<i>In Situ</i> Sampling of Relative Dust Devil Particle Loads and Their Vertical Grain Size Distributions

During a field campaign in the Sahara Desert in southern Morocco, spring 2012, we sampled the vertical grain size distribution of two active dust devils that exhibited different dimensions and intensities. With these in situ samples of grains in the vortices, it was possible to derive detailed vertical grain size distributions and measurements of the lifted relative particle load. Measurements of the two dust devils show that the majority of all lifted particles were only lifted within the first meter (~46.5% and ~61% of all particles; ~76.5 wt % and ~89 wt % of the relative particle load). Furthermore, ~69% and ~82% of all lifted sand grains occurred in the first meter of the dust devils, indicating the occurrence of ‘‘sand skirts.’’ Both sampled dust devils were relatively small (~15m and ~4–5m in diameter) compared to dust devils in surrounding regions; nevertheless, measurements show that ~58.5% to 73.5% of all lifted particles were small enough to go into suspension (<31 mm, depending on the used grain size classification). This relatively high amount represents only ~0.05 to 0.15 wt % of the lifted particle load. Larger dust devils probably entrain larger amounts of fine-grained material into the atmosphere, which can have an influence on the climate. Furthermore, our results indicate that the composition of the surface, on which the dust devils evolved, also had an influence on the particle load composition of the dust devil vortices. The internal particle load structure of both sampled dust devils was comparable related to their vertical grain size distribution and relative particle load, although both dust devils differed in their dimensions and intensities. A general trend of decreasing grain sizes with height was also detected

Electron's anomalous magnetic moment effects on electron-hydrogen elastic collisions in the presence of a circularly polarized laser field

The effect of the electron's anomalous magnetic moment on the relativistic electronic dressing for the process of electron-hydrogen atom elastic collisions is investigated. We consider a laser field with circular polarization and various electric field strengths. The Dirac-Volkov states taking into account this anomaly are used to describe the process in the first order of perturbation theory. The correlation between the terms coming from this anomaly and the electric field strength gives rise to new results, namely the strong dependence of the spinor part of the differential cross section (DCS) with respect to these terms. A detailed study has been devoted to the non relativistic regime as well as the moderate relativistic regime. Some aspects of this dependence as well as the dynamical behavior of the DCS in the relativistic regime have been addressed.Comment: 1 File Revtex + 14 figures ep

Effect of zeatin on the infection process and expression of MAPK-4 during pathogenesis of Alternaria brassicae in non-host and host Brassica plants

Recent studies have revealed an important role of hormones in plant immunity. Cytokinins are phytohormones that are involved in various regulatory processes including plant defense. Zeatin a cytokinin antagonizes the effect of Alternaria brassicae pathotoxin in cell culture of Brassica juncea. Phytohormones are also the inducers of MAP Kinase signaling pathways which are the important signaling modules in eukaryotic cells. In this paper, an attempt was made to study the exogenous application of zeatin on the disease score, infection behavior of A. brassicae, expression pattern of MAPK-4 in the non host Sinapsis alba, host B. juncea susceptible c.v Varuna, B. juncea moderately tolerant c.v. Divya and transgenic Brassica to confer its role in plant immunity. We observed that high concentration of zeatin led to increased defense responses by delaying the infection process as well as significantly reducing the disease score. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR reveals that zeatin also increases the expression of MAPK-4 at early hours of infection. Our result supports that zeatin up regulates plant immunity via an elevation of MAPK-4 and clearly reflects that it antagonizes the effect of A. brassicae. The crosstalk between zeatin and MAPK signaling pathway may help plants fine-tune defense responses against A. brassicae in the disease Alternaria blight.Keywords: Alternaria blight, Brassica, disease score, MAPK, pathogenesis, infection processAfrican Journal of BiotechnologyVol. 12(17), pp. 2164-217

Relativistic electronic dressing in laser-assisted ionization of atomic hydrogen by electron impact

Within the framework of the coplanar binary geometry where it is justified to use plane wave solutions for the study of the $(e,2e)$ reaction and in the presence of a circularly polarized laser field, we introduce as a first step the DVRPWBA1 (Dirac-Volkov Plane Wave Born Approximation1) where we take into account only the relativistic dressing of the incident and scattered electrons. Then, we introduce the DVRPWBA2 (Dirac-Volkov Plane Wave Born Approximation2) where we take totally into account the relativistic dressing of the incident, scattered and ejected electrons. We then compare the corresponding triple differential cross sections for laser-assisted ionization of atomic hydrogen by electron impact both for the non relativistic and the relativistic regime.Comment: 18 pages, Latex, 7 figure

Thermodynamic Geometry Of Charged Rotating BTZ Black Holes

We study the thermodynamics and the thermodynamic geometries of charged rotating BTZ (CR-BTZ) black holes in (2+1)-gravity. We investigate the thermodynamics of these systems within the context of the Weinhold and Ruppeiner thermodynamic geometries and the recently developed formalism of geometrothermodynamics (GTD). Considering the behavior of the heat capacity and the Hawking temperature, we show that Weinhold and Ruppeiner geometries cannot describe completely the thermodynamics of these black holes and of their limiting case of vanishing electric charge. In contrast, the Legendre invariance imposed on the metric in GTD allows one to describe the CR-BTZ black holes and their limiting cases in a consistent and invariant manner

Association study of two interleukin-1 gene loci with essential hypertension in a Pakistani Pathan population

An association study of IL-1 beta -511C/T and IL-1 RN 86 bp VNTR polymorphisms with essential hypertension was carried out in a sample population of 500 Pakistani Pathan subjects selected randomly, comprising groups of 235 subjects with hypertension and 265 controls. The distribution of both genotypes and alleles was not statistically different in cases and controls. In conclusion, IL-1 beta -511C/T and IL-1 RN 86 bp VNTR do not contribute to the aetiology of essential hypertension in the Pakistani Pathan population investigated here

Surface heterogeneity and inhomogeneous broadening of vibrational line profiles

The surface heterogeneity of amorphous silica (aSiO2) has been probed using coverage dependent temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of a simple probe molecule, carbon monoxide (CO). The resulting distribution of interaction energies is the foundation from which an environmentally broadened vibrational line profile synthesis has been undertaken. These simulations are compared with measured line profiles recorded at 0.1 cm−1 resolution using reflection–absorption infrared spectroscopy (RAIRS). A comparison of such line profile synthesis for CO on amorphous silica and on porous amorphous solid water (p-ASW) is also reported and conclusions are drawn as to the vibrational relaxation and surface dynamics of the CO molecule on the two surfaces