Three modes of the nonstationary holographic current excitation in a gallium oxide crystal

We report the nonstationary holographic current excitation in a β-Ga2O3 crystal at light wavelength λ=457 nm. The material demonstrates insulating properties and high transparency for a visible light, but this, however, does not prevent the dynamic space-charge grating formation and the holographic current observation for various external electric fields - zero, dc and ac ones. The signal amplitude is measured and analyzed versus the frequency of phase modulation, spatial frequency and electric field value. The main photoelectric parameters such as specific photoconductivity, sensor responsivity and diffusion length of carriers are determined for the blue region of spectrum.

Comparative Analysis of Apopellia endiviifolia Plastomes Reveals a Strikingly High Level of Differentiation between Its Terrestrial and Water Form

The simple thalloid liverwort Apopellia endiviifolia is a widespread Holarctic species belonging to the family Pelliaceae. European populations of this species comprise two distinct evolutionary lineages named “species A”, known also as water form, and typical, mainly terrestrial forms named “species B”. Newly sequenced, assembled and annotated chloroplast genomes of six European specimens belonging to the two cryptic lineages occupying different microhabitats, revealed the structure typical for liverworts and previously sequenced reference. The plastomes of A. endiviifolia are 120,537–120,947 bp long with a structure typical for most plants, including a pair of IR regions (each of 9092–9207 bp) separated by LSC (82,506–82,609 bp) and SSC (19,854–19,924 bp) regions and consist of 121 unique genes, including 81 protein-coding genes, 6 genes of unknown function (ycf genes), 4 ribosomal RNAs and 30 transfer RNAs. Comparative analysis of typical, terrestrial and water forms revealed 4971 molecular diagnostic characters (MDCs), which exceeds numbers found in many well recognized liverworts taxa. Moreover, beside the presence of evolutionary hotspots like ycf1 and ycf2 genes and several intergenic spacer like ndhB-psbM, rps4-ndhJ and ndhC-atpE, the molecular identification of Apopellia cryptic species was possible by almost 98% of 500 bp long frames simulating mini barcodes. The different ecological niches can be driven by different pressures of positive selection, which was detected in nine genes including ccsA, ndhD, ndhF, petA, psbB, psbC, rpoB, ycf1 and ycf2. Despite clearly genetic differences and ecological preferences, the current observation of morphological differentiation does not no allow to separate terrestrial and water forms into taxonomic species.

Shrinkage Study and Strength Aspects of Concrete with Foundry Sand and Coconut Shell as a Partial Replacement for Coarse and Fine Aggregate

The demand for natural aggregates (river sand) is increasing day by day, leading to the destruction of the environment, a burden that will be passed on to young people. Further, wastes from various industries are being dumped in landfills, which poses serious environmental problems. In order to ensure sustainability, both the issues mentioned above can be solved by utilizing industrial waste as aggregate replacement in the concrete construction industry. This research is done to find out the results using two substances viz., waste foundry sand (WFS) and coconut shell (CS) substitute for river sand and coarse aggregate. Many researchers have found the maximum benefits of substituted substances used in cement, which has material consistency. This current observation explores these strong waste properties of waste-infused concrete and cement, which experience shrinkage from drying out. The replacement levels for waste foundry sand were varied, between 10%, 20%, and 30%, and for CS, it was 10% and 20%. The experimental outcomes are evident for the strength, which increases by using WFS, whereas the strength decreases by increasing the CS level. The concrete that experiences shrinkage from drying out is included in the waste material, showing a higher magnitude of drying shrinkage than conventional concrete.

A Review of Irrigation Information Retrievals from Space and Their Utility for Users

Irrigation represents one of the most impactful human interventions in the terrestrial water cycle. Knowing the distribution and extent of irrigated areas as well as the amount of water used for irrigation plays a central role in modeling irrigation water requirements and quantifying the impact of irrigation on regional climate, river discharge, and groundwater depletion. Obtaining high-quality global information about irrigation is challenging, especially in terms of quantification of the water actually used for irrigation. Here, we review existing Earth observation datasets, models, and algorithms used for irrigation mapping and quantification from the field to the global scale. The current observation capacities are confronted with the results of a survey on user requirements on satellite-observed irrigation for agricultural water resources’ management. Based on this information, we identify current shortcomings of irrigation monitoring capabilities from space and phrase guidelines for potential future satellite missions and observation strategies.

