The Eichstädt meteorite, a historical fall in Bavaria from 1785 -revisited

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OA] 南極隕石11月16日（月）　国立極地研究所１階交流アトリウ

Continuing fire regimes in remote forest of Grand Canyon National Park

Ponderosa pine forests in which frequent fire regimes continue up to the present would be invaluable points of reference for assessing natural ecological attributes. A few remote forests on the North Rim of Grand Canyon National Park come close to this ideal: never-harvested, distant from human communities and fire suppression resources, and with several low-intensity fires in the past century—a highly unusual recent fire regime in the Southwest. Recent fires appear to have played a crucial role in preventing the increases in forest density that characterize most southwestern pine forests. The study sites are not unaffected by the ecological changes associated with settlement, but they do present an important reference resource for study and management of ponderosa pine ecosystems

News on the Machtenstein H5 ordinary chondrite

第6回極域科学シンポジウム[OA] 南極隕石11月16日（月）　国立極地研究所１階交流アトリウ

Changes in ponderosa pine forests of the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness

Ponderosa pine forests in the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness on the Arizona Strip have become dense with young trees and highly susceptible to catastrophic wildfire due to exclusion of the natural frequent-fire regime. As part of a broader regional ecological restoration study, the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness was sampled for fire scarred trees, vegetation, and fuels in 1997 and 1999. Reconstructed fire histories show that fires recurred about every 4.4 years prior to settlement, with larger fires burning every 9.5 years. Frequent fires ceased after 1863 in the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness, coincident with the time of Euro-American settlement around 1870, beginning a fire-free period that has lasted up to the present except for a few small fires and a larger 1989 wildfire. Current forests are dense, averaging approximately 1,200 trees/ha, and dominated by small trees. Throughout the wilderness, tree canopy cover averages over 65(percent) and tree basal area is high, 35- 36 m2/ha. Understory plant cover is about 20(percent) and understory species diversity averages 11.4 species/sample plot. Living and dead fuels, including plants, woody debris, and the forest floor, will easily support high-intensity wildfires. In contrast, the presettlement forest was relatively open, with tree density of approximately 62 trees/ha and basal area averaging 8.9 m2/ha, dominated by large ponderosa pine trees. In ecological terms, prospects are good for restoring the Mt. Trumbull Wilderness to emulate the ecological structure and fire disturbance regime of the presettlement reference condition. The current forest condition is perhaps least affected by recent degradation of any site in the Uinkaret Mountains. However, ecological information is only one component contributing to the debate over appropriate management values and practices in wilderness areas on public lands

Do financial markets respond to macroeconomic surprises? Evidence from the UK

We investigate the response of UK asset prices to a large set of domestic scheduled macroeconomic announcements using data at a daily frequency from 1998 to 2017. Our results are mostly consistent with economic theory and follow two general patterns: (1) a stronger-than-expected economy raises stock returns, causes the home currency to appreciate, makes the yield curve steeper, and lowers the corporate credit quality spread; (2) higher-than-anticipated inflation leads to an appreciation of the domestic currency and raises the slope of the yield curve. Surprises about retail sales, claimant count rate, GDP, and industrial production have the most prevalent effects across the four asset classes in our data set. A large number of macroeconomic announcements increase trading activity in the stock market, whereas there is barely any (only minor) evidence that announcements (surprises) affect the volatility of asset prices. We also document that the effects of macroeconomic surprises are contingent not only upon the state of the economy but also on the state of the stock market (bull vs. bear)

The HST Cosmos Project: Contribution from the Subaru Telescope

The Cosmic Evolution Survey (COSMOS) is a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) treasury project.The COSMOS aims to perform a 2 square degree imaging survey of an equatorial field in $I$(F814W) band, using the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Such a wide field survey, combined with ground-based photometric and spectroscopic data, is essential to understand the interplay between large scale structure, evolution and formation of galaxies and dark matter. In 2004, we have obtained high-quality, broad band images of the COSMOS field ($B, V, r^\prime, i^\prime,$ and $z^\prime$) using Suprime-Cam on the Subaru Telescope, and we have started our new optical multi-band program, COSMOS-21 in 2005. Here, we present a brief summary of the current status of the COSMOS project together with contributions from the Subaru Telescope. Our future Subaru program, COSMOS-21, is also discussed briefly.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of the 6th East Asian Meeting on Astronomy, JKAS, 39, in pres

