The Corralitos Observatory program for the detection of lunar transient phenomena

This is a final report on the establishment, observing procedures, and observational results of a survey program for the detection of lunar transient phenomena (LTP's) by electro-optical image conversion means. For survey, a unique detection system with an image orthicon was used as the primary element in conjunction with a 24-in. f/20 Cassegrainian telescope. Observations in three spectral ranges, with 6,466 man-hours of observing, were actually performed during the period from October 27, 1965, to April 26, 1972. Within this entire period, no color or feature change within the detection capabilities of the instrumentation was observed, either independently or in follow up of amateur LTP reports, with the exception of one general bluing and several localized bluings (probably ascribable to the effects of the terrestrial atmosphere) that were observed solely by the Corralitos system. A table is presented indicating amateur and professional reports of LTP's and the results of efforts to confirm these reports through the Corralitos system

Static dielectric response of icosahedral fullerenes from C60 to C2160 by an all electron density functional theory

The static dielectric response of C60, C180, C240, C540, C720, C960, C1500, and C2160 fullerenes is characterized by an all-electron density-functional method. First, the screened polarizabilities of C60, C180, C240, and C540, are determined by the finite-field method using Gaussian basis set containing 35 basis functions per atom. In the second set of calculations, the unscreened polarizabilities are calculated for fullerenes C60 through C2160 from the self-consistent Kohn-Sham orbitals and eigen-values using the sum-over-states method. The approximate screened polarizabilities, obtained by applying a correction determined within linear response theory show excellent agreement with the finite-field polarizabilities. The static dipole polarizability per atom in C2160 is (4 Angstrom^3) three times larger than that in C60 (1.344 Angstrom^3). Our results reduce the uncertainty in various theoretical models used previously to describe the dielectric response of fullerenes and show that quantum size effects in polarizability are significantly smaller than previously thought.Comment: RevTex, 3 figure

Composition of fungal communities in soil and endophytic in raspberry production systems.

Fungi play important roles as decomposers, plant symbionts and pathogens in soil. While endophytes are microorganisms that dwell within plant tissues and have a symbiotic association with the host. The structures of fungal communities in the soil and in endophytic association are dependent up complex interactions with the environment and the host. These two communities have a great influence on plant health and development. Using culture-independent fungal community profiling, we investigated the effects of fertilizer (composted dairy solids + mustard seed meal) on fungal communities in soil and endophytic in a raspberry production system. During the study we evaluated the impact of primer selection ITS1 vs ITS2. We characterized the communities for both spring and fall time periods. The results show that the soil communities are dominated by Ascomycota, and Basidiomycota in soil, while the endophytes were primarily Ascomycota. The relative abundances of certain taxa, such as Capnodiales, were more predominant in composted soil (8%) than the control (4%). There were no significant differences identified in the endophytic communities between the two treatments. Further research should elucidate the specific roles of these fungal taxa in raspberry soils and endophyte, and on the heath of the plant. To advance the ecological management of crop soils, understanding is needed of how beneficial microbial relationships can be fostered in these production systems

Teaching Tip: developing an intercollegiate Twitter forum to aid student exam study and the development of digital professionalism

#VetFinals has been developed as a novel online Twitter teaching event designed to support intercollegiate veterinary teaching using social media. Previous studies in other fields have suggested that Twitter use within universities may have benefits for undergraduate education. This “teaching tip” paper describes a project using Twitter to host online exam study sessions. The project has been a highly successful collaborative effort between the Royal Veterinary College and Nottingham Veterinary School in the UK. Over 4 years, the #VetFinals project has developed into a long-term, self-sustaining enterprise. This initiative provides a semi-structured means for student exam preparation with direct real-time input from a faculty member. It also creates a network of peers both horizontally across institutions and vertically throughout year groups. Based on similar initiatives in other disciplines, an anticipated outcome of this project was to contribute to student online professionalism. This could help address the veterinary community's recently highlighted problems with professional conduct and appropriate use of social media. Analysis of the success of this endeavor will be available in a future publication

Sugar cane bagasse affects bacterial community dynamics in the sheep rumen.

