Radial and azimuthal dynamics of the io plasma torus

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015The moon Io orbits Jupiter emitting neutral particles from its volcanic surface. This emission is ionized and forms the Io plasma torus around Jupiter. The variation of conditions at Io and Jupiter lead to variations in the content of the plasma in the torus. Volcanoes on Io's surface erupt and change the rate of neutral input. Hot electrons (30-100 eV), whose abundances vary in azimuth, create highly ionized species. Radial variation in subcorotation velocities, velocities less than than that of the motion of the dipole magnetic field, creates shears while maintaining coherent radial structure in the torus. Poorly understood changes in plasma density circulate through the torus creating the anomalous System IV behavior that has a period slightly longer than the rotation of Jupiter's magnetic field. This thesis summarizes the research that has produced a two-dimensional physical chemistry model, tested several existing theories about subcorotation velocities, System IV variation, and hot electrons, and adopted new methods of Io plasma torus analysis. In an attempt to understand important dynamics, the thesis modeled differing scenarios such as an initialized two-peak structure, a subcorotation profile dictated by mass loading and ionospheric conductivity, and a critical combination of two populations of hot electrons that accurately mimics the observed System IV phenomenon. This model was also used to solve the inverse problem of determining the best fit for the model parameters, neutral source input rate and radial transport rate, using observations of density, temperature, and composition. In addition the thesis shows the need for multi-dimensional modeling and the results from its groundbreaking two-dimensional model

The role of sea-level change and marine anoxia in the Frasnian-Famennian (Late Devonian) mass extinction

Johnson et al. (Johnson, J.G., Klapper, G., Sandberg, C.A., 1985. Devonian eustatic fluctuations in Euramerica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 567–587) proposed one of the first explicit links between marine anoxia, transgression and mass extinction for the Frasnian–Famennian (F–F, Late Devonian) mass extinction. This cause-and-effect nexus has been accepted by many but others prefer sea-level fall and cooling as an extinction mechanism. New facies analysis of sections in the USA and Europe (France, Germany, Poland), and comparison with sections known from the literature in Canada, Australia and China reveal several high-frequency relative sea-level changes in the late Frasnian to earliest Famennian extinction interval. A clear signal of major transgression is seen within the Early rhenana Zone (e.g. drowning of the carbonate platform in the western United States). This is the base of transgressive–regressive Cycle IId of the Johnson et al. (Johnson, J.G., Klapper, G., Sandberg, C.A., 1985. Devonian eustatic fluctuations in Euramerica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 567–587) eustatic curve. This was curtailed by regression and sequence boundary generation within the early linguiformis Zone, recorded by hardground and karstification surfaces in sections from Canada to Australia. This major eustatic fall probably terminated platform carbonate deposition over wide areas, especially in western North America. The subsequent transgression in the later linguiformis Zone, recorded by the widespread development of organic-rich shale facies, is also significant because it is associated with the expansion of anoxic deposition, known as the Upper Kellwasser Event. Johnson et al.'s (Johnson, J.G., Klapper, G., Sandberg, C.A., 1985. Devonian eustatic fluctuations in Euramerica. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 567–587) original transgression-anoxia–extinction link is thus supported, although some extinction losses of platform carbonate biota during the preceeding regression cannot be ruled out. Conodont faunas suffered major losses during the Upper Kellwasser Event, with deep-water taxa notably affected. This renders unreliable any eustatic analyses utilising changes in conodont biofacies. Claims for a latest Frasnian regression are not supported, and probably reflect poor biostratigraphic dating of the early linguiformis Zone sequence boundary

