrites suggest that magma mixing alone is not sufficient to fully explain such strong compositional gradients in the deposits. These gradients are expected to be dominantly caused by the recharge-induced reactivation of extracted melt caps and their complementary cumulate in the upper crust. Here, we investigate bulk rock and matrix glass data with detailed analyses of mineral chemistry in order to re-evaluate the Aso-4 deposits in light of these latest developments. Reverse chemical zoning in phenocrysts, Sr enrichment in euhedral rims of plagioclase and the presence of mafic minerals (clinopyroxene, olivine) indicate recharge of hot, mafic magmas shortly prior to eruption, inducing a mixing signature. However, the marked enrichment in some elements in bulk-rock analyses and the presence of highly evolved minerals (some in the form of glomerocrysts) in the late-erupted, crystal-rich units, provide clear evidence for crystal accumulation in these scoria. Mass balance modeling of P2O5, Sr and SiO2 supports the extraction of melt-rich lenses within an upper crustal mush zone, leaving a partly cumulative evolved crystal residue. We therefore propose an origin of the compositionally zoned Aso-4 ignimbrite largely by erupting a heterogeneous upper crustal reservoir, consisting of crystal-poor rhyodacitic melt caps within its associated cumulate mush. This complex reservoir was reactivated by mafic recharge shortly prior to eruption, imparting an additional mixing signature to the deposits.

Beschreibung: The Carpathian Basin is a key region for understanding modern human expansion into western Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene because of numerous early hominid fossil find spots. However, the corresponding archeological record remains less understood due to a paucity of well dated, contextualized sites. To help rectify this, we excavated and sampled Crvenka-At (Serbia), one of the largest Upper Paleolithic sites in the region to obtain radiometric ages for the archeological artifacts and evaluate their depositional context and subsequent site formation processes. Our results confirm that this locality represents a multiple-occupation Aurignacian site that dates to 36.4 ± 2.8 ka based on modeling of luminescence ages. Electrical resistivity tomography measurements indicate that the site formed on a sandy-gravelly fill terrace covered by overbank deposits. Complex grain size distributions further suggest site formation in contrasting depositional environments typically occurring alongside fluvial channels, at lakeshores, in alluvial fan or delta settings. The site is thus the closest (ca. 50 km) known Aurignacian site to the earliest undisputed modern human remains in Europe at the Peştera cu oase and some intervals of the occupation may therefore have been contemporaneous with them. This suggests that modern humans, during their initial settlement of Europe, exploited a wider range of topographic and ecological settings than previously posited. Our findings indicate that lowland areas of the Carpathian Basin are an important part of understanding the early settlement patterns of modern humans in Europe.

Beschreibung: Low-viscosity channel flow, originating from a melt-weakened mid-crustal layer, is one of the most popular tectonic models to explain the exhumation of deep-seated rocks in the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS). The driving mechanism of such channel flow, generally attributed to focused erosion in the mountain front, is still debated, and yet to be resolved. Moreover, the channel flow model cannot explain eclogites in the GHS. In this study, we present a new two-dimensional thermo-mechanical numerical model, based on lubrication dynamics to demonstrate the exhumation process of deep crustal rocks in GHS. The model suggests that a dynamic-pressure drop in the Himalayan wedge, following a large reduction in the India-Asia convergence velocity (15 cm/yr at 50 Ma to nearly 5 cm/yr at ∼22 Ma) localized a fully developed extrusion zone, which controlled the pressure-temperature-time (P-T-t) path of GHS rocks. We show that the wedge extrusion, originated in the lower crust (∼60 km), was initially bounded by two oppositely directed ductile shear zones: the South Tibetan Detachment systems (STDS) at the top and the Higher Himalayan Discontinuity (HHD) at the bottom. With time the bottom shear boundary of the extrusion zone underwent a southward migration, forming the Main Central Thrust (MCT) at ∼17 Ma. Our model successfully reproduces two apparently major paradoxical observations in the Himalaya: syn-convergence extension and inverted metamorphic isograds. Model peak P (10–17 kb) and T (700–820°C) and the exhumation P-T-t path estimated from several Lagrangian points, traveling through the extrusion zone, are largely compatible with the petrological observations in the GHS. The model results account for the observed asymmetric P-T distribution between the MCT and STDS, showing peak P-T values close to the MCT. The lubrication dynamics proposed in this article sheds light on the fast exhumation event (〉1 cm/yr) in the most active phase of crustal extrusion (22-17 Ma), followed by a slowed-down event. Finally, our model explains why the extrusion zone became weak in the last 8-10 Ma in the history of India-Asia collision.

Beschreibung: The vast majority of carbonate minerals in modern marine sediments are biogenic, derived from the skeletal remains of organisms living in the ocean. However, carbonate minerals can also precipitate abiotically within marine sediments, and this carbonate mineral precipitation within sediments has been suggested as a third major, and isotopically distinct, sink in the global carbon cycle, particularly important earlier in Earth history. Here we present a global compilation of pore fluid data and compare the sulfate, calcium, phosphate and magnesium concentrations with pore fluid alkalinity to explore the emerging relationships and explore what drives carbonate mineral precipitation in sediments. Our data compilation shows that the gradient of pore fluid sulfate concentrations correlates strongly with the gradient of alkalinity as well as with the gradient of calcium, and that these correlations improve dramatically in sediments where methane is present. We also note that sedimentary pore fluids that are high in phosphate concentration are also high in alkalinity, which may indicate suppression of carbonate mineral precipitation in the presence of sedimentary phosphate. Our data can be used to highlight sediments where both dolomite formation and dolomitization of previously deposited calcium carbonate minerals is occurring. We explore how carbonate mineral saturation state changes as a function of calcium concentrations, alkalinity, and pH, and suggest a reason why calcium concentrations are never fully depleted in sedimentary pore fluids. We conclude that carbonate minerals precipitate in sediments with methane, where the anaerobic oxidation of this methane helps promote particularly high saturation states for carbonate minerals.

