Planet formation in Binaries

Spurred by the discovery of numerous exoplanets in multiple systems, binaries have become in recent years one of the main topics in planet formation research. Numerous studies have investigated to what extent the presence of a stellar companion can affect the planet formation process. Such studies have implications that can reach beyond the sole context of binaries, as they allow to test certain aspects of the planet formation scenario by submitting them to extreme environments. We review here the current understanding on this complex problem. We show in particular how each of the different stages of the planet-formation process is affected differently by binary perturbations. We focus especially on the intermediate stage of kilometre-sized planetesimal accretion, which has proven to be the most sensitive to binarity and for which the presence of some exoplanets observed in tight binaries is difficult to explain by in-situ formation following the "standard" planet-formation scenario. Some tentative solutions to this apparent paradox are presented. The last part of our review presents a thorough description of the problem of planet habitability, for which the binary environment creates a complex situation because of the presence of two irradation sources of varying distance.Comment: Review chapter to appear in "Planetary Exploration and Science: Recent Advances and Applications", eds. S. Jin, N. Haghighipour, W.-H. Ip, Springer (v2, numerous typos corrected

Modeling the morphodynamics of coastal responses to extreme events: what shape are we in?

This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Sherwood, C. R., van Dongeren, A., Doyle, J., Hegermiller, C. A., Hsu, T.-J., Kalra, T. S., Olabarrieta, M., Penko, A. M., Rafati, Y., Roelvink, D., van der Lugt, M., Veeramony, J., & Warner, J. C. Modeling the morphodynamics of coastal responses to extreme events: what shape are we in? Annual Review of Marine Science, 14, (2022): 457–492, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-marine-032221-090215.This review focuses on recent advances in process-based numerical models of the impact of extreme storms on sandy coasts. Driven by larger-scale models of meteorology and hydrodynamics, these models simulate morphodynamics across the Sallenger storm-impact scale, including swash,collision, overwash, and inundation. Models are becoming both wider (as more processes are added) and deeper (as detailed physics replaces earlier parameterizations). Algorithms for wave-induced flows and sediment transport under shoaling waves are among the recent developments. Community and open-source models have become the norm. Observations of initial conditions (topography, land cover, and sediment characteristics) have become more detailed, and improvements in tropical cyclone and wave models provide forcing (winds, waves, surge, and upland flow) that is better resolved and more accurate, yielding commensurate improvements in model skill. We foresee that future storm-impact models will increasingly resolve individual waves, apply data assimilation, and be used in ensemble modeling modes to predict uncertainties.All authors except D.R. were partially supported by the IFMSIP project, funded by US Office of Naval Research grant PE 0601153N under contracts N00014-17-1-2459 (Deltares), N00014-18-1-2785 (University of Delaware), N0001419WX00733 (US Naval Research Laboratory, Monterey), N0001418WX01447 (US Naval Research Laboratory, Stennis Space Center), and N0001418IP00016 (US Geological Survey). C.R.S., C.A.H., T.S.K., and J.C.W. were supported by the US Geological Survey Coastal/Marine Hazards and Resources Program. A.v.D. and M.v.d.L. were supported by the Deltares Strategic Research project Quantifying Flood Hazards and Impacts. M.O. acknowledges support from National Science Foundation project OCE-1554892

A comparative framework: how broadly applicable is a 'rigorous' critical junctures framework?

The paper tests Hogan and Doyle's (2007, 2008) framework for examining critical junctures. This framework sought to incorporate the concept of ideational change in understanding critical junctures. Until its development, frameworks utilized in identifying critical junctures were subjective, seeking only to identify crisis, and subsequent policy changes, arguing that one invariably led to the other, as both occurred around the same time. Hogan and Doyle (2007, 2008) hypothesized ideational change as an intermediating variable in their framework, determining if, and when, a crisis leads to radical policy change. Here we test this framework on cases similar to, but different from, those employed in developing the exemplar. This will enable us determine whether the framework's relegation of ideational change to a condition of crisis holds, or, if ideational change has more importance than is ascribed to it by this framework. This will also enable us determined if the framework itself is robust, and fit for the purposes it was designed to perform — identifying the nature of policy change

