Characterisation of Soil Organic Matter from Pensacola Bahiagrass Pastures Grazed for Four Years at Different Management Intensities

Soil fertility and agricultural system sustainability depend upon soil organic matter (SOM), particularly in the tropics, because of highly weathered soils and low fertiliser inputs. Because of the beneficial effects of SOM on chemical, physical, and biological soil properties, Greenland (1994) suggested that SOM is an indicator of agro-ecosystem sustainability. Pasture management may affect SOM by altering the production/decomposition ratio of residues (Johnson, 1995). The objective of this study was to characterise the SOM of Pensacola bahiagrass pastures grazed for four years at a range of management intensities

Optical, near-IR and sub-mm IFU Observations of the nearby dual AGN Mrk 463

We present optical and near-IR Integral Field Unit (IFU) and ALMA band 6 observations of the nearby dual Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) Mrk 463. At a distance of 210 Mpc, and a nuclear separation of $\sim$4 kpc, Mrk 463 is an excellent laboratory to study the gas dynamics, star formation processes and supermassive black hole (SMBH) accretion in a late-stage gas-rich major galaxy merger. The IFU observations reveal a complex morphology, including tidal tails, star-forming clumps, and emission line regions. The optical data, which map the full extent of the merger, show evidence for a biconical outflow and material outflowing at $>$600 km s$^{-1}$, both associated with the Mrk 463E nucleus, together with large scale gradients likely related to the ongoing galaxy merger. We further find an emission line region $\sim$11 kpc south of Mrk 463E that is consistent with being photoionized by an AGN. Compared to the current AGN luminosity, the energy budget of the cloud implies a luminosity drop in Mrk 463E by a factor 3-20 over the last 40,000 years. The ALMA observations of $^{12}$CO(2-1) and adjacent 1mm continuum reveal the presence of $\sim$10$^{9}$M$_\odot$ in molecular gas in the system. The molecular gas shows velocity gradients of $\sim$800 km/s and $\sim$400 km/s around the Mrk 463E and 463W nuclei, respectively. We conclude that in this system the infall of $\sim$100s $M_\odot$/yr of molecular gas is in rough balance with the removal of ionized gas by a biconical outflow being fueled by a relatively small, $<$0.01% of accretion onto each SMBH.Comment: Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal, 23 pages, 19 figure

Relationship between Tibial conformation, cage size and advancement achieved in TTA procedure

Previous studies have suggested that there is a theoretical discrepancy between the cage size and the resultant tibial tuberosity advancement, with the cage size consistently providing less tibial tuberosity advancement than predicted. The purpose of this study was to test and quantify this in clinical cases. The hypothesis was that the advancement of the tibial tuberosity as measured by the widening of the proximal tibia at the tibial tuberosity level after a standard TTA, will be less than the cage sized used, with no particular cage size providing a relative smaller or higher under-advancement, and that the conformation of the proximal tibia will have an influence on the amount of advancement achieved

GTP and Ca2+ Modulate the Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate-Dependent Ca2+ Release in Streptolysin O-Permeabilized Bovine Adrenal Chromaffin Cells

The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-induced Ca2+ release was studied using streptolysin O-permeabilized bovine adrenal chromaffin cells. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release was followed by Ca2+ reuptake into intracellular compartments. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release diminished after sequential applications of the same amount of IP3. Addition of 20 μM GTP fully restored the sensitivity to IP3. Guanosine 5'-O-(3-thio)triphosphate (GTPγS) could not replace GTP but prevented the action of GTP. The effects of GTP and GTPγS were reversible. Neither GTP nor GTPγS induced release of Ca2+ in the absence of IP3. The amount of Ca2+ whose release was induced by IP3 depended on the free Ca2+ concentration of the medium. At 0.3 μM free Ca2+, a half-maximal Ca2+ release was elicited with ∼0.1 μM IP3. At 1 μM free Ca2+, no Ca2+ release was observed with 0.1 μM IP3; at this Ca2+ concentration, higher concentrations of IP3 (0.25 μM) were required to evoke Ca2+ release. At 8 μM free Ca2+, even 0.25 μM IP3 failed to induce release of Ca2+ from the store. The IP3-induced Ca2+ release at constant low (0.2 μM) free Ca2+ concentrations correlated directly with the amount of stored Ca2+. Depending on the filling state of the intracellular compartment, 1 mol of IP3 induced release of between 5 and 30 mol of Ca2+

A Catalog of 71 Coronal Line Galaxies in MaNGA: [NeV] is an Effective AGN Tracer

Despite the importance of AGN in galaxy evolution, accurate AGN identification is often challenging, as common AGN diagnostics can be confused by contributions from star formation and other effects (e.g., Baldwin-Phillips-Terlevich diagrams). However, one promising avenue for identifying AGNs are ``coronal emission lines" (``CLs"), which are highly ionized species of gas with ionization potentials $\ge$ 100 eV. These CLs may serve as excellent signatures for the strong ionizing continuum of AGN. To determine if CLs are in fact strong AGN tracers, we assemble and analyze the largest catalog of optical CL galaxies using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) catalog. We detect CL emission in 