Transport of hop aroma compounds across Caco-2 monolayers

Although being reported and used as a sedative remedy for several years, the bioactive principle of hop preparations is still not decisively clarified. Understanding absorption and transformation processes of potential physiologically active constituents is essential to evaluate the likeliness of biological effects on humans. Therefore, single hop aroma compounds as well as digestive transformation products thereof have been investigated in view of their human intestinal absorption, applying Caco-2 transport experiments as well as investigations on potential biotransformation processes. Selective and sensitive identification and quantification were thereby achieved by application of two-dimensional high resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry in conjunction with stable isotope dilution analysis, leading to the determination of apparent permeability values by different mathematical approaches considering sink and non-sink conditions. Overall, calculated permeability values ranged from 2.6 × 10−6 to 1.8 × 10−4 cm s−1 with all mathematical approaches, indicating high absorption potential and almost complete bioavailability for all tested compounds with hydroxyl-functionalities. Considering this high permeability together with the high lipophilicity of these substances, a passive transcellular uptake route can be speculated. Investigated sesquiterpenes and β-myrcene showed flat absorption profiles while the investigated esters showed decreasing profiles. In view of the lipophilic and volatile nature of the investigated substances, special attention was paid to recovery and mass balance determination. Furthermore, in the course of the transport experiments of 1-octen-3-ol and 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol, additional biotransformation products were observed, namely 3-octanone and 3-methyl-2-butenal, respectively. The absence of these additional substances in control experiments strongly indicates an intestinal first-pass metabolism of the α,β-unsaturated alcohols 1-octen-3-ol and 3-methyl-2-buten-1-ol in Caco-2 cells

Modifying Spinel Precursors for Highly Active and Stable Ni‐based CO2 Methanation Catalysts

Abstract In CO2 methanation, spinel phases are often considered as undesirable leading to deactivation. However, they can also be considered as well‐dispersed solid solutions suitable as catalyst precursors leading to the formation of highly active and finely dispersed active sites. Though, spinels such as NiAl2O4, which form when Ni/Al2O3 supported catalysts are used, require high reduction temperatures to become active. To obtain a suitable catalyst precursor, the reducibility of such spinels must be improved so that it can be activated under conventional conditions. The undesirable spinel phase is modified by introducing manganese, known to distort the spinel structure, to form Ni0.9MnxAl2‐xO4 (0≤x≤2) as a new catalyst precursor. These exhibit significantly improved reducibility at low temperatures. By adjusting the manganese content, a methane yield of 38.7 % was achieved at 350 °C under the conditions used, which is more than twice that of the supported Ni/Al2O3 reference catalyst (SPP2080‐IMRC)

5,5,7,12,14,14-Hexamethyl-1,8-diaza-4,11-diazo­niacyclo­tetra­deca-4,11-diene dichloride trihydrate

In the title compound, C16H34N4 2+·2Cl−·3H2O, the two protonated N atoms in the macrocyclic ring of the dication are located at diagonally opposite positions. There are two intramolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen bonds in the cation. The crystal structure features O—H⋯Cl, O—H⋯O, C—H⋯Cl and N—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds

Arabidopsis KCBP interacts with AIR9 but stays in the cortical division zone throughout mitosis via its MyTH4-FERM domain

The preprophase band of microtubules performs the crucial function of marking the plane of cell division. Although the preprophase band depolymerises at the onset of mitosis, the division plane is 'memorized' by a cortical division zone to which the phragmoplast is attracted during cytokinesis. Proteins have been discovered that are part of the molecular memory but little is known about how they contribute to phragmoplast guidance. Previously, we found that the microtubule-associated protein AIR9 is found in the cortical division zone at preprophase and returns during cell plate insertion but is absent from the cortex during the intervening mitosis. To identify new components of the preprophase memory, we searched for proteins that interact with AIR9. We detected the kinesin-like calmodulin-binding protein, KCBP, which can be visualized at the predicted cortical site throughout division. A truncation study of KCBP indicates that its MyTH4-FERM domain is required for linking the motor domain to the cortex. These results suggest a mechanism by which minus-end-directed KCBP helps guide the centrifugally expanding phragmoplast to the cortical division site.Instituto de Biotecnologia y Biologia Molecula