The influence of memory on visual perception in infants, children, and adults

Perception is not an independent, in-the-moment event. Instead, perceiving involves integrating prior expectations with current observations. How does this ability develop from infancy through adulthood? We examined how prior visual experience shapes visual perception in infants, children, and adults. Using an identical task across age groups, we exposed participants to pairs of colorful stimuli and measured their ability to discriminate relative saturation levels. Results showed that adult participants were biased by previously-experienced exemplars, but exhibited weakened in-the-moment discrimination between different levels of saturation. In contrast, infants and children showed less influence of memory in their perception, and they actually outperformed adults in discriminating between current levels of saturation. Our findings suggest that as humans develop, their perception relies more on prior experience and less on current observation.

Identification and Antimicrobial Resistance of Dermatophilus congolensis from Cattle in Saint Kitts and Nevis

Dermatophilosis is a form of dermatitis caused by the bacterium Dermatophilus congolensis. The disease usually presents as localized purulent dermatitis, crusty hair masses or widespread matting of the hair. This condition is most common in domestic ruminants; but it can also affect other wild animals and humans. Antimicrobial therapy is used in many regions to treat clinical dermatophilosis with varying results. In this study, we aimed to assess the antimicrobial susceptibility of D. congolensis isolates. Fifty-two isolates were obtained from animals showing clinical signs of the disease at farms in St. Kitts. The isolates were then confirmed as D. congolensis by phenotypic tests, PCR and MALDI-TOF Mass Spectrometry. Furthermore, minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 16 antimicrobial agents were determined, using the broth microdilution method. Although most antimicrobials showed MICs in line with published values, the tetracycline results displayed a clear bimodal distribution over the tested range, with most isolates showing low MICs and 6 isolates much higher values (+/− 100-fold increase). These results indicate the presence of acquired tetracycline resistance in D. congolensis on the island of St. Kitts. Whether the current observation has implications for efficacy of treating the disease must be confirmed in further research.

Influence of coastal upwelling on the surface current in the Bay of Bengal using HF radar and satellite observations

<p>Coastal Upwelling is a phenomenon in which cold and nutrient-enriched water from the Ekman layers reaches the surface enhancing the biological productivity of the upwelling region. In this work, an attempt is made to understand the influence of coastal upwelling on surface current variations during May 2018 to August 2018, when HF radar current observation (source: NIOT, India) is available. The wind-based Upwelling Index(UI<sub>wind</sub>) showed coastal upwelling throughout the study period. But the SST based upwelling index (UI<sub>sst</sub>) showed upwelling occurred only from May to the first week of June. Cross-shore components of HF radar-derived ocean surface current (CSSC)  showed strong similarity with UI<sub>sst</sub>. The first phase of upwelling from UI<sub>sst</sub> is observed to start on 5<sup>th</sup> May and lasts till 14<sup>th</sup> May with a maximum peak on around 10<sup>th</sup> May and having a horizontal extension of ~40 km. Then, there is a break period for about three days and after that, the second phase of upwelling starts on 17<sup>th</sup> May and lasts till 25<sup>th</sup> May with a maximum peak on around 20<sup>th</sup> May, but this time the horizontal extension is ~100 km which is much larger than during the first phase. A strong positive (from coast to offshore) CSSC is observed to start on around 5<sup>th</sup> May and lasts till 13<sup>th</sup> May with a maximum peak on around 10<sup>th</sup> May and having a horizontal extension of ~40 km, as observed from UIsst. A reversal of CSSC (towards coast) is noted on 14<sup>th</sup> May when the break of coastal upwelling is evident from UI<sub>sst</sub>. The CSSC then again started intensifying 15<sup>th</sup> May onwards and continued for ten days till 25<sup>th</sup> May, similar to UI<sub>sst</sub>.  The horizontal extension of the upwelling signature in the second phase of upwelling is ~70 km. Therefore, a 7-10 days of the coastal upwelling and its horizontal extension are identified in this study. This study suggests the use of high resolution (~6 km) HF radar current observation on the monitoring of coastal upwelling processes.</p>

Bubbles to Chondrites-II. Chemical fractionations in chondrites

We attempt to develop a possible theory of chemical fractionations in chondrites, that is consistent with various features of chondritic components and current observation of protoplanetary disks (PPD). Combining the 3+2 component fitting calculation that simulates chondrule formation process proposed in paper (I) with additional mixing procedures, we investigate essential causes that made various types of chondrites evolve from the uniform solar system composition, the CI-chondritic composition. Seven chemical types of chondrites (CM, CV, CO, E, LL, L and H) are examined, for which reliable chemical compositions for both bulk chondrites and chondrules therein are known. High vaporization degree of the primordial dust aggregates (dustons) required by the calculation vindicates that the chondrule formation was the driving force for the chemical fractionations in all chondrites examined. Various initial redox states in dustons and different timings of CAIs’ invasion to the chondrule formation zone are identified for different chondrite types. These results, together with a good correlation with the D/H ratios of chondrites measured previously, lead us to the notion that PPD evolved from reducing to oxidizing. We explore the heating mechanism for the chondrule formation and the place it occurred. Only heat source being consistent with our chondrule formation model is lightning discharge. We postulate that large vortices encompassing the snow-line are ideal places for large charge separation to occur between dustons and small ice particles, and that direct strikes on dustons should make them boil for ten seconds and longer and allow a swarm of chondrules released from their surfaces. Chemical fractionations are completed by an aerodynamic separation of dustons from chondrules inside the vortex, in such a way that the dustons fall fast into the vortex center and form a planetesimal immediately, while chondrules with dust mantles fall slow and form a thin veneer on the planetesimal surface. During collisional episodes, the veneers are preferentially fragmented and reassemble themselves by a weak self-gravity to form a rubble-piled chondritic asteroid, i.e. chondrite.

New Tools for the Optimized Follow-Up of Imminent Impactors

The solar system is populated with, other than planets, a wide variety of minor bodies, the majority of which are represented by asteroids. Most of their orbits are comprised of those between Mars and Jupiter, thus forming a population named Main Belt. However, some asteroids can run on trajectories that come close to, or even intersect, the orbit of the Earth. These objects are known as Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) or Near Earth Objects (NEOs) and may entail a risk of collision with our planet. Predicting the occurrence of such collisions as early as possible is the task of Impact Monitoring (IM). Dedicated algorithms are in charge of orbit determination and risk assessment for any detected NEO, but their efficiency is limited in cases in which the object has been observed for a short period of time, as is the case with newly discovered asteroids and, more worryingly, imminent impactors: objects due to hit the Earth, detected only a few days or hours in advance of impacts. This timespan might be too short to take any effective safety countermeasure. For this reason, a necessary improvement of current observation capabilities is underway through the construction of dedicated telescopes, e.g., the NEO Survey Telescope (NEOSTEL), also known as “Fly-Eye”. Thanks to these developments, the number of discovered NEOs and, consequently, imminent impactors detected per year, is expected to increase, thus requiring an improvement of the methods and algorithms used to handle such cases. In this paper we present two new tools, based on the Admissible Region (AR) concept, dedicated to the observers, aiming to facilitate the planning of follow-up observations of NEOs by rapidly assessing the possibility of them being imminent impactors and the remaining visibility time from any given station.

Aflatoxin content and health risks associated with consumption of some herbal products sold in Kampala, Uganda

Persuasive adverts and exaggeration of health benefits from consumption of herbal products as well as the mental picture of ‘natural’ is ‘safe’ has boosted traditional medicine use in Uganda. However, herbal products may be unsafe due to the possibility of their contamination with mycotoxins. In this study, we quantified the levels of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) in Real Koff product, Eddagala ly’e kifuba n’e senyiga, Omusujja, Cough mixture and Fever herbal products sold in Kampala, Uganda using high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The associated consumption health risks were assessed using the hazard index method. Only aflatoxin B1 was detected in 60% of the samples, with 40% of these surpassing WHO guidelines of ≤ 5 µg/kg. The hazard indices were all less than 1, implying that Ugandans who heavily rely on the herbal products are exposed to aflatoxins at sublethal doses which may lead to chronic effects in the long run. Studies using a larger sample size should assess whether the current observation is a routine occurrence or a sporadic event.