Beschreibung: While commission reports and nutritional guidelines raise concerns about the effects of consuming red meat on human health, the impacts of how livestock are raised and finished on consumer health are generally ignored. Meat and milk, irrespective of rearing practices, provide many essential nutrients including bioavailable protein, zinc, iron, selenium, calcium, and/or B12. Emerging data indicate that when livestock are eating a diverse array of plants on pasture, additional health-promoting phytonutrients—terpenoids, phenols, carotenoids, and anti-oxidants—become concentrated in their meat and milk. Several phytochemicals found in grass-fed meat and milk are in quantities comparable to those found in plant foods known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and cardioprotective effects. As meat and milk are often not considered as sources of phytochemicals, their presence has remained largely underappreciated in discussions of nutritional differences between feedlot-fed (grain-fed) and pasture-finished (grass-fed) meat and dairy, which have predominantly centered around the ω-3 fatty acids and conjugated linoleic acid. Grazing livestock on plant-species diverse pastures concentrates a wider variety and higher amounts of phytochemicals in meat and milk compared to grazing monoculture pastures, while phytochemicals are further reduced or absent in meat and milk of grain-fed animals. The co-evolution of plants and herbivores has led to plants/crops being more productive when grazed in accordance with agroecological principles. The increased phytochemical richness of productive vegetation has potential to improve the health of animals and upscale these nutrients to also benefit human health. Several studies have found increased anti-oxidant activity in meat and milk of grass-fed vs. grain-fed animals. Only a handful of studies have investigated the effects of grass-fed meat and dairy consumption on human health and show potential for anti-inflammatory effects and improved lipoprotein profiles. However, current knowledge does not allow for direct linking of livestock production practices to human health. Future research should systematically assess linkages between the phytochemical richness of livestock diets, the nutrient density of animal foods, and subsequent effects on human metabolic health. This is important given current societal concerns about red meat consumption and human health. Addressing this research gap will require greater collaborative efforts from the fields of agriculture and medicine.

Beschreibung: Organic farming systems are gaining popularity as agronomically and environmentally sound soil management strategies with potential to enhance soil microbial diversity and fertility, environmental quality and sustainable crop production. This work aimed at understanding the effect of organic and conventional farming on the diversity of soybean nodulating bradyrhizobia species. Field trapping of indigenous soybean Bradyrhizobium was done by planting promiscuous soybeans varieties SB16 and SC squire as well as non-promiscuous Gazelle in three organic and three conventional farms in Tharaka-Nithi County of Kenya. After 45 days of growth, 108 nodule isolates were obtained from the soybean nodules and placed into 13 groups based on their morphological characteristics. Genetic diversity was done by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) targeting 16S rDNA gene using universal primers P5-R and P3-F and sequencing was carried out using the same primer. High morphological and genetic diversity of the nodule isolates was observed in organic farms as opposed to conventional farms. There was little or no genetic differentiation between the nodule isolates from the different farms with the highest molecular variation (91.12%) being partitioned within populations as opposed to among populations (8.88%). All the isolates were identified as bradyrhizobia with close evolutionary ties with Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Bradyrhizobium yuanminense. Organic farming systems favor the proliferation of bradyrhizobia species and therefore a suitable environmentally friendly alternative for enhancing soybean production.

Beschreibung: The Eastern Indian Shield (EIS) is comprised of the intracratonic (coal-bearing) Damodar Gondwana basin, rift-controlled extensional Lower Gangetic basin (LGB), and the downward flexed Indo-Gangetic basin (IGB). The present study involves the computations and mapping of the basement configuration, sediment thickness, Moho depth, and the residual isostatic gravity anomaly, based on 2-D gravity modeling. The sediment thickness in the area ranges between 0.0 and 6.5 km, and the Conrad discontinuity occurs at ∼17.0–20 km depth. The depth of the Moho varies between 36.0 and 41.5 km, with the maximum value beneath the Upper Gangetic basin (UGB), and the minimum of ∼36 km (uplifted Moho) in the southeastern part beneath the LGB. The maximum residual isostatic anomaly of +44 mGal in the southern part indicates the Singhbhum shear zone, LGB, and Rajmahal trap to be under-compensated, whereas the northern part recording the minimum residual isostatic anomaly of –87.0 mGal is over-compensated. Although the region experienced a few moderate-magnitude earthquakes in the past, small-magnitude earthquakes are sparsely distributed. The basement reactivation was possibly associated with a few events of magnitudes more than 4.0. Toward the south, in the Bay of Bengal (BOB), seismic activities of moderate size and shallow origin are confined between the aseismic 85 and 90°E ridges. The regions on the extreme north and south [along the Himalaya and the equatorial Indian Ocean (EIO)] are experienced moderate-to-great earthquakes over different times in the historical past, but the intervening EIS and the BOB have seismic stability. We propose that the two aseismic ridges are guiding the lithospheric stress fields, which are being further focused by the basement of the EIS, the BOB, and the N-S extended regional fault systems into the bending zone of the penetrating Indian lithosphere beneath the Himalaya. The minimum obliquity of the Indian plate and the transecting fault systems in the Foothills of the Himalaya channelize and enhance the stress field into the bending zone. The enhanced stress generates great earthquakes in the Nepal-Bihar-Sikkim Himalaya, and on being reflected back through the apparently stable EIS and BOB, the stress field creates deformation and great earthquakes in the EIO.

Beschreibung: Systematic studies are quite rare on the gas-bearing property and its controlling factors of the shallow Longmaxi shale outside the Sichuan Basin. In a previous study, the gas in place contents of a suit of Longmaxi shale samples with a depth range of 362–394 m from the well XK2, which was drilled in the Xishui area, Guizhou, southern China, were reported. In the present study, the pore structure parameters and irreducible water occurrence characteristics of those samples, and their influences on the gas-bearing property were further investigated. The results show that, compared to the dry sample, the non-micropore specific surface areas and micropore volumes of the moist sample are significantly reduced by an average value of 61 and 30%, respectively, and that the water averagely occupies 82 and 41% of the inorganic and organic non-micropore specific surface areas, respectively, and 44 and 18% of the inorganic and organic micropore volumes, respectively. The shallow shale reservoir is dominated by adsorbed gas. It accounts for 66–93% of the total gas. The water significantly decreases the adsorption capacity of the inorganic matte (mainly clay minerals) pores, but has a limited influence on that of the organic matter pores. The adsorbed gas occurs mostly in the organic matter nanopores, and even if the shales were highly saturated with the water, they can still store a certain amount of the adsorbed gas. These results are to provide some guides for the evaluation and exploration of the shallow Longmaxi shale located in the strongly tectonic transformation areas of southern China.

Beschreibung: We report the crystal structure and superconducting properties of new V5+2xNb35−xMo35−xIr10Pt15 high-entropy alloys (HEAs) for x in the range of 0 ≤x≤ 10. These HEAs are found to crystallize in a cubic A15-type structure and have a weakly coupled, fully gapped superconducting state. A maximum Tc of 5.18 K and zero-temperature upper critical field Bc2(0) of 6.4 T are observed at x = 0, and both quantities decrease monotonically with the increase of V content x. In addition, Tc shows an increase with increasing valence electron concentration from 6.4 to 6.5, which is compared with other A15-type HEA and binary superconductors.

