Signatures of broken protoplanetary discs in scattered light and in sub-millimetre observations

Spatially resolved observations of protoplanetary discs are revealing that their inner regions can be warped or broken from the outer disc. A few mechanisms are known to lead to such 3D structures; among them, the interaction with a stellar companion. We perform a 3D SPH simulation of a circumbinary disc misaligned by $60^\circ$ with respect to the binary orbital plane. The inner disc breaks from the outer regions, precessing as a rigid body, and leading to a complex evolution. As the inner disc precesses, the misalignment angle between the inner and outer discs varies by more than $100^\circ$. Different snapshots of the evolution are post-processed with a radiative transfer code, in order to produce observational diagnostics of the process. Even though the simulation was produced for the specific case of a circumbinary disc, most of the observational predictions hold for any disc hosting a precessing inner rim. Synthetic scattered light observations show strong azimuthal asymmetries, where the pattern depends strongly on the misalignment angle between inner and outer disc. The asymmetric illumination of the outer disc leads to azimuthal variations of the temperature structure, in particular in the upper layers, where the cooling time is short. These variations are reflected in asymmetric surface brightness maps of optically thick lines, as CO $J$=3-2. The kinematical information obtained from the gas lines is unique in determining the disc structure. The combination of scattered light images and (sub-)mm lines can distinguish between radial inflow and misaligned inner disc scenarios.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

A special GIS application - military historical reconstruction

GIS is increasingly becoming popular in many humane disciplines such as archaeology, anthropology. In our research we use it to support military historical reconstruction. We deal with the Attila-line, which was a defence line around Budapest in the secnd World War. Up to now the researchers could find only short descriptions and sketches about this defence line. Our goal was a detailed and reliable reconstruction, which contains environmental, object, and event parts. To get through with this task we had to collect and manage a lot of variable-quality archive data. This information comes from different sources: libraries, archives, archive maps and aerial photographs, field measurements, and personal reminiscences. We can manage this information in a standard system with GIS. The investigation consists of three main parts: the reconstruction of the contemporary environment, the reconstruction of the defence objects, and the reconstruction of the military events. This database can be used as a reference syste m to support further research and to identify new parts of the defence line. Using the attributes we can make queries and various reviews. The database is usable as a digital data archive, too. Our next research goal is to follow the search of the Attila-line and other defence lines and to present them to wider scientific and public audiences

Automatic selection of potential WWII bombed areas by using spatial data

The reconstruction of military defense systems, (e.g. World War II defense lines) is generally based on military object identification and mapping. Since unexploded bombs can be still dangerous today, detecting bomb craters can be useful in creating hazard maps. The most significant problem is managing the large amount of relevant data. Therefore, there is a strong demand for automatically select the potential danger zones and also automate the entire processing workflow. Automatic methods have been developed to reduce the areas of interest. In addition, this method can be applied in other tasks as well, for example in settlement detection

New achievements in WW II. military historical reconstruction with GIS

Recently geoinformatics has become a well–known and widely applied discipline in different human sciences. There are several interesting examples of applying geographical information systems to manage the information of various time periods in military history and archaeology. Our research topic covers modern age military history, and so it is a very sensitive topic because of the recent dates. Therefore we always used objective data acquisition techniques and an applied engineering approach. The military historical GIS database, which was created in this way, can be handled as an objective and reliable basis for further research by scientists in object or even in event reconstructions. Firstly, we had to define a strategy, a methodology, which is suitable to achieve our aims — a uniform GIS database — considering the existing and currently accessible data sources. This methodology consists of three main parts: the reconstruction of the period’s environment, the military objects and finally the military historical events. According to this methodology we reconstructed particular sectors of the two major World War II defense lines (Attila– and Margit–line) in Hungary. Beside the GIS based reconstructions of the environment, the military objects and the events, we investigated further analytical and representational functions, which can also support these kinds of applications. The methods enable various spatial and attribute queries and animation possibilities that are also useful and sometimes necessary. The typical examples of these functions are also discussed in the paper

Evolutionarily conserved role and physiological relevance of a STX17/Syx17 (syntaxin 17)-containing SNARE complex in autophagosome fusion with endosomes and lysosomes.

Phagophores engulf cytoplasmic material and give rise to autophagosomes, double-membrane vesicles mediating cargo transport to lysosomes for degradation. The regulation of autophagosome fusion with endosomes and lysosomes during autophagy has remained poorly characterized. Two recent papers conclude that STX17/syntaxin 17 (Syx17 in Drosophila) has an evolutionarily conserved role in autophagosome fusion with endosomes and lysosomes, acting in one SNARE complex with SNAP29 (ubisnap in Drosophila) and the endosomal/lysosomal VAMP8 (CG1599/Vamp7 in Drosophila). Surprisingly, a third report suggests that STX17 might also contribute to proper phagophore assembly. Although several experiments presented in the two human cell culture studies yielded controversial results, the essential role of STX17 in autophagic flux is now firmly established, both in cultured cells and in an animal model. Based on these data, we propose that genetic inhibition of STX17/Syx17 may be a more specific tool in autophagic flux experiments than currently used drug treatments, which impair all lysosomal degradation routes and also inactivate MTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin), a major negative regulator of autophagy. Finally, the neuronal dysfunction and locomotion defects observed in Syx17 mutant animals point to the possible contribution of defective autophagosome clearance to various human diseases