Colored Sweet Bell and Tapered Pepper Cultivar Evaluation for High Tunnel Production in West-Central Indiana, 2023

Colored sweet bell-shaped and tapered pepper is a summer crop that is grown by many small and medium-sized farming operations in Indiana. Growers can choose to grow peppers out in the field or plant them under a protective structure. Sweet peppers, in particular, benefit from the unique growing environment created by a high tunnel. Planting of peppers can start at least 2-4 weeks earlier in the spring, and production can continue into the fall until the first hard freeze. Pepper variety performance data for Indiana is not readily available. We are working hard to change that. To date, we have evaluated thirty pepper varieties, and each variety is assessed in two production cycles. This paper reports on five sweet bell and five tapered pepper entries evaluated at the Purdue Student Farm, West Lafayette, Indiana

Water Quality in Pleasant Valley, Utah

Pollution of shallow groundwater due to wastewater disposal in Pleasant Valley, Utah, was investigated from October 1979 through August 1980. Water samples were collected from 23 wells and 5 stream sampling sites. Water quality analysis revealed pollution at several sites. Groundwater pollution caused by man’s activities in the area was observed in Bolotas and Scofield Campsite subdivisions. Severe shallow groundwater pollution measured in wells which were located in south and north profiles of the town of Scofield, Utah, could have originated from the municipal waste disposal practice in the town. Natural phenomena, however, such as pyrite oxidation, could possible have been the cause of the depletion of dissolved oxygen in the groundwater near Scofield. In the town of Scofield the shallow water table, less than 1.22 m (4 ft) below ground throughout the whole study period, could limit septic tank use in the study area. The seasonally variable nitrate and phosphate concentration in the surface stream reached its maximum value in May (i.e. 1.12 mg/1 NO3-N and 3.37 mg/1 total phosphorus) when the stream flow reached a maximum flow of 9.06 m3/s (370 cfs). These increases in nitrate and phosphorus content in the stream, sresulting from spring thawing, could increase the nutrient level in the Scofield Reservoir. Natural phenomena produced a high concentration of mercury, averaging 2.55 ug/1 during the study period. It is possible that the water in Scofield Reservoir might have a similar level of mercury. The maximum contamination level of mercury accepted by the State of Utah and U.S. EPA for drinking water is 2.0 ug/1. Therefore, potential health problems may exist for the people who depend on the Scofield Reservoir for their source of drinking water. Fluoride concentration ranged from 0.06 mg/1 to 0.42 mg/1 natural processes are responsible for fluoride in the water

Do Climate Forecast System (CFSv2) forecasts improve seasonal soil moisture prediction?, Geophys

ABSTRACT 24 We investigated whether seasonal forecasts from the National Centers fo

Orally Administered Activated Charcoal as a Medical Countermeasure for Acute Radiation Syndrome in Rats

Activated charcoal (AC) can be taken orally as enterosorbent for treatment of pathological states related to exogenous and endogenous intoxications. Synthesized granulated AC with a highly developed active surface (SBET ~2700 m2/g) was used as a medical countermeasure (MCM) to acute radiation sickness (ARS) in rats after total body X-ray irradiation. AC demonstrates positive results in ARS treatment, as expressed in, (i) a decrease in body weight loss, (ii) a protection of bone marrow (BM) cells colony formation capacity, (iii) a reduction of BM chromosomal aberrations and small intestine and spleen tissue damage, (iv) an amelioration of white blood cell count, and (v) a mitigation of superoxide ion generation rate in the liver. AC oral prescription seems to be perspective modality of ARS treatment.This research was funded by H2020-MSCA-RISE-2016 project, grant number 734641 acronym NanoMed

Anyonic interferometry and protected memories in atomic spin lattices

Strongly correlated quantum systems can exhibit exotic behavior called topological order which is characterized by non-local correlations that depend on the system topology. Such systems can exhibit remarkable phenomena such as quasi-particles with anyonic statistics and have been proposed as candidates for naturally fault-tolerant quantum computation. Despite these remarkable properties, anyons have never been observed in nature directly. Here we describe how to unambiguously detect and characterize such states in recently proposed spin lattice realizations using ultra-cold atoms or molecules trapped in an optical lattice. We propose an experimentally feasible technique to access non-local degrees of freedom by performing global operations on trapped spins mediated by an optical cavity mode. We show how to reliably read and write topologically protected quantum memory using an atomic or photonic qubit. Furthermore, our technique can be used to probe statistics and dynamics of anyonic excitations.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure

Preservation of Genes Involved in Sterol Metabolism in Cholesterol Auxotrophs: Facts and Hypotheses

Background: It is known that primary sequences of enzymes involved in sterol biosynthesis are well conserved in organisms that produce sterols de novo. However, we provide evidence for a preservation of the corresponding genes in two animals unable to synthesize cholesterol (auxotrophs): Drosophila melanogaster and Caenorhabditis elegans. Principal Findings: We have been able to detect bona fide orthologs of several ERG genes in both organisms using a series of complementary approaches. We have detected strong sequence divergence between the orthologs of the nematode and of the fruitfly; they are also very divergent with respect to the orthologs in organisms able to synthesize sterols de novo (prototrophs). Interestingly, the orthologs in both the nematode and the fruitfly are still under selective pressure. It is possible that these genes, which are not involved in cholesterol synthesis anymore, have been recruited to perform different new functions. We propose a more parsimonious way to explain their accelerated evolution and subsequent stabilization. The products of ERG genes in prototrophs might be involved in several biological roles, in addition to sterol synthesis. In the case of the nematode and the fruitfly, the relevant genes would have lost their ancestral function in cholesterogenesis but would have retained the other function(s), which keep them under pressure. Conclusions: By exploiting microarray data we have noticed a strong expressional correlation between the orthologs of ERG24 and ERG25 in D. melanogaster and genes encoding factors involved in intracellular protein trafficking and folding an

Self-folded redox/acid dual-responsive nanocarriers for anticancer drug delivery

Self-folded redox/acid dual-responsive nanocarriers (RAD-NCs) are developed for physiologically triggered delivery of anticancer drug. The evidenced redox/acid responsiveness, facile decoration of ligands, and active tumor-targeting capability of RAD-NCs suggest their potential as a promising formulation for tumor-targeted chemotherapy

Modest induction of phase 2 enzyme activity in the F-344 rat prostate

BACKGROUND: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in men and is thought to arise as a result of endogenous oxidative stress in the face of compromised carcinogen defenses. We tested whether carcinogen defense (phase 2) enzymes could be induced in the prostate tissues of rats after oral feeding of candidate phase 2 enzyme inducing compounds. METHODS: Male F344 rats were gavage fed sulforaphane, β-naphthoflavone, curcumin, dimethyl fumarate or vehicle control over five days, and on the sixth day, prostate, liver, kidney and bladder tissues were harvested. Cytosolic enzyme activities of nicotinamide quinone oxidoreductase (NQO1), total glutathione transferase (using DCNB) and mu-class glutathione transferase (using CDNB) were determined in the treated and control animals and compared. RESULTS: In prostatic tissues, sulforaphane produced modest but significant increases in the enzymatic activities of NQO1, total GST and GST-mu compared to control animals. β-naphthoflavone significantly increased NQO1 and GST-mu activities and curcumin increased total GST and GST-mu enzymatic activities. Dimethyl fumarate did not significantly increase prostatic phase 2 enzyme activity. Compared to control animals, sulforaphane also significantly induced NQO1 or total GST enzyme activity in the liver, kidney and, most significantly, in the bladder tissues. All compounds were well tolerated over the course of the gavage feedings. CONCLUSION: Orally administered compounds will induce modestly phase 2 enzyme activity in the prostate although the significance of this degree of induction is unknown. The 4 different compounds also altered phase 2 enzyme activity to different degrees in different tissue types. Orally administered sulforaphane potently induces phase 2 enzymes in bladder tissues and should be investigated as a bladder cancer preventive agent

Knotted Topological Phase Singularities of Electromagnetic Field

In this paper, knotted objects (RS vortices) in the theory of topological phase singularity in electromagnetic field have been investigated in details. By using the $\phi$-mapping topological current theory proposed by Prof. Duan, we rewrite the topological current form of RS vortices and use this topological current we reveal that the Hopf invariant of RS vortices is just the sum of the linking and self-linking numbers of the knotted RS vortices. Furthermore, the conservation of the Hopf invariant in the splitting, the mergence and the intersection processes of knotted RS vortices is also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, no figures, author's name have been correcte