Beschreibung: Graphene-MoS2 composites were synthesized via one-step microwave-assisted chemical bath deposition and used as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells, instead of traditional Pt film which has high cost and poor stability. The effects of graphene additive amount on the performance of cells were studied. The results reveal that sheet porous structure graphene and MoS2 particles has been incorporated tightly, which is the benefit of electrical conductivity and catalysis ability. A maximum efficiency of 6.3% has been achieved under 100 mW cm−2 illumination when the Mo:C is 1:1.

Beschreibung: We investigate here the magnetic properties of a large-scale magnetic flux rope related to a coronal mass ejection (CME) that erupted from the Sun on September 12, 2014 and produced a well-defined flux rope in interplanetary space on September 14–15, 2014. We apply a fully data-driven and time-dependent magnetofrictional method (TMFM) using Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) magnetograms as the lower boundary condition. The simulation self-consistently produces a coherent flux rope and its ejection from the simulation domain. This paper describes the identification of the flux rope from the simulation data and defining its key parameters (e.g., twist and magnetic flux). We define the axial magnetic flux of the flux rope and the magnetic field time series from at the apex and at different distances from the apex of the flux rope. Our analysis shows that TMFM yields axial magnetic flux values that are in agreement with several observational proxies. The extracted magnetic field time series do not match well with in-situ components in direct comparison presumably due to interplanetary evolution and northward propagation of the CME. The study emphasizes also that magnetic field time-series are strongly dependent on how the flux rope is intercepted which presents a challenge for space weather forecasting.

Beschreibung: The Mpemba effect refers to systems whose thermal relaxation time is a non-monotonic function of the initial temperature. Thus, a system that is initially hot cools to a bath temperature more quickly than the same system, initially warm. In the special case where the system dynamics can be described by a double-well potential with metastable and stable states, dynamics occurs in two stages: a fast relaxation to local equilibrium followed by a slow equilibration of populations in each coarse-grained state. We have recently observed the Mpemba effect experimentally in such a setting, for a colloidal particle immersed in water. Here, we show that this metastable Mpemba effect arises from a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the maximum amount of work that can be extracted from the local-equilibrium state at the end of Stage 1.

Beschreibung: Theory and observations of Langmuir waves and turbulence induced in the auroral ionosphere by electron beams of magnetospheric-origin are reviewed. The theoretical discussions include a brief description of the electrostatic dispersion relation, excitation of Langmuir waves by electron beams, and the stability of beam distributions. The theory of Langmuir turbulence—including the parametric decay instability and wave collapse—is also briefly discussed. The main focus of the review, however, is on the observations of Langmuir waves and turbulence in the ionosphere by in-situ and ground-based sensors. A summary of five decades of in-situ wave and particle observations is presented and combined with a collection of more recent results from ground-based instruments. The ground-based observations include signatures of Langmuir turbulence in the form of coherent echoes in incoherent scatter radar measurements; signatures of electron beams in the form of auroral morphologies recorded by high-speed, high-resolution optical imagers; and electromagnetic emissions received on the ground at high latitudes. Uniting the various observations obtained by the vastly different sensors is shown to provide further insight into the micro-scale processes that occur in the ionosphere. Also discussed in this review is the potential of the ground-based sensors to provide a broader spatial and temporal context for single-point in-situ measurements of such processes.

Beschreibung: With the aim of achieving high precision and high efficiency, recent research on hydraulic flood models has tended to focus on the algorithms for solving the shallow water equations of Saint-Venant. While development of the algorithms will help to improve the simulation precision and the solving of specific problems, the other influential factor in flood risk modeling is the precision and reasonable generalization of the data. This is even more important for increasing the model’s computational accuracy and efficiency but is frequently undervalued. Frequent rainstorm waterlogging is having a serious impact on China’s large cities. Early warning of waterlogging risk following a rainstorm forecast is an effective method for preventing or reducing potential losses. Concrete waterlogging information including locations, depth, and process is essential for early warnings. This paper focuses on the influence of data precision and reasonable generalization on an urban flooding model. A detailed hydraulic urban flooding model characterized by detailed data processing and component coupling can help to provide advance information. In Beijing city, road networks, overpasses, and buildings are so highly concentrated that rainstorms easily result in waterlogging in low-lying locations. Therefore, partial microrelief is the determinate factor in waterlogging simulation. This paper shows that multi-mode surface data generalization and detailed model coupling support a perfect simulation of a Beijing urban flooding model. The influence of buildings, roads, and overpasses on surface water flow was carefully considered based on the innovative aspect of a fine generalization of partial microrelief. One novelty is the simulation of the whole overland flow from the beginning of rainfall to mesh, not only from manhole overflow, because the waterlogging is caused mainly by initial surface water runoff rather than by manhole overflow. A second novelty is the use of a new kind of coupling mode based on physical mechanisms between surface and pipe models. Here, rain perforated strainers instead of manholes play a role as flow exchange points between pipe and surface. This coupling mode is much closer to the real world. Based on a detailed Beijing urban flooding model, a scenarios library of typical rainfall events and corresponding waterlogging results was constructed. Several years of practice have demonstrated that a rich library of scenarios can be used effectively for the quick identification and early warning of waterlogging risk for a forecast rainfall. Test results show that multi-mode surface generalization is effective in improving outcomes and useful for scientific decision making in controlling urban waterlogging.

Beschreibung: Agriculture is both highly sensitive to climate change and a major global emitter of greenhouse gases (GHG). With growing international pressure to curb global emissions through the 2015 Paris Agreement and mounting climate change-related losses in agriculture, countries are in need of an increasingly robust agricultural policy framework. This paper takes an in-depth look at the agricultural sector in Viet Nam, contributing to a better understanding of the main bottlenecks in implementing the Paris Agreement, evaluating the relevance and impact of selected barriers for the implementation of current climate policies and their implications for nationally determined contribution (NDC) design. To address these questions, an exploratory mixed method approach was employed: (i) identifying and mapping key policies, (ii) reviewing global literature sources on barriers, (iii) conducting stakeholder interviews (n = 25), and (iv) follow-up quantitative surveys (n = 16). The interviews revealed numerous barriers within Viet Nam's institutional setting that acted to impede the creation and implementation of climate policy. As seen in other countries, insufficient inter-ministry collaboration and information sharing restricted the overall success of climate policy, with poor representation of non-lead ministries in drafting and inadequate channels for bottom-up engagement also considered major constraints. These coupled with gaps in financing make for fragmented policies that often lack clear implementation guidelines, particularly at a local level. The NDC process presents an opportunity for Viet Nam to coordinate their cross-sector climate response around a single international agreement, facilitating greater inter-ministry information and data sharing, while utilizing the technical and financial support provided through international partners to build capacity in this vital area.

