On-line Tools for Solar Data Compiled at the Debrecen Observatory and their Extensions with the Greenwich Sunspot Data

The primary task of the Debrecen Heliophysical Observatory (DHO) has been the most detailed, reliable, and precise documentation of the solar photospheric activity since 1958. This long-term effort resulted in various solar catalogs based on ground-based and space-borne observations. A series of sunspot databases and on-line tools were compiled at DHO: the Debrecen Photoheliographic Data (DPD, 1974--), the dataset based on the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) called SOHO/MDI--Debrecen Data (SDD, 1996--2010), and the dataset based on the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) of the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) called SDO/HMI--Debrecen Data (HMIDD, 2010--). User-friendly web-presentations and on-line tools were developed to visualize and search data. As a last step of compilation, the revised version of Greenwich Photoheliographic Results (GPR, 1874--1976) catalog was converted to DPD format, and a homogeneous sunspot database covering more than 140 years was created. The database of images for the GPR era was completed with the full-disc drawings of the Hungarian historical observatories \'Ogyalla and Kalocsa (1872--1919) and with the polarity drawings of Mount Wilson Observatory. We describe the main characteristics of the available data and on-line tools.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic

A reformáció irodalmának kora újkori kommunikációs stratégiái a Kárpát-medencében: Európai modellek és magyar sajátosságok (1550-1700) = Methods of communication in the Carpathian Basin during the Reformation: Early Modern European models and Hungarian characteristic (1550-1700)

Kutatócsoportunk célja a kora újkori művelődéstörténet kommunikációs stratégiáinak különböző tudományos megközelítésekkel végzett interdiszciplináris (irodalomtörténeti, eszmetörténeti, egyháztörténeti, könyvtörténeti, antropológiai stb.) vizsgálata volt, tekintettel a Kárpát-medence multikonfesszionális jellegére, valamint ennek a kulturális közegnek az európai összefüggésrendszerére. Projektünk egyik legfontosabb eredménye több 16-17. századi magyar, elsősorban protestáns nyomtatott és kéziratos szöveg papíralapú vagy digitális publikálása, valamint számos, ezekhez kapcsolódó feldolgozások (tanulmányok, tanulmánykötetek, monográfiák) megjelentetése. Kutatócsoportunk integrálta régiónk és Erdély összesen négy intézményében folyó reformáció- és puritanizmus-kutatásokat. A kutatási potenciál koncentrálásának, valamint néhány nyugat-európai kora újkor kutató intézménnyel való kapcsolatunknak köszönhetően az elmúlt három évben összesen hat szimpózium megrendezésében vállalhattunk szerepet Debrecenben és Kolozsvárott, illetve konferencia- és kutatóutakat tehettünk nagy-britanniai és németországi partnerintézményeinkbe. | Our Research Group was involved in an interdisciplinary research project in order to explore the strategies of communication in early modern cultural history through different academic disciplines (literary history, history of ideas, church history, history of books, anthropology etc.), taking into account the multi-confessional character of the Carpathian Basin and the European context of this cultural community. The most important achivements of the project are many printed and digital critical editions of Hungarian (primarily Protestant) printed materials and manuscripts written in the sixteenth-, and seventeenth-centuries, as well as several studies, collections of studies, and monographs on these resources. We have integrated the research on Reformation and Puritanism conducted at four research institutions in our region and in Transylvania. Thanks to the concentration of the reserach potential, and our connections with some Western-European research institutes for Early Modern studies we were able to take part in the organisation of six conferences in Debrecen and Kolozsvár (Cluj) in the last three years, and we travelled for symposions and research to our partner institutes in United Kingdom and Germany

