Solar wind radiation damage effects in lunar material

The research on solar wind radiation damage and other effects in lunar samples which was conducted to understand the optical properties of lunar materials is reported. Papers presented include: solar radiation effects in lunar samples, albedo of the moon, radiation effects in lunar crystalline rocks, valence states of 3rd transition elements in Apollo 11 and 12 rocks, and trace ferric iron in lunar and meteoritic titanaugites

Bis(dimethyl sulfoxide)hydridobis(triphenylphosphane)cobalt(I)

The title compound, [CoH(C18H15P)2(C 2H6OS)2], was synthesized by the reaction of chloridotris(triphenyl-phosphane)cobalt(I), [ClCo(PPh3)3], in the presence of one equivalent potassium hydridotris(pyrazol-yl)borate in dimethyl sulfoxide. The structure displays a distorted trigonal-pyramidally coordinated cobalt(I) atom, with two phosphane ligands and one DMSO ligand in the equatorial plane. The coordination is completed by one further DMSO ligand and the anionic hydride in the axial positions

Spin splitting of X-related donor impurity states in an AlAs barrier

We use magnetotunneling spectroscopy to observe the spin splitting of the ground state of an X-valley-related Si-donor impurity in an AlAs barrier. We determine the absolute magnitude of the effective Zeeman spin splitting factors of the impurity ground state to be g$_{I}$= 2.2 $\pm$ 0.1. We also investigate the spatial form of the electron wave function of the donor ground state, which is anisotropic in the growth plane

Space Weathering on Near-Earth Objects investigated by neutral-particle detection

The ion-sputtering (IS) process is active in many planetary environments in the Solar System where plasma precipitates directly on the surface (for instance, Mercury, Moon, Europa). In particular, solar-wind sputtering is one of the most important agents for the surface erosion of a Near-Earth Object (NEO), acting together with other surface release processes, such as Photon Stimulated Desorption (PSD), Thermal Desorption (TD) and Micrometeoroid Impact Vaporization (MIV). The energy distribution of the IS-released neutrals peaks at a few eVs and extends up to hundreds of eVs. Since all other release processes produce particles of lower energies, the presence of neutral atoms in the energy range above 10 eV and below a few keVs (Sputtered High-Energy Atoms - SHEA) identifies the IS process. SHEA easily escape from the NEO, due to NEO's extremely weak gravity. Detection and analysis of SHEA will give important information on surface-loss processes as well as on surface elemental composition. The investigation of the active release processes, as a function of the external conditions and the NEO surface properties, is crucial for obtaining a clear view of the body's present loss rate as well as for getting clues on its evolution, which depends significantly on space weather. In this work, an attempt to analyze the processes that take place on the surface of these small airless bodies, as a result of their exposure to the space environment, has been realized. For this reason a new space weathering model (Space Weathering on NEO - SPAWN), is presented. Moreover, an instrument concept of a neutral-particle analyzer specifically designed for the measurement of neutral density and the detection of SHEA from a NEO is proposedComment: 36 page

Trans-Di-μ-acetato-[μ-N,N-bis-(diphenyl-phosphino)aniline] bis-[chlorido-molybdenum(II)](Mo - Mo)-dichloro-methane-tetra-hydro-furan (1/0.3/1.7)

The mol-ecular structure of the title compound, [Mo2(CH 3COO)2Cl2(C30H25NP 2)]·0.3CH2Cl2·1.7C 4H8O, features an Mo - Mo dumbbell bridged by two acetate groups which are trans to each other. Perpendicular to the plane spanned by the acetate groups, the Ph2PN(Ph)PPh2 ligand bridges both Mo atoms, having a P - N - P angle of 114.09 (19)°. In a trans position to the PNP ligand are two Cl atoms, one on each molybdenum centre. The Mo - Mo bond distance is 2.1161 (9) Å, within the range known for Mo - Mo quadruple bonds. The Mo complex is located on a crystallographic twofold rotation axis which runs through the N - C bond of the ligand. The site occupation factors of the disordered solvent molecules were fixed to 0.15 for dichloromethane and 0.85 for tetrahydrofuran. © 2009

Modelling of laboratory data of bi-directional reflectance of regolith surface containing Alumina