Beschreibung: In an emergency evacuation, people almost always come in close proximity as they quickly leave a built environment under a potential threat. With COVID19, this situation presents yet another challenge: that of getting unintentionally exposed to an infected individual. To assess the epidemiological consequences of an emergency evacuation, we expanded a popular pedestrian dynamic model to enable social distancing during a normal exit and analyze the effect of possible transmission through respiratory droplets and aerosol. Computer simulations point to a troubling outcome, whereby the benefits of a quick exit could be outweighed by the risk of infection.

Beschreibung: Seismic surveys allow estimating lithological parameters, as P-wave velocity and anelastic absorption, which can detect the presence of fracture and fluids in the geological formations. Recently, a new method has been proposed for high-resolution imaging of anelastic absorption, which combines a macro-model from seismic tomography with a micro-model obtained by the pre-stack depth migration of a seismic attribute, i.e., the instantaneous frequency. As a result, we can get a broadband image that provides clues about the presence of saturating fluids. When the saturation changes sharply, as for gas reservoirs with an impermeable caprock, the acoustic impedance contrast produces “bright spots” because of the resulting high reflectivity at its top. When the fluid content changes smoothly, the anelastic absorption becomes a good detector, as fluid-filled formations absorb more seismic energy than hard rocks. We apply this method for imaging the anelastic absorption in a regional seismic survey acquired by OGS in the Gulf of Trieste (northern Adriatic Sea, Italy).

Beschreibung: The Sea of Japan (JS) is a unique marginal sea in the western North Pacific that is characterized by four shallow straits. It can provide information about the paleoenvironment, for instance indicating variations in the East Asian Monsoon, Tsushima Warm Current, sea ice coverage, and Westerly Jet. Compared with other marginal seas in the western North Pacific, the JS is currently the only marginal sea without influx from large rivers. It is, therefore, of interest to determine the source of terrigenous sediments over time, particularly in the western JS, which has been less investigated in previous reports. In this study, a suite of multi-proxies including Sr and Nd isotopes and minor elements were measured for fine fractions (

Beschreibung: An algorithm is presented for testing the calibration accuracy of both z-accelerometers and pressure gauges (PG) installed in seafloor observatories. The test is based on the linear relationship between the vertical acceleration component of the seafloor movement and variations of the seafloor pressure, which is a direct consequence of Newton's 2-nd law and holds valid in the frequency range of “forced oscillations.” The operability of the algorithm is demonstrated using signals registered by 28 observatories of the DONET-2 system during 4 earthquakes of magnitude Mw ~ 8 that took place in 2018-2019 at epicentral distances from 55° up to 140°.

Beschreibung: Landslide susceptibility mapping is very important for landslide risk evaluation and land use planning. Toward this end, this paper presents a case study in Ningqiang County, Shanxi Province, China. Slope units were selected as the basic mapping units. A traditional statistical certainty factor model (CF), a machine learning support vector machine model (SVM) and random forest model (RF), along with a hybrid CF-SVM model and a CF-RF model were applied to analyze landslide susceptibility. Firstly, 10 landslide conditioning factors were selected, namely slope-angle, altitude, slope aspect, degree of relief, lithology, distance to rivers, distance to faults, distance to roads, average annual rainfall and normalized difference vegetation index. The 23,169 slope units were generated from a Digital Elevation Model and the corresponding 10 conditioning factor layers were produced from both geological and geographical data. Then, landslide susceptibility mapping was carried out using the five models, respectively. Next, the landslide density (LD), frequency ratio (FR), the area under the curve (AUC) and other indicators were used to validate the rationality, performance and accuracy of the models. The results showed that the susceptibility maps produced from the different models were all reasonable. In each map, the LD and FR were greatest in the zones classed as having very high landslide susceptibility, followed by the high, moderate, low and very low landslide susceptibility classes, respectively. From the comparison of the different maps and ROC curves, the RF model based on slope units was the most appropriate for landslide susceptibility mapping in the study area. It was also found that the combination of weaker learner model (CF model here) with a stronger learner model (SVM and RF model here) can impact the applicability of the stronger model.

Beschreibung: Molecular simulations such as Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Monte Carlo (MC) have gained increasing importance in the explanation of various physicochemical and biochemical phenomena in soft matter and help elucidate processes that often cannot be understood by experimental techniques alone. While there is a large number of computational studies and developments in MD, MC simulations are less widely used, but they offer a powerful alternative approach to explore the potential energy surface of complex systems in a way that is not feasible for atomistic MD, which still remains fundamentally constrained by the femtosecond timestep, limiting investigations of many essential processes. This paper provides a review of the current developments of a MC based code, SIMONA, which is an efficient and versatile tool to perform large-scale conformational sampling of different kinds of (macro)molecules. We provide an overview of the approach, and an application to soft-matter problems, such as protocols for protein and polymer folding, physical vapor deposition of functional organic molecules and complex oligomer modeling. SIMONA offers solutions to different levels of programming expertise (basic, expert and developer level) through the usage of a designed Graphical Interface pre-processor, a convenient coding environment using XML and the development of new algorithms using Python/C++. We believe that the development of versatile codes which can be used in different fields, along with related protocols and data analysis, paves the way for wider use of MC methods. SIMONA is available for download under http://int.kit.edu/nanosim/simona.

Beschreibung: Pull-in instability was an important phenomenon in microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). In the past, MEMS were usually assumed to work in an ideal environment. But in the real circumstances, MEMS often work in dust-filled air, which is equivalent to working in porous media, that's mean fractal space. In this paper, we studied MEMS in fractal space and established the corresponding model. At the same time, we can control the occurrence time and stable time of pull-in by adjusting the value of the fractal index, and obtain a stable pull-in phenomenon.

