Estimation of species relative abundances and habitat preferences using opportunistic data

We develop a new statistical procedure to monitor, with opportunist data, relative species abundances and their respective preferences for dierent habitat types. Following Giraud et al. (2015), we combine the opportunistic data with some standardized data in order to correct the bias inherent to the opportunistic data collection. Our main contributions are (i) to tackle the bias induced by habitat selection behaviors, (ii) to handle data where the habitat type associated to each observation is unknown, (iii) to estimate probabilities of selection of habitat for the species. As an illustration, we estimate common bird species habitat preferences and abundances in the region of Aquitaine (France)

Quantum Transport in Nanostructures of 3D Topological Insulators

Quantum transport measurement is an efficient tool to unveil properties of topological surface states in 3D topological insulators. Herein, experimental and theoretical results are reviewed, presenting first some methods for the growth of nanostructures. The effect of the disorder and the band bending is discussed in details both experimentally and theoretically. Then, the focus is put on disorder and quantum confinement effect in topological surface states of 3D topological insulators narrow nanostructures. Such effect can be revealed by investigating quantum interferences at very low temperature such as Aharonov–Bohm oscillations or universal conductance fluctuations. © 2020 The Authors. Published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinhei

Spin-Helical Dirac Fermions in 3D Topological Insulator Quantum Wires

The next generation of electronic devices based on 3D topological insulators will be developed from advanced functional nanostructures and heterostructures. Toward this goal, single-crystalline nanowires offer interesting opportunities for new developments due to the strong quantum confinement of spin-helical surface Dirac fermions and to the possibility to realize core-shell lateral nanostructures adapted to the control of the electro-chemical potential at the interface with a topological insulator. Here, we review the specific transport properties of 3D topological insulator quantum wires and the influence of disorder. Having a large energy quantization, weakly-coupled Dirac surface modes are prone to quasi-ballistic transport, with some analogies to carbon nanotubes but with spin-textured quantum states weakly coupled by non-magnetic disorder. Due to a small interaction with their environment, these surface modes are good candidates to realize novel quantum spintronic devices, spanning from ballistic spin conductors to localized spin filters. A specific topological mode also holds promises to control chiral edge states and Majorana bound states in truly 1D quantum wires, being tunable with a magnetic field or an electrical gate. Challenges toward these goals are briefly discussed, as well as the need for novel functional heterostructures

Capitalising on Opportunistic Data for Monitoring Species Relative Abundances

With the internet, a massive amount of information on species abundance can be collected under citizen science programs. However, these data are often difficult to use directly in statistical inference, as their collection is generally opportunistic, and the distribution of the sampling effort is often not known. In this paper, we develop a general statistical framework to combine such ``opportunistic data'' with data collected using schemes characterized by a known sampling effort. Under some structural assumptions regarding the sampling effort and detectability, our approach allows to estimate the relative abundance of several species in different sites. It can be implemented through a simple generalized linear model. We illustrate the framework with typical bird datasets from the Aquitaine region, south-western France. We show that, under some assumptions, our approach provides estimates that are more precise than the ones obtained from the dataset with a known sampling effort alone. When the opportunistic data are abundant, the gain in precision may be considerable, especially for the rare species. We also show that estimates can be obtained even for species recorded only in the opportunistic scheme. Opportunistic data combined with a relatively small amount of data collected with a known effort may thus provide access to accurate and precise estimates of quantitative changes in relative abundance over space and/or time

Boron Isotope Characterization to Design a Frame of Hydrogeological Functioning of a Wetland System (Massif Central, France)

AbstractMulti-isotopic approaches (Li, Sr, O, H), combined with hydrological tools, have been already appliedfor tracing the water and dissolved-element fluxes in a peatland in Central France. Here, we applied B isotopes. The δ11B ratios increase from river draining basalts (∼ 0‰) up to springs bordering the peatland (>+25‰). Peatland groundwaters have intermediate δ11B: 7.8 to 19.4‰. This range is accompanied by an increase in the Ca contents between the river draining basalts and water in the peatland. In aδ11B vs.Ca/B diagram, the role of water rock interaction and present day fertilizer inputs is evidenced, as for Sr isotopes

Band bending inversion in Bi2_2Se3_3 nanostructures

Shubnikov-de-Haas oscillations were studied under high magnetic field in Bi$_2$Se$_3$ nanostructures grown by Chemical Vapor Transport, for different bulk carrier densities ranging from $3\times10^{19}\text{cm}^{-3}$ to $6\times10^{17}\text{cm}^{-3}$. The contribution of topological surface states to electrical transport can be identified and separated from bulk carriers and massive two-dimensional electron gas. Band bending is investigated, and a crossover from upward to downward band bending is found at low bulk density, as a result of a competition between bulk and interface doping. These results highlight the need to control electrical doping both in the bulk and at interfaces in order to study only topological surface states.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Flight hardware and software operations performance review for BAMMsat-on-BEXUS – a BioCubeSat prototype flown on BEXUS30

BAMMsat-on-BEXUS is a student-led project in which a CubeSat-compatible payload was designed, manufactured, and flown on the BEXUS30 stratospheric balloon. The prototype payload – BAMMsat (Biology, Astrobiology, Medicine, and Materials Science on satellite) – is a modular CubeSat-compatible miniaturised laboratory termed a bioCubeSat. The core flight objective was to perform technology demonstration of the bioCubeSat technology, demonstrating capability to perform experiments in space, and to understand system performance and identify future requirements. The mission aimed to validate pre-flight, flight, and post-flight operations, with a focus on biological and autonomous operations and the novel payload hardware. C. elegans samples were flown in the payload. The mission was partially successful, as the BAMMsat systems and autonomous software operated successfully despite challenging conditions and a large volume of payload performance data was collected; however there were issues maintaining the viability of the samples during flight and microfluidic system issues that impeded sample containment and imaging operations. Post-flight analysis has been performed, the root causes of the issues identified, and upgraded novel payload hardware is currently being developed and tested