Bidirectional reflectance of a surface is defined as the ratio of the scattered radiation at the detector to the incident irradiance as a function of geometry. The accurate knowledge of the bidirectional reflection function (BRF) of layers composed of discrete, randomly positioned scattering particles is very essential for many remote sensing, engineering, biophysical applications and in different areas of Astrophysics. The computations of BRF's for plane parallel particulate layers are usually reduced to solve the radiative transfer equation (RTE) by the existing techniques. In this work we present our laboratory data on bidirectional reflectance versus phase angle for two sample sizes of 0.3 and 1 $\mu m$ of Alumina for the He-Ne laser at 632.8 nm (red) and 543.5nm(green) wavelength. The nature of the phase curves of the asteroids depends on the parameters like- particle size, composition, porosity, roughness etc. In our present work we analyse the data which are being generated using single scattering phase function i.e. Mie theory considering particles to be compact sphere. The well known Hapke formula will be considered along with different particle phase function such as Mie and Henyey Greenstein etc to model the laboratory data obtained at the asteroid laboratory of Assam University.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures [accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia (PASA) on 8 June, 2011

[N,N-Bis(diphenyl­phosphino)isopropyl­amine]dibromidonickel(II)

The title compound, [NiBr2(C27H27NP2)], was synthesized by the reaction of NiBr2(dme) (dme is 1,2-dimethoxy-ethane) with N,N-bis-(diphenyl-phosphino)isopropyl-amine in methanol/tetra-hydro-furan. The nickel(II) center is coordinated by two P atoms of the chelating PNP ligand, PH2PN(iPr)PPH2, and two bromide ions in a distorted square-planar geometry

Magnetic-field-induced singularities in spin dependent tunneling through InAs quantum dots

Current steps attributed to resonant tunneling through individual InAs quantum dots embedded in a GaAs-AlAs-GaAs tunneling device are investigated experimentally in magnetic fields up to 28 T. The steps evolve into strongly enhanced current peaks in high fields. This can be understood as a field-induced Fermi-edge singularity due to the Coulomb interaction between the tunneling electron on the quantum dot and the partly spin polarized Fermi sea in the Landau quantized three-dimensional emitter.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

How Seafood Wholesale Markets Matter for Urban Food Security:Evidence from Chennai, India

Urban sites gather poverty in particular locations and often require bulk food system approaches for addressing prevalent food security and nutrition needs. The food systems that service them are, however, characterized by perishability and large irregularities in supply. Seafood is currently recognized as contributing in a major way to food security and nutrition, and it is to assessing the role of wholesale markets in meeting the needs of the urban poor that this paper is directed. It zooms in on the city of Chennai, India, where an estimated 40% of the population is considered poor and marine fish plays a crucial role in diets. Building on one-and-a-half years of field research in the pre-COVID-19 period, the paper analyses the performance of one of the city’s largest fish wholesale markets, Vanagaram, in relation to the four commonly recognized pillars of food security. Results demonstrate how urban food systems function as major suppliers of fish (and other food items) to thousands of low- and middle-income households. Most importantly, this case study demonstrates the crucial role that is played by wholesale markets in merging low-price fish supplies from different geographic regions and thereby ensuring food security of poorer inhabitants

REMOTE INFLUENCE OF HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY BY A RITUAL HEALING TECHNIQUE

Two experiments tested the hypothesis that remote calming effects of a traditional healing ritual can be objectively measured using indicators of electrodermal activity, heart rate and blood volume. A total of 14 sessions were conducted in the initial study and 16 sessions were conducted in the replication. In both experiments, the authors exchanged roles as experimenter, healer and patient. Healers were instructed to try to calm the remote patient using a set of traditional ritual magic strategies, or to exert no influence (as a control). The patient created a doll in his or her likeness and provided mementos, pictures and an autobiographical sketch. The healer used these materials to form a sympathetic connection with the patient who was located in another building in an isolated toom. During the experiments, there were no other connections between the healer and the patient. Each session consisted of a randomized counterbalanced sequence of five calming and five control epochs of one minute each. No performance feedback was provided to the healer or patient during the session. The combined results of both experiments showed significant effects for changes in blood volume (p = .00002), heart rate (p = .001) and electrodermal activity (p = .013), suggesting that traditional magic healing rituals caused significant relaxation of the vascular system and arousal of electrodermal activity. These rituals appear to be helpful in focusing mental intention in laboratory investigations of direct mental interactions with living systems