Beschreibung: In the past years, there has been steady growth in work relating to improve resource efficiency through waste minimization and bioenergy recovery to mitigate climate change. Agro-food industries produce large amounts of bio-waste, challenging innovative energetic valorization strategies in the framework of circular economy principles. Anaerobic digestion (AD) technology is an interesting route to stabilize organic matter and produce biogas as a renewable energy source. This study involves continuous co-digestion of pig slurry (PS), cereal and exhausted coffee wastes (CECW) performed in a continuously stirred tank reactor, with a hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 16 days under at mesophilic conditions (36.9 ± 0.3°C). The experimental trials, were designed to include different cereal and exhausted coffee liquor (CECL) shares in the feeding mixture, corresponding to different PS to CECL ratios (PS:CECL), respectively: 100:0 (T0), 90:10 (T1), 80:20 (T2), and 70:30 (T3), in terms of percentage of inlet feeding rate (v:v). The results obtained for the feeding rate (70:30) yield to the highest specific methane production (SMP = 341 ml.gVS−1) led to a 3.5-fold improvement in comparison with the reference scenario. The synergetic effect between the microbial consortia of PS and the high carbon to nitrogen ratio (C/N) of CECL explain the improvements achieved. The maximum soluble chemical oxygen demand (SCOD) reduction (84.0%) due to the high content and soluble chemical oxygen demand to total chemical oxygen demand ratio (SCOD/TCOD) corroborate the results achieved. The digester stability, evaluated by specific energetic loading rate, was below the limit (0.4 d−1). Results from ANOVA showed a significant effect of CECL on the resulting GPR and SMP values. Additionally, Tukey's “Honest Significant Difference” method, confirmed statistically significant differences between the trials T3-T0, T3-T1, T3-T2, and T2-T0. Thus, co-digestion of PS and of CECL seems to be a promising approach for bioenergy recovery and promoting biowastes circularity.

Beschreibung: Introduction: The primary aims of this study were to evaluate the changes in dietary behavior among the Croatian adult population during the COVID-19 outbreak and to explore the impact of confinement on cooking habits.Methods: The study was based on results from COVIDiet_Int cross-sectional study—a part of COVIDiet project (NCT04449731). A self-administered online questionnaire was used to assess the frequency of food consumption, eating habits, and sociodemographic information. A total number of 4,281 participants (80.5% females and 19.4% males) completed the questionnaire.Results: The Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) score before the confinement was 5.02 ± 1.97, while during the confinement, the MEDAS score increased to 5.85 ± 2.04. Participants who had higher adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) during the confinement were mostly females (88.8%), aged between 20 and 50 years, with the highest level of education (66.3%) and normal BMI (70.6%). The majority of participants maintained their dietary behavior as it was before COVID-19 confinement, while 36.9% decreased their physical activity. Participants with higher MEDAS score were more eager to increase their physical activity. Additionally, higher median values of MEDAS score were noted for participants with body mass index values below 24.9 kg/m2 (6.0 vs. 5.0 for participants with BMI above 25 kg/m2). Participants in all residence places increased their cooking frequency during the confinement (53.8%), which was associated with an increase in vegetables, legumes, as well as fish and seafood consumption.Conclusions: According to our findings, Croatian adults exhibited medium adherence to the MedDiet during the COVID-19 confinement. The results suggest that cooking frequency could be positively associated with overall dietary quality, which is of utmost importance in these demanding times.

Beschreibung: The study of the use of nanotechnology for drug delivery has been extensive. Nanomedical approaches for therapeutics; drug delivery in particular is superior to conventional methods in that it allows for controlled targeted delivery and release, higher stability, extended circulation time, minimal side-effects, and improved pharmacokinetic clearance (of the drug) form the body, to name a few. The magnitude of COVID-19, the current ongoing pandemic has been severe; it has caused widespread the loss of human life. In individuals with severe COVID-19, immune dysregulation and a rampant state of hyperinflammation is observed. This kind of an immunopathological response is detrimental and results in rapid disease progression, development of secondary infections, sepsis and can be fatal. Several studies have pin-pointed the reason for this immune dysregulation; deviations in the signaling pathways involved in the mediation and control of immune responses. In severe COVID-19 patients, many signaling cascades including JAK/STAT, NF-κB, MAPK/ERK, TGF beta, VEGF, and Notch signaling were found to be either upregulated or inactivated. Targeting these aberrant signaling pathways in conjunction with antiviral therapy will effectuate mitigation of the hyperinflammation, hypercytokinemia, and promote faster recovery. The science of the use of nanocarriers as delivery agents to modulate these signaling pathways is not new; it has already been explored for other inflammatory diseases and in particular, cancer therapy. Numerous studies have evaluated the efficacy and potential of nanomedical approaches to modulate these signaling pathways and have been met with positive results. A treatment regime, that includes nanotherapeutics and antiviral therapies will prove effective and holds great promise for the successful treatment of COVID-19. In this article, we review different nanomedical approaches already studied for targeting aberrant signaling pathways, the host immune response to SARS-CoV-2, immunopathology and the dysregulated signaling pathways observed in severe COVID-19 and the current treatment methods in use for targeting signaling cascades in COVID-19. We then conclude by suggesting that the use of nanomedical drug delivery systems for targeting signaling pathways can be extended to effectively target the aberrant signaling pathways in COVID-19 for best treatment results.

Beschreibung: This paper introduces a novel linked structure-content representation of federal statutory law in the United States and analyzes and quantifies its structure using tools and concepts drawn from network analysis and complexity studies. The organizational component of our representation is based on the explicit hierarchical organization within the United States Code (USC) as well an embedded cross-reference citation network. We couple this structure with a layer of content-based similarity derived from the application of a “topic model” to the USC. The resulting representation is the first that explicitly models the USC as a “multinetwork” or “multilayered network” incorporating hierarchical structure, cross-references, and content. We report several novel descriptive statistics of this multinetwork. These include the results of this first application of the machine learning technique of topic modeling to the USC as well as multiple measures articulating the relationships between the organizational and content network layers. We find a high degree of assortativity of “titles” (the highest level hierarchy within the USC) with related topics. We also present a link prediction task and show that machine learning techniques are able to recover information about structure from content. Success in this prediction task has a natural interpretation as indicating a form of mutual information. We connect the relational findings between organization and content to a measure of “ease of search” in this large hyperlinked document that has implications for the ways in which the structure of the USC supports (or doesn’t support) broad useful access to the law. The measures developed in this paper have the potential to enable comparative work in the study of statutory networks that ranges across time and geography.

Beschreibung: Estimations of global glacier mass changes over the course of the 20th century require automated initialization methods, allowing the reconstruction of past glacier states from limited information. In a previous study, we developed a method to initialize the Open Global Glacier Model (OGGM) from past climate information and present-day geometry alone. Tested in an idealized framework, this method aimed to quantify how much information present-day glacier geometry carries about past glacier states. The method was not applied to real-world cases, and therefore, the results were not comparable with observations. This study closes the gap to real-world cases by introducing a glacier-specific calibration of the mass balance model. This procedure ensures that the modeled present-day geometry matches the observed area and that the past glacier evolution is consistent with bias-corrected past climate time series. We apply the method to 517 glaciers, spread globally, for which either mass balance observations or length records are available, and compare the observations to the modeled reconstructed glacier changes. For the validation of the initialization method, we use multiple measures of reconstruction skill (e.g., MBE, RMSE, and correlation). We find that the modeled mass balances and glacier lengths are in good agreement with the observations, especially for glaciers with many observation years. These results open the door to a future global application.