Ruminants are herbivores and have evolved a symbiotic host-microbe relationship with a complex microbial community inhabiting the rumen allowing the use of lignocellulosic biomass as their main energy source. Considering that diet is one of the main drivers shaping the structure of the rumen microbiome, we investigated the impact of sugarcane bagasse in the rumen bacterial community dynamic using 16S rRNA (V3 and V6 regions) amplicon sequencing. We assessed three rumencannulated adult male sheep (Ovis aries) fed on a diet consisted of 30% concentrate and 70% roughage (control treatment) and three sheep fed on the same diet, but with 14% of the roughage portion replaced by sugarcane bagasse. Fluid and fiber were separately sampled 3 hours and 15, 30, 45, and 60 days after starting the experiment. Total genomic DNA was extracted from 60 independent samples (2 treatments X 3 replicates X 5 time points X 2 types of samples, i.e. fluid or fiber) for downstream analysis. The DNA was used as a template for amplification of V3 and V6 regions of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene and then sequenced using the PGMTM (Ion Torrent). Overall, the two dominant phyla were Bacteroidetes (42%) and Firmicutes (37%). The most abundant bacterial genus was Prevotella (20%), followed by Clostridium (9%), Ruminococcus (8%) and Butyrivibrio (2%). The principal coordinate analysis (PcoA) showed that the bacterial community was significantly different in both treatments at 60 days. Bacteroidales, Actinomycetales and Clostridiales were the top dynamic bacterial orders that significantly increased in relative abundance in the treatment with sugar cane bagasse after 60 days. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) revealed that the Clostridiales and Bacteroidales are positively correlated with propionate, butyrate, ammonia, and pH. These results indicate that a small replacement in the diet roughage portion influences de dynamic of specific bacterial taxa. This strategy can be used to reshape the bacterial community in the sheep rumen aiming to enrich the targeted bacterial taxa. Support FAPESP 2012/03848-8, 2012/24588-4 and 2014/00448-4.13th BAGECO1

Fourier analyses of commensurability oscillations in Fibonacci lateral superlattices

Magnetotransport measurements have been performed on Fibonacci lateral superlattices (FLSLs) -- two-dimensional electron gases subjected to a weak potential modulation arranged in the Fibonacci sequence, LSLLSLS..., with L/S=tau (the golden ratio). Complicated commensurability oscillation (CO) is observed, which can be accounted for as a superposition of a series of COs each arising from a sinusoidal modulation representing the characteristic length scale of one of the self-similar generations in the Fibonacci sequence. Individual CO components can be separated out from the magnetoresistance trace by performing a numerical Fourier band-pass filter. From the analysis of the amplitude of a single-component CO thus extracted, the magnitude of the corresponding Fourier component in the potential modulation can be evaluated. By examining all the Fourier contents observed in the magnetoresistance trace, the profile of the modulated potential seen by the electrons can be reconstructed with some remaining ambiguity about the interrelation of the phase between different components.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, added references in Introduction, minor revision

Growth and Structure of Stochastic Sequences

We introduce a class of stochastic integer sequences. In these sequences, every element is a sum of two previous elements, at least one of which is chosen randomly. The interplay between randomness and memory underlying these sequences leads to a wide variety of behaviors ranging from stretched exponential to log-normal to algebraic growth. Interestingly, the set of all possible sequence values has an intricate structure.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Resonance Effects in the Nonadiabatic Nonlinear Quantum Dimer

The quantum nonlinear dimer consisting of an electron shuttling between the two sites and in weak interaction with vibrations, is studied numerically under the application of a DC electric field. A field-induced resonance phenomenon between the vibrations and the electronic oscillations is found to influence the electronic transport greatly. For initially delocalization of the electron, the resonance has the effect of a dramatic increase in the transport. Nonlinear frequency mixing is identified as the main mechanism that influences transport. A characterization of the frequency spectrum is also presented.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Effect of nonlinearity on the dynamics of a particle in dc field-induced systems

Dynamics of a particle in a perfect chain with one nonlinear impurity and in a perfect nonlinear chain under the action of dc field is studied numerically. The nonlinearity appears due to the coupling of the electronic motion to optical oscillators which are treated in adiabatic approximation. We study for both the low and high values of field strength. Three different range of nonlinearity is obtained where the dynamics is different. In low and intermediate range of nonlinearity, it reduces the localization. In fact in the intermediate range subdiffusive behavior in the perfect nonlinear chain is obtained for a long time. In all the cases a critical value of nonlinear strength exists where self-trapping transition takes place. This critical value depends on the system and the field strength. Beyond the self-trapping transition nonlinearity enhances the localization.Comment: 9 pages, Revtex, 6 ps figures include