On the Small Quasi-kernel conjecture

The Chv\'atal-Lov\'asz theorem from 1974 establishes in every finite digraph $G$ the existence of a quasi-kernel, i.e., an independent $2$-out-dominating vertex set. In the same spirit, the Small Quasi-kernel Conjecture, proposed by Erd\H{o}s and Sz\'ekely in 1976, asserts the existence of a quasi-kernel of order at most $|V(G)|/2$ if $G$ does not have sources. Despite repeated efforts, the conjecture remains wide open. This work contains a number of new results towards the conjecture. In our main contribution we resolve the conjecture for all directed graphs without sources containing a kernel in the second out-neighborhood of a quasi-kernel. Furthermore, we provide a novel strongly connected example demonstrating the asymptotic sharpness of the conjecture. Additionally, we resolve the conjecture in a strong form for all directed unicyclic graphs.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur

A homogeneous database of sunspot areas covering more than 130 years

The historical record of sunspot areas is a valuable and widely used proxy of solar activity and variability. The Royal Greenwich Observatory (RGO) regularly measured this and other parameters between 1874 and 1976. After that time records from a number of different observatories are available. These, however, show systematic differences and often have significants gaps. Our goal is to obtain a uniform and complete sunspot area time series by combining different data sets. A homogeneus composite of sunspot areas is essential for different applications in solar physics, among others for irradiance reconstructions. Data recorded simultaneously at different observatories are statistically compared in order to determine the intercalibration factors. Using these data we compile a complete and cross-calibrated time series. The Greenwich data set is used as a basis until 1976, the Russian data (a compilation of observations made at stations in the former USSR) between 1977 and 1985 and data compiled by the USAF network since 1986. Other data sets (Rome, Yunnan, Catania) are used to fill up the remaining gaps. Using the final sunspot areas record the Photometric Sunspot Index is calculated. We also show that the use of uncalibrated sunspot areas data sets can seriously affect the estimate of irradiance variations. Our analysis implies that there is no basis for the claim that UV irradiance variations have a much smaller influence on climate than total solar irradiance variations.Comment: 40 pages, 8 figures; JGR - Space Physics, publishe

Soil analyses in the Rothamsted Park grass experiment

 The status of antioxidant superoxide dismutase (SOD) was reported decreased in the liver tissues of diabetic experimental Macaca fascicularis. This study observed effect of Mamordica charantia on the status of SOD in the liver and kidney of diabetic experimental rats. The SOD was localized using immunohistochemical technique.  Male Wistar rats of negative control and diabetes mellitus (DM) group treated with 5 and 10% of M. charantia powder for 28 days. The DM condition was achieved by alloxan (110 mg/kg BW) induction. Charantia powder increased the status of antioxidant SOD in the liver and kidney of diabetic experimental rats. Aplication of M. charantia powder 10% gave better results than that of 5%. The results suggested that M. charantia powder can increase the status of antioxidant in the oxidative stress condition, such as diabetes mellitus

Effect of bean rust [Uromyces appendiculatus (Pers.) Strauss] on photosynthetic characteristics, superoxide-dismutase activity, and lipid peroxidation of common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

The aim of the study was to investigate changes of photosynthetic efficiency, amount of photosynthetic pigments, superoxide dismutase (SOD) enzyme activity, and rate of lipid peroxidation in bean-rust interaction. The clarification of the role of the above changes involved in the defence mechanism can significantly contribute to the breeding of plant varieties with natural resistance. Consequently, the amount of chemicals used in food production can be significantly reduced. In the present study some principal physiological parameters, such as the relative chlorophyll content of the host plant, the amount of photosynthetic pigments, changes in photosynthetic efficiency, and the activity of superoxide-dismutase (SOD) in addition to rate of lipid peroxidation (LP) were measured. The experiment was conducted in a humidity tent. Significant decrease in the relative chlorophyll content and in the amount of photosynthetic pigments was measured. At both sampling times, an increase was found in superoxide-dismutase enzyme activity and in rate of lipid peroxidation due to the bean rust infection. Notably, in several cases the differences were significant. The results indicate that the above parameters have important role in the bean-rust interaction, which should be taken into consideration in resistance breeding