Beschreibung: Nuclear reaction rates are one of the most important ingredients in describing how stars evolve. The study of the nuclear reactions involved in different astrophysical sites is thus mandatory to address most questions in nuclear astrophysics. Direct measurements of the cross-sections at stellar energies are very challenging–if at all possible. This is essentially due to the very low cross-sections of the reactions of interest (especially when it involves charged particles), and/or to the radioactive nature of many key nuclei. In order to overcome these difficulties, various indirect methods such as the transfer reaction method at energies above or near the Coulomb barrier are used to measure the spectroscopic properties of the involved compound nucleus that are needed to calculate cross-sections or reaction rates of astrophysical interest. In this review, the basic features of the transfer reaction method and the theoretical concept behind are first discussed, then the method is illustrated with recent performed experimental studies of key reactions in nuclear astrophysics.

Beschreibung: Objectives: To assess and compare the quantity and the quality of the newly bone generated when using chitosan-based gel scaffold and osteoprotegerin-chitosan gel scaffold.Methods: A total of 18 critical-sized defects on New Zealand white rabbit craniums were created. In 12 defects, either chitosan gel or osteoprotegerin-chitosan gel was implanted the last six defects were kept unfilled as a control. Bone formation was examined at 6 and 12 weeks. Bone’s specimens were scanned using the High-resolution peripheral quantitative computed tomography. Histological and histomorphometric analysis were carried out to compare the volume and area of regenerated bone.Results: The results of the HR-pQCT showed that bone volume and densities in the osteoprotegerin-chitosan gel group were significantly higher than the chitosan gel and control groups whereas, the bone volume density in the chitosan gel group was significantly higher than the control group in both intervals time (p = 0.01, p = 000). No significant difference in bone volume between the chitosan gel and control groups (p = 0.506, p = 0.640) was observed. However, similar findings were shown in the histomorphometric analysis, with the highest new bone formation was observed in the OPG-chitosan gel group followed by the chitosan group. The mean percentage of new bone was greater at 12 weeks compared to 6 weeks in all groups.Conclusions: Chitosan-based gel demonstrated a significant bone quantity and quality compared to unfilled surgical defects. Consistently, osteoprotegerin enhanced the chitosan gel in bone regeneration.

Beschreibung: Food texture plays an important role in food acceptance by young children, especially during the complementary feeding period. The factors driving infant acceptance of a variety of food textures are not well-known. This study summarizes maternal reports of children's ability to eat foods of different textures (here: acceptance) and associated factors. Mothers of 4- to 36-month-old children (n = 2,999) answered an online survey listing 188 food-texture combinations representing three texture levels: purees (T1), soft small pieces (T2), hard/large pieces, and double textures (T3). For each offered combination, they reported whether it was spat out or eaten with or without difficulty by the child. A global food texture acceptance score (TextAcc) was calculated for each child as an indicator of their ability to eat the offered textured foods. The results were computed by age class from 4–5 to 30–36 months. The ability to eat foods without difficulty increased with age and was ranked as follows: T1〉 T2 〉 T3 at all ages. TextAcc was positively associated with exposure to T2 (in the age classes between 6 and 18 months old) and T3 (6–29 months) and negatively associated with exposure to T1 (9–36 months). Children's developmental characteristics, as well as maternal feeding practices and feelings with regard to the introduction of solids, were associated with texture acceptance either directly or indirectly by modulating exposure. Children's ability to eat with their fingers, gagging frequency, and to a lesser extent, dentition as well as maternal feelings with regard to the introduction of solids were the major factors associated with acceptance. This survey provides a detailed description of the development of food texture acceptance over the complementary feeding period, confirms the importance of exposure to a variety of textures and identifies a number of additional person-related associated factors.

Beschreibung: Indigenous food (IF) systems, derived from natural ecosystems are perceived to be sustainable and nutritionally adequate. Mundas, an indigenous tribal community in Jharkhand India, are surrounded by rich agroforestry resources, yet display high levels of malnutrition. Our study explored the food environment of Munda community, different IFs they accessed, levels of utilization of IFs in routine diets, their nutritional attributes and factors influencing IF consumption. A cross-sectional mixed-methods study was conducted in nine villages of Murhu and Torpa blocks in Khunti district, Jharkhand. Using focus group discussions and key informant interviews, we did free-listing of IFs known to the community. This was followed by enumerating preferred and little used/historically consumed IFs, along with reasons. Qualitative enquiries were recorded and transcribed verbatim; data were coded and analyzed using thematic framework approach. The listed IFs were identified through common names and photographs, and verified by ethnobotanist in the team. The nutritive values of identified IFs were searched in literature or nutritional analysis of specific plant based foods were undertaken in an accredited laboratory. The community demonstrated traditional ecological knowledge of several IFs (n = 194), which are accessed from wild, cultivated and built food environments. Taxonomic classification was available for 80% (n = 156) IFs, out of which 60 foods had nutritive values in secondary literature and 42 foods were analyzed in laboratory. Many IFs were rich in micronutrients like calcium, iron, folate, vitamin A and C. Among the listed IFs, only 45% were commonly consumed, while rest were little used/historically consumed. Factors like desirable taste, satiety, perceived nutrition benefits, adaptability to climate variability, traditional practice of food preservation and their cultural importance promoted IF consumption. However, local climatic impacts on agroforestry systems, easy access to foods bought from markets or distributed under government food security schemes, and promotion of hybrid seeds by local agricultural organizations, emerged as potential barriers. Thus, reinforcement of traditional ecological knowledge and informal food literacy, along with promotion of climate resilient attributes of IFs, can contribute to sustainable food systems in Munda community.

