The multi-thermal and multi-stranded nature of coronal rain

In this work, we analyse coordinated observations spanning chromospheric, TR and coronal temperatures at very high resolution which reveal essential characteristics of thermally unstable plasmas. Coronal rain is found to be a highly multi-thermal phenomenon with a high degree of co-spatiality in the multi-wavelength emission. EUV darkening and quasi-periodic intensity variations are found to be strongly correlated to coronal rain showers. Progressive cooling of coronal rain is observed, leading to a height dependence of the emission. A fast-slow two-step catastrophic cooling progression is found, which may reflect the transition to optically thick plasma states. The intermittent and clumpy appearance of coronal rain at coronal heights becomes more continuous and persistent at chromospheric heights just before impact, mainly due to a funnel effect from the observed expansion of the magnetic field. Strong density inhomogeneities on spatial scales of 0.2"-0.5" are found, in which TR to chromospheric temperature transition occurs at the lowest detectable scales. The shape of the distribution of coronal rain widths is found to be independent of temperature with peaks close to the resolution limit of each telescope, ranging from 0.2" to 0.8". However we find a sharp increase of clump numbers at the coolest wavelengths and especially at higher resolution, suggesting that the bulk of the rain distribution remains undetected. Rain clumps appear organised in strands in both chromospheric and TR temperatures, suggesting an important role of thermal instability in the shaping of fundamental loop substructure. We further find structure reminiscent of the MHD thermal mode. Rain core densities are estimated to vary between 2x10^{10} cm^{-3} and 2.5x10^{11} cm^{-3} leading to significant downward mass fluxes per loop of 1-5x10^{9} g s^{-1}, suggesting a major role in the chromosphere-corona mass cycle.Comment: Abstract is only short version. See paper for full. Countless pages, figures (and movies, but not included here). Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Quantitative Measures of the EEG and their Implications as a Diagnostic Adjunct for Depression

Recent EEG studies utilizing alpha band power density asymmetry to investigate differences between groups of pathological and normal individuals suggest that asymmetry may serve as a good discriminator between these two groups. Similar to previous studies, the present research attempted to investigate differences between depressed and normals using the alpha spectrum. Unlike previous studies, this research investigated differences between groups through examination within the alpha band rather than using the entire alpha band, while using very strict experimental controls. This analysis was conducted hoping to find differences between the two groups embedded inside the alpha spectrum that would otherwise be missed in an effort to increase the level of discrimination from that obtained with measures that examine the alpha band in its entirety or with presently existing physiological assessment measures. Previous results, using overall alpha band measures, were not replicated in this study. The results from this research revealed that the finer, within alpha, examination is capable of discriminating individuals in th~ depressed group better than existing measures but lacks the specificity necessary to serve as a diagnostic measure.Psycholog

First High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations of an Erupting Prominence Within a Coronal Mass Ejection by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)

Spectroscopic observations of prominence eruptions associated with coronal mass ejections (CMEs), although relatively rare, can provide valuable plasma and 3D geometry diagnostics. We report the first observations by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission of a spectacular fast CME/prominence eruption associated with an equivalent X1.6 flare on 2014 May 9. The maximum plane-of-sky and Doppler velocities of the eruption are 1200 and 460 km/s, respectively. There are two eruption components separated by ~200 km/s in Doppler velocity: a primary, bright component and a secondary, faint component, suggesting a hollow, rather than solid, cone-shaped distribution of material. The eruption involves a left-handed helical structure undergoing counter-clockwise (viewed top-down) unwinding motion. There is a temporal evolution from upward eruption to downward fallback with less-than-free-fall speeds and decreasing nonthermal line widths. We find a wide range of Mg II k/h line intensity ratios (less than ~2 expected for optically-thin thermal emission): the lowest ever-reported median value of 1.17 found in the fallback material and a comparably high value of 1.63 in nearby coronal rain and intermediate values of 1.53 and 1.41 in the two eruption components. The fallback material exhibits a strong ($> 5 \sigma$) linear correlation between the k/h ratio and the Doppler velocity as well as the line intensity. We demonstrate that Doppler dimming of scattered chromospheric emission by the erupted material can potentially explain such characteristics.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted by ApJ (Feb 15, 2015