Three newly discovered sub-Jupiter-mass planets: WASP-69b and WASP-84b transit active K dwarfs and WASP-70Ab transits the evolved primary of a G4+K3 binary

We report the discovery of the transiting exoplanets WASP-69b, WASP-70Ab and WASP-84b, each of which orbits a bright star (V ∼ 10). WASP-69b is a bloated Saturn-mass planet (0.26 MJup, 1.06 RJup) in a 3.868-d period around an active, ∼1-Gyr, mid-K dwarf. ROSAT detected X-rays 60±27 arcsec from WASP-69. If the star is the source then the planet could be undergoing mass-loss at a rate of ∼1012 g s−1. This is one to two orders of magnitude higher than the evaporation rate estimated for HD 209458b and HD 189733b, both of which have exhibited anomalously large Lyman α absorption during transit. WASP-70Ab is a sub-Jupiter-mass planet (0.59 MJup, 1.16 RJup) in a 3.713-d orbit around the primary of a spatially resolved, 9–10-Gyr, G4+K3 binary, with a separation of 3.3 arcsec (≥800 au). WASP-84b is a sub-Jupiter-mass planet (0.69 MJup, 0.94 RJup) in an 8.523-d orbit around an active, ∼1-Gyr, early-K dwarf. Of the transiting planets discovered from the ground to date, WASP-84b has the third-longest period. For the active stars WASP-69 and WASP-84, we pre-whitened the radial velocities using a low-order harmonic series. We found that this reduced the residual scatter more than did the oft-used method of pre-whitening with a fit between residual radial velocity and bisector span. The system parameters were essentially unaffected by pre-whitening

Location of chlorogenic acid biosynthesis pathway and polyphenol oxidase genes in a new interspecific anchored linkage map of eggplant

© Gramazio et al.; licensee BioMed Central. 2014. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated

The use of phylogeny to interpret cross-cultural patterns in plant use and guide medicinal plant discovery: an example from Pterocarpus (Leguminosae)

The study of traditional knowledge of medicinal plants has led to discoveries that have helped combat diseases and improve healthcare. However, the development of quantitative measures that can assist our quest for new medicinal plants has not greatly advanced in recent years. Phylogenetic tools have entered many scientific fields in the last two decades to provide explanatory power, but have been overlooked in ethnomedicinal studies. Several studies show that medicinal properties are not randomly distributed in plant phylogenies, suggesting that phylogeny shapes ethnobotanical use. Nevertheless, empirical studies that explicitly combine ethnobotanical and phylogenetic information are scarce.In this study, we borrowed tools from community ecology phylogenetics to quantify significance of phylogenetic signal in medicinal properties in plants and identify nodes on phylogenies with high bioscreening potential. To do this, we produced an ethnomedicinal review from extensive literature research and a multi-locus phylogenetic hypothesis for the pantropical genus Pterocarpus (Leguminosae: Papilionoideae). We demonstrate that species used to treat a certain conditions, such as malaria, are significantly phylogenetically clumped and we highlight nodes in the phylogeny that are significantly overabundant in species used to treat certain conditions. These cross-cultural patterns in ethnomedicinal usage in Pterocarpus are interpreted in the light of phylogenetic relationships.This study provides techniques that enable the application of phylogenies in bioscreening, but also sheds light on the processes that shape cross-cultural ethnomedicinal patterns. This community phylogenetic approach demonstrates that similar ethnobotanical uses can arise in parallel in different areas where related plants are available. With a vast amount of ethnomedicinal and phylogenetic information available, we predict that this field, after further refinement of the techniques, will expand into similar research areas, such as pest management or the search for bioactive plant-based compounds

You’re welcome? Hong Kong’s attitude towards the Individual Visit Scheme

This paper used a mixed-method approach, combining cluster analysis and member-checking interviews to understand Hong Kong residents’ attitudes towards the “Individual Visit Scheme” (IVS) policy for mainland Chinese tourists. Three distinct clusters were identified, which grew significantly more positive with advancing age and higher income levels of the respondents. Interviews showed that these two factors substantially position residents’ attitude towards IVS through social exchange and social representations. Younger, lower-income Hong Kongers tended to rely largely on social representations, such as values and preconceptions, while older and higher-income earning residents were found to build more widely upon more rational social exchange principles