Beschreibung: Zinc is a crucial micronutrient for maintaining body immune system and metabolism function. However, insufficient intake from diet may lead to zinc deficiency and impair normal body function. In addition, conventional zinc salts supplementation has the disadvantage of low bioavailability since the zinc ions may be easily chelated by dietary fiber or phytate commonly found in diets rich in plants, and form precipitates that cannot be absorbed. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to prepare pumpkin seed derived peptides and to evaluate the effect of structure and surface properties on the zinc binding behavior of the pumpkin seed protein hydrolysate (PSPH), as well as their gastrointestinal stability. Briefly, different PSPHs were prepared using enzymatic hydrolysis method with bromelain, papain, flavourzyme, alcalase, and pepsin. The particle size, zeta potential, surface hydrophobicity, degree of hydrolysis, ATR-FTIR spectra, and zinc binding capacity were determined. The representative samples were chosen to characterize the binding energy and surface morphology of PSPH-Zn. At last, the in vitro gastrointestinal stability of PSPH and PSPH-Zn were evaluated. Our results showed that peptides hydrolyzed by papain had the largest average molecular weight, smallest particle size, highest hydrophobicity, and the greatest zinc binding capacity. Zinc showed better gastrointestinal stability in PSPHs chelates than in its salt. Meanwhile, PSPH-Zn with higher zinc binding capacity showed better stability. The result of this study indicated pumpkin seed hydrolyzed by papain may be used as a potential source for zinc fortification. The findings in this study may provide important implications for developing plant-based zinc chelating peptides.

Beschreibung: After the launch of STEREO twin spacecraft, and most recently of Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe spacecraft, the next mission that will explore Sun-Earth interactions and how the Sun modulates the Heliosphere will be the “Lagrange” mission, which will consist of two satellites placed in orbit around L1 and L5 Sun-Earth Lagrangian points. Despite the significant novelties that will be provided by such a double vantage point, there will be also missing information, that are briefly discussed here. For future heliospheric missions, an alternative advantageous approach that has not been considered so far would be to place two twin spacecraft not in L1 and L5, but in L4 and L5 Lagrangian points. If these two spacecraft will be equipped with in situ instruments, and also remote sensing instruments measuring not only photospheric but also coronal magnetic fields, significant advancing will be possible. In particular, data provided by such a twin mission will allow to follow the evolution of magnetic fields from inside the Sun (with stereoscopic helioseismology), to its surface (with classical photospheric magnetometers), and its atmosphere (with spectro-polarimeters); this will provide a tremendous improvement in our physical understanding of solar activity. Moreover, the L4-L5 twin satellites will take different interesting configurations, such as relative quadrature, and quasi-quadrature with the Earth, providing a baseline for monitoring the Sun-to-Earth propagation of solar disturbances.

Beschreibung: Export-oriented seafood trade faltered during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, alternative seafood networks (ASNs) that distribute seafood through local and direct marketing channels were identified as a “bright spot.” In this paper, we draw on multiple lines of quantitative and qualitative evidence to show that ASNs experienced a temporary pandemic “bump” in both the United States and Canada in the wake of supply chain disruptions and government mandated social protections. We use a systemic resilience framework to analyze the factors that enabled ASNs to be resilient during the pandemic as well as challenges. The contrast between ASNs and the broader seafood system during COVID-19 raises important questions about the role that local and regional food systems may play during crises and highlights the need for functional diversity in supply chains.

Beschreibung: Using the SDSS spectroscopy, we have carried out fine optical spectral classification for activity types for 710 AGN candidates. These objects come from a larger sample of some 2,500 candidate AGN using pre-selection by various samples; bright objects of the Catalog of Quasars and Active Galactic Nuclei, AGN candidates among X-ray sources, optically variable radio sources, IRAS extragalactic objects, etc. A number of papers have been published with the results of this spectral classification. More than 800 QSOs have been identified and classified, including 710 QSOs, Seyferts and Composites. The fine classification shows that many QSOs show the same features as Seyferts, i.e., subtypes between S1 and S2 (S1.2, S1.5, S1.8 and S1.9). We have introduced subtypes for the QSOs: QSO1.2, QSO1.5, QSO1.8, QSO1.9, though the last subtype does not appear in SDSS wavelength range due to mostly highly redshifted Hα (the main line for identification of the 1.9 subtype). Thus, independent of the luminosity (which serves as a separator between QSOs and Seyferts), AGN show the same features. We also have classified many objects as Composites, spectra having composite characteristics between Sy and LINERs, Sy and HII or LINERs and HII; in some cases all three characteristics appear together resulting as Sy/LINER/HII subtype. The QSOs subtypes together with Seyfert ones allow to follow AGN properties along larger redshift range expanding our knowledge on the evolution of AGN to more distant Universe represented by QSOs.

Beschreibung: Fens belong to the most threatened ecosystems in Europe. Maintaining a high water table through rewetting is an effective measure to rehabilitate many of their ecosystem functions. However, the impact of meteorological conditions such as vapor pressure deficit (VPD) and precipitation on water tables is still unclear for rewetted fens. Here, we compare the impact of meteorological factors on water table dynamics in a drained and a rewetted fen, using multiple regression with data from continuous high-resolution (temporal) water level monitoring and weather stations. We find that an increase in the daily mean VPD causes a higher drop in the water table at the drained and degraded fen compared to the rewetted fen. Precipitation contributes to recharge, causing the water table to rise higher at the drained site than at the rewetted site. We attribute the differential influence of meteorological conditions on water table dynamics to different soil specific yield values (i.e., water storage capacity) largely driven by lower water table position at the drained site. Our study underlines the importance of understanding how and why water tables in peatlands vary in response to meteorological factors for management decisions (e.g., rewetting). Continuous monitoring of water table and vegetation development in rewetted fen peatlands is advisable to ensure long-term success especially under climate change conditions and associated drought events.

Beschreibung: Background: Previous animal and clinical studies have reported beneficial effects of garlic preparations on carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT). However, no epidemiological study has yet investigated the association between dietary raw garlic consumption and cIMT in the general population. The objective of this study was investigating the association between dietary raw garlic consumption and thickened cIMT in Chinese adults.Methods: This cross-sectional study used data from the Tianjin Chronic Low-grade Systemic Inflammation and Health Cohort Study. A total of 4,329 general adults from 2015 to 2017 were included in this study. Frequency of consumption of raw garlic was summarized as four categories for analysis: 〈 1 time/week, 1 time/week, 2-3 times/week, ≥4 times/week with a validated food frequency questionnaire. The thickened cIMT was defined as common carotid artery IMT ≥ 1.0 mm or a carotid bifurcation IMT ≥ 1.2 mm by ultrasonography. Multivariable logistic regression analysis was used to examine the association between frequency of raw garlic consumption and thickened cIMT.Results: The prevalence of thickened cIMT is 22.9% among these participants. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) associated with the different frequencies were 1.00 (reference) for 〈 1 time/week, 0.74 (0.59, 0.94) for 1 time/week, 0.71 (0.55, 0.92) for 2–3 times/week, and 0.94 (0.71, 1.25) for ≥ 4 times/week.Conclusions: Light-to-moderate raw garlic consumption was inversely associated with thickened cIMT, whereas greater raw garlic consumption (i.e., ≥4 times/week) was not associated with thickened cIMT. Future longitudinal studies should be conducted to test these findings.

Beschreibung: The failure of hospitals in recent tsunami have caused extensive social and economic losses. A simple but quantitative approach is required to assess the resilience of healthcare systems to tsunami, which relates not only to hospital building integrity, but also to maintaining hospital functionality. This paper proposes a new tsunami relative risk index (TRRI) that quantifies the impact of tsunami on critical units, (e.g. Intensive Care Unit, Maternity Ward, etc) in individual hospitals, as well as the impact on service provision across a network of hospitals. A survey form is specifically developed for collecting of field data on hospitals for the TRRI evaluation. In its current form TRRI is designed for hospital buildings of reinforced concrete construction, as these are the building types most commonly used worldwide for housing critical units. The TRRI is demonstrated through an application to three hospitals located along the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The TRRI is evaluated for three potential tsunami inundation events and is shown to be able to identify issues with both the building and functional aspects of hospital critical units. Three “what-if” intervention scenarios are presented and their effect on the TRRI is assessed. Through this exercise, it is shown that the TRRI can be used by decision makers to simply explore the effectiveness of individual and combined interventions in improving the tsunami resilience of healthcare provision across the hospital system.

Beschreibung: A fast and automatically controlled frequency-tunable radiofrequency (rf) system is installed in an rf plasma thruster consisting of a stepped-diameter insulator source tube wound by a single-turn loop antenna and a solenoid providing a magnetic nozzle, and immersed in vacuum. The frequency and the output power are controlled so as to minimize the reflection coefficient and to maintain the net power corresponding to the forward minus reflected powers at a constant level. The reproducibility of the impedance matching and the stability of the net rf power are assessed, showing the fast impedance matching within about 10 msec and the long and stable delivery of the rf power to the thruster. When increasing the rf power up to 500 W, discontinuous changes in the source plasma density, the imparted thrust, and the signal intensity of the ion beam downstream of the thruster are observed, indicating effects of the discharge mode on the thruster performance and the ion energy distribution.

Beschreibung: We demonstrate a new memristive device (IL-Memristor), in which an ionic liquid (IL) serve as a material to control the volatility of the resistance. ILs are ultra-low vapor pressure liquids consisting of cations and anions at room temperature, and their introduction into solid-state processes can provide new avenues in electronic device fabrication. Because the device resistance change in IL-Memristor is governed by a Cu filament formation/rupture in IL, we considered that the Cu filament stability affects the data retention characteristics. Therefore, we controlled the data retention time by clarifying the corrosion mechanism and performing the IL material design based on the results. It was found out that the corrosion of Cu filaments in the IL was ruled by the comproportionation reaction, and that the data retention characteristics of the devices varied depending on the valence of Cu ions added to the IL. Actually, IL-Memristors involving Cu(II) and Cu(I) show volatile and non-volatile nature with respect to the programmed resistance value, respectively. Our results showed that data volatility can be controlled through the metal ion species added to the IL. The present work indicates that IL-memristor is suitable for unique applications such as artificial neuron with tunable fading characteristics that is applicable to phenomena with a wide range of timescale.

Beschreibung: Mirror modes in collisionless high-temperature plasmas represent macroscopic high-temperature quasi-superconductors with bouncing electrons in discrete-particle resonance with thermal ion-sound noise contributing to the ion-mode growth beyond quasilinear stability. In the semi-classical Ginzburg-Landau approximation the conditions for phase transition are reviewed. The quasi-superconducting state is of second kind causing a magnetically perforated plasma texture. Focussing on the interaction of mirror bubbles we apply semi-classical Josephson conditions and show that a mirror perforated plasma emits weak electromagnetic radiation which in the magnetosheath should be in the sub-millimeter, respectively, infrared range. This effect might be of astrophysical importance.

Beschreibung: Foodscapes are commonly embedded in spiritual landscapes, making the spiritual dimension of local and indigenous food systems an important element of food sovereignty. However, this dimension is often overlooked in food systems research and policy making. Based on ethnobiological fieldwork conducted in the Kailash Sacred Landscape of far western Nepal, we show how religious festivals and rituals reenact the covenant between people and the land through the numinous intercession of Hindu gods and landscape deities. To demonstrate this, we present the local calendar of the agricultural and ritual year based on data collected through household surveys and participation in festivals and agricultural activities. The complex fabric of the local agri-food system is revealed as articulated in the warp and weft of interwoven agricultural and spiritual cycles. These cycles contribute to respectful and sustainable landscape management practices by shaping the relationship people have with the land. In the annual women's festival of Gaura, the fertility and well-being of people and land is affirmed through the offering of locally produced pulses and grains. Furthermore, local gastronomic identity is enriched by the incentive to cultivate heirloom varieties of crops that are prescribed in rituals performed during Gaura and other major festivals. We conclude that spiritual practices should be considered key elements of biocultural diversity, and recommend that they receive more attention in the implementation of sustainable development that aims to embody the principles of food sovereignty.

Beschreibung: Monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and xylene are thought to play an important role as precursors to the formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their methylated counterparts in a range of astrophysical environments. Benzene has been detected in two carbon rich objects and models have predicted that it could also be present in the interstellar medium (ISM). It has hence been speculated that small aromatic molecules are present in molecular clouds in the ISM, although they have not been detected to date. If they are present in the ISM, they are likely to exist in water-ice dominated icy mantles on the surface of dust grains.We present a laboratory study of benzene, toluene and two xylene isomers (ortho- and para-xylene) in the presence of water ice on a carbonaceous model dust grain surface (highly oriented pyrolytic graphite, HOPG). Temperature programmed desorption (TPD) shows how the desorption of the molecules is affected by the presence of water ice. The importance of these data for astrophysical situations is demonstrated by the use of TPD-derived kinetic parameters to generate a simple model of desorption in dense molecular clouds on an astrophysical timescale. Since benzene, toluene and xylene have not been detected in water-dominated icy mantles to date, desorption has been simulated in a range of different water-containing environments to show the different behaviour expected depending on ice composition. The simulations demonstrate how future observations of aromatic molecules in dense molecular clouds at known temperatures could reveal which environments the molecules are in. Data from these experiments are also used to predict the behaviour of other, larger, aromatic molecules such as PAHs. Reflection absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS) is also used to record the infrared spectra of the small molecules in different water ice configurations. These spectra can be used to aid identification of these icy aromatics in future observations, such as those that will be possible with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). In all cases, spectra of mixed ices consisting of the aromatic molecule and amorphous water ice show evidence of interactions between the water ice and the aromatic species.