Self-consistent 3D radiative MHD simulations of coronal rain formation and evolution

Context. Coronal rain consists of cool and dense plasma condensations formed in coronal loops as a result of thermal instability. Aims. Previous numerical simulations of thermal instability and coronal rain formation have relied on the practice of artificially adding a coronal heating term to the energy equation. To reproduce large-scale characteristics of the corona, the use of more realistic coronal heating prescription is necessary. Methods. We analysed coronal rain formation and evolution in a three-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulation spanning from convection zone to corona which is self-consistently heated by magnetic field braiding as a result of convective motions. Results. We investigate the spatial and temporal evolution of energy dissipation along coronal loops which become thermally unstable. Ohmic dissipation in the model leads to the heating events capable of inducing sufficient chromospheric evaporation into the loop to trigger thermal instability and condensation formation. The cooling of the thermally unstable plasma occurs on timescales that are comparable to the duration of the individual impulsive heating events. The impulsive heating has sufficient duration to trigger thermal instability in the loop but does not last long enough to lead to coronal rain limit cycles. We show that condensations can either survive and fall into the chromosphere or be destroyed by strong bursts of Joule heating associated with a magnetic reconnection events. In addition, we find that condensations can also form along open magnetic field lines. Conclusions. We modelled, for the first time, coronal rain formation in a self-consistent 3D radiative magnetohydrodynamic simulation, in which the heating occurs mainly through the braiding and subsequent Ohmic dissipation of the magnetic field. The heating is stratified enough and lasts for long enough along specific field lines to produce the necessary chromospheric evaporation that triggers thermal instability in the corona

Environmental performance of farmer-level corn production systems in the Philippines

Four corn production systems at farmer-level of operation were evaluated. Environmental performance such as energy use, energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emission (GHG) and carbon efficiency were determined. Data were collected from 60 corn producing farmers using survey questionnaires and face to face interview. The input energy to produce an output energy of 69,714.06 and 73,029.60 MJ/ha for sun drying and mechanical drying, respectively, were 22,346.27, 31, 469.75, 22, 399.05 and 31,522.53 MJ/ha for systems 1 (manual harvesting and sun drying), 2 (manual harvesting and mechanical drying), 3 (mechanical harvesting and sun drying) and 4 (mechanical harvesting and mechanical drying), respectively.  The highest energy input was observed for system 4 followed by system 2 because of the additional energy input of kerosene fuel during mechanical drying.  Non-renewable and indirect forms of energy had contributed most to the total input energy in all corn production systems.  In all systems evaluated, chemical fertilizer had the highest share in energy input followed by diesel fuel. Lower GHG emissions were measured for system 1 and 3 at 1276.5 and 1309.60 kg CO2eq per ha, respectively than system 2 and 4 at 2101.9 and 2135.0 kg CO2eq per ha due to additional non-renewable energy input like kerosene during mechanical drying.  A kilogram of dried corn grain emitted 0.27 to 28 kg CO2eq for system 1 and 3 and increased further to 0.42 to 0.43 kg CO2eq for systems 2 and 4.  The net carbon sequestered for systems 1, 2, 3 and 4 was 1785.98, 1662.36, 1776.94 and 1653.33 kg C/ha, respectively. The highest carbon efficiency ratio was observed for system 1 at 6.13 followed by system 3 at 5.98 due to non-utilization of fossil fuel during drying.  Generally, all corn production systems evaluated did not emit carbon beyond the carbon produced and sequestered in corn itself as indicated by their positive net carbon ratio

On-disk coronal rain

Small and elongated, cool and dense blob-like structures are being reported with high resolution telescopes in physically different regions throughout the solar atmosphere. Their detection and the understanding of their formation, morphology and thermodynamical characteristics can provide important information on their hosting environment, especially concerning the magnetic field, whose understanding constitutes a major problem in solar physics. An example of such blobs is coronal rain, a phenomenon of thermal non- equilibrium observed in active region loops, which consists of cool and dense chromospheric blobs falling along loop-like paths from coronal heights. So far, only off-limb coronal rain has been observed and few reports on the phenomenon exist. In the present work, several datasets of on-disk H{\alpha} observations with the CRisp Imaging SpectroPolarimeter (CRISP) at the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) are analyzed. A special family of on-disk blobs is selected for each dataset and a statistical analysis is carried out on their dynamics, morphology and temperatures. All characteristics present distributions which are very similar to reported coronal rain statistics. We discuss possible interpretations considering other similar blob-like structures reported so far and show that a coronal rain interpretation is the most likely one. Their chromospheric nature and the projection effects (which eliminate all direct possibility of height estimation) on one side, and their small sizes, fast dynamics, and especially, their faint character (offering low contrast with the background intensity) on the other side, are found as the main causes for the absence until now of the detection of this on-disk coronal rain counterpart.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for Solar Physic