Orbifold Duality Symmetries and Quantum Hall systems

We consider the possible role that chiral orbifold conformal field theories may play in describing the edge state theories of quantum Hall systems. This is a generalization of work that already exists in the literature, where it has been shown that 1+1 chiral bosons living on a n-dimensional torus, and which couple to a U_1 gauge field, give rise to anomalous electric currents, the anomaly being related to the Hall conductivity. The well known $O(n,n;Z)$ duality group associated with such toroidal conformal field theories transforms the edge states and Hall conductivities in a way which makes interesting connections between different theories, e.g. between systems exhibiting the integer and fractional quantum Hall effect. In this paper we try to explore the extension of these constructions to the case where such bosons live on a n-dimensional orbifold. We give a general formalism for discussing the relevant quantities like the Hall conductance and their transformation under the duality groups present in orbifold compactifications. We illustrate these ideas by presenting a detailed analysis of a toy model based on the two-dimensional Z_3 orbifold. In this model we obtain new classes of filling fractions, which generally the correspond to fermionic edge states carrying fractional electric charge. We also consider the relation between orbifold edge theories and Luttinger liquids (LL's), which in the past have provided important insights into the physics of quantum Hall systems.Comment: 35 pages, latex file. Factors corrected in some equations, typos corrected, references added. Also some clarifications of various points. Version to appear in Nuclear Physics

Superoxide Dismutase Activity within Caribou Serum as an Indicator of Copper Status

Copper concentrations measured in liver are the gold standard for evaluating the copper status of ruminants. For live ruminants, measuring copper status is problematic because serum copper concentrations fluctuate and are not consistently correlated to liver copper values. In an attempt to establish an accurate evaluation of copper status from serum in caribou, we examined the correlation between liver copper concentrations and superoxide dismutase (SOD), which uses the oxidation and reduction reactions of a bound copper ion in order to catalyze superoxide radicals. Our study focuses on SOD activity in the serum of 16 individual adult female caribou and compares that to known copper levels within the liver. Determining copper levels in ruminants has proven difficult and currently a true proxy to determine liver copper levels in a live animal is unknown

Copper Oxide Nanoparticles Impact Several Toxicological Endpoints and Cause Neurodegeneration in \u3cem\u3eCaenorhabditis elegans\u3c/em\u3e

Engineered nanoparticles are becoming increasingly incorporated into technology and consumer products. In 2014, over 300 tons of copper oxide nanoparticles were manufactured in the United States. The increased production of nanoparticles raises concerns regarding the potential introduction into the environment or human exposure. Copper oxide nanoparticles commonly release copper ions into solutions, which contribute to their toxicity. We quantified the inhibitory effects of both copper oxide nanoparticles and copper sulfate on C. elegans toxicological endpoints to elucidate their biological effects. Several toxicological endpoints were analyzed in C. elegans, including nematode reproduction, feeding behavior, and average body length. We examined three wild C. elegans isolates together with the Bristol N2 laboratory strain to explore the influence of different genotypic backgrounds on the physiological response to copper challenge. All strains exhibited greater sensitivity to copper oxide nanoparticles compared to copper sulfate, as indicated by reduction of average body length and feeding behavior. Reproduction was significantly reduced only at the highest copper dose, though still more pronounced with copper oxide nanoparticles compared to copper sulfate treatment. Furthermore, we investigated the effects of copper oxide nanoparticles and copper sulfate on neurons, cells with known vulnerability to heavy metal toxicity. Degeneration of dopaminergic neurons was observed in up to 10% of the population after copper oxide nanoparticle exposure. Additionally, mutants in the divalent-metal transporters, smf-1 or smf-2, showed increased tolerance to copper exposure, implicating both transporters in copper-induced neurodegeneration. These results highlight the complex nature of CuO nanoparticle toxicity, in which a nanoparticle-specific effect was observed in some traits (average body length, feeding behavior) and a copper ion specific effect was observed for other traits (neurodegeneration, response to stress)

Fluvial transport of suspended sediment and organic carbon during flood events in a large agricultural catchment in southwest France.

Water draining from a large agricultural catchment of 1 110 km2 in southwest France was sampled over an 18-month period to determine the temporal variability in suspended sediment (SS) and dissolved (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) transport during flood events, with quantification of fluxes and controlling factors, and to analyze the relationships between discharge and SS, DOC and POC. A total of 15 flood events were analyzed, providing extensive data on SS, POC and DOC during floods. There was high variability in SS, POC and DOC transport during different seasonal floods, with SS varying by event from 513 to 41 750 t; POC from 12 to 748 t and DOC from 9 to 218 t. Overall, 76 and 62% of total fluxes of POC and DOC occurred within 22% of the study period. POC and DOC export from the Save catchment amounted to 3090 t and 1240 t, equivalent to 1·8 t km−2 y−1 and 0·7 t km−2 y−1, respectively. Statistical analyses showed that total precipitation, flood discharge and total water yield were the major factors controlling SS, POC and DOC transport from the catchment. The relationships between SS, POC and DOC and discharge over temporal flood events resulted in different hysteresis patterns, which were used to deduce dissolved and particulate origins. In both clockwise and anticlockwise hysteresis, POC mainly followed the same patterns as discharge and SS. The DOC-discharge relationship was mainly characterized by alternating clockwise and anticlockwise hysteresis due to dilution effects of water originating from different sources in the whole catchment

Age-related cellular copper dynamics in the fungal ageing model Podospora anserina and in ageing human fibroblasts

In previous investigations an impact of cellular copper homeostasis on ageing of the ascomycete Podospora anserina has been demonstrated. Here we provide new data indicating that mitochondria play a major role in this process. Determination of copper in the cytosolic fraction using total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy analysis and eGfp reporter gene studies indicate an age-related increase of cytosolic copper levels. We show that components of the mitochondrial matrix (i.e. eGFP targeted to mitochondria) become released from the organelle during ageing. Decreasing the accessibility of mitochondrial copper in P. anserina via targeting a copper metallothionein to the mitochondrial matrix was found to result in a switch from a copper-dependent cytochrome-c oxidase to a copper-independent alternative oxidase type of respiration and results in lifespan extension. In addition, we demonstrate that increased copper concentrations in the culture medium lead to the appearance of senescence biomarkers in human diploid fibroblasts (HDFs). Significantly, expression of copper-regulated genes is induced during in vitro ageing in medium devoid of excess copper suggesting that cytosolic copper levels also increase during senescence of HDFs. These data suggest that the identified molecular pathway of age-dependent copper dynamics may not be restricted to P. anserina but may be conserved from lower eukaryotes to humans

Method and apparatus for convection control of metallic halide vapor density in a metallic halide laser

An apparatus is disclosed in which a reservoir containing copper chloride is heated so that the copper chloride is maintained in a liquid form. The apparatus includes a means for flowing a buffer gas (which in the exemplary embodiment is neon) over the liquid copper chloride to provide a mixture of copper chloride vapor and neon above the liquid copper chloride. A conduit provides fluid communication between the reservoir containing the copper chloride vapor/neon mixture and the laser. The copper chloride vapor density in the laser is related to the liquid copper chloride temperature and the neon flow rate through the reservoir. In accordance with a further feature of the exemplary embodiment, neon is also provided directly to the laser in order to provide a further means of controlling the copper chloride vapor density in the laser

EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF NATURAL ALTERNATIVE COPPER PRODUCTS AND LOW RATE COPPER FORMULATIONS AGAINST GRAPE DOWNY MILDEW IN ORGANIC VITICULTURE

The control of pathogenic fungi, especially downy mildew, represents the main problem in organic viticulture as only few fungicides, above all copper salts, can be used. As the copper causes problems of environmental impact, the Regulation EC n. 473/2002 fixed a ceiling on the use of copper compounds. Two years field trials were carried out in organic vineyeards to test the effectiveness, against Plasmopara viticola (Berk. et Curt.) Berl. et De Toni, of alternative copper products and low rate copper formulations, able to take place or to reduce copper quantities used. Amoung the alternative substances, in the first year of activity we examinated phito-stimulant and cuprics, while in the second year we examinated natural extracts, both vegetables and animals, and natural compound associates to the copper. The achieved results have underlined that, using the low rate copper formulations examinated, the total copper quantities were always less than 6 Kg copper per hectare, in accordance with the provisions of Regulation EC. The alternative products investigated have not guaranteed, instead, an adequate protection with high pressure od downy mildew. The trials confirm that the copper is indispensable for plant protection in organic farming, as it is not possible to replace it. We can only reduce the copper quantities used, at this point of time, but further studies are necessary to find appropriate alternative solutions able to control pathogenic agents in organic farming

Foam-machining tool with eddy-current transducer

Three-cutter machining system for foam-covered tanks incorporates eddy-current sensor. Sensor feeds signal to numerical controller which programs rotational and vertical axes of sensor travel, enabling cutterhead to profile around tank protrusions