Irrigation efficiency simulation for common bean during dry season, in the municipality of Goiânia, Goiás.

Goiás State is considered the major common beans producer in the autumn/winter season. In this season, the common beans production is fully irrigated by Center Pivot. However, due to the water scarcity water, the water dispute among human consumption, power generation, industries and agriculture is increasing. Then, it is important to optimize their consumption in the agriculture. Crop models are excellent tools for that and were used in this study to simulate the irrigation efficiency during the winter season for two cultivars, Pérola and BRS Radiante. Five planting dates from April to August and five irrigation amounts (10, 15, 20, 25 and 30 mm) applied when the soil water content reaches 50% of field capacity (CC) were considered. For cultivar Pérola, longer cycle, the best irrigation efficiency was obtained at the end of planting season, in the month of August, for the fixed irrigation amounts of 20 and 25 mm respectively. In the other hand, for the short cycle cultivar, BRS Radiante, the best irrigation efficiency was obtained only at the begin of planting date season, April

The kinase polypharmacology landscape of clinical PARP inhibitors.

Polypharmacology plays an important role in defining response and adverse effects of drugs. For some mechanisms, experimentally mapping polypharmacology is commonplace, although this is typically done within the same protein class. Four PARP inhibitors have been approved by the FDA as cancer therapeutics, yet a precise mechanistic rationale to guide clinicians on which to choose for a particular patient is lacking. The four drugs have largely similar PARP family inhibition profiles, but several differences at the molecular and clinical level have been reported that remain poorly understood. Here, we report the first comprehensive characterization of the off-target kinase landscape of four FDA-approved PARP drugs. We demonstrate that all four PARP inhibitors have a unique polypharmacological profile across the kinome. Niraparib and rucaparib inhibit DYRK1s, CDK16 and PIM3 at clinically achievable, submicromolar concentrations. These kinases represent the most potently inhibited off-targets of PARP inhibitors identified to date and should be investigated further to clarify their potential implications for efficacy and safety in the clinic. Moreover, broad kinome profiling is recommended for the development of PARP inhibitors as PARP-kinase polypharmacology could potentially be exploited to modulate efficacy and side-effect profiles

Mapping the potential yield of upland rice in Rondonia State.

The rice farming has a high socioeconomical importance for Brazilian population, and represents since the 1970?s, it is the main crop for agricultural borders opening. Aiming characterize the potential yield and to define the regions most favorable for growth upland rice, it was simulated the potential grain yield (PGY), potential evapotranspiration (ETP) and maximum transpiration (TRC) by anoriented process crop model. The simulations were based on cultivar BRSPrimavera, considering eight planting dates (Nov 1st, 10th, 20th, Dec 1st, 10th, 20th, 30th and Jan 9th), for 33 years of data weather (1980-2013), in seven locations at Rondônia state: Ariquemes, Cacoal, Guajara-Mirim, Ji-Paraná, Machadinho do Oeste, Porto Velho and Vilhena. The upland rice crop cycle ranged from 95 days from emergence (DAE) in Ariquemes to 99 DAE in Machadinho do Oeste. The PGY, ETP and TRC data set were spatialized for the region. Rondônia showed an average and standard deviation potential yield of 4393 and 477 kg ha-1. The average ETP was 584,8 mm/cycle, with variance of 1259.9 mm/cycle. Maximum and minimum values of ETP was found for Guajara-Mirim and Vilhena, planting dates of Nov 1st and Jan 9th, respectively. The spatialization of results demonstrated a trend of PGY reduction as the sowing date is delayed. The highest potential yield were found at Vilhena (4952.7 kg/ha) and Ariquemes (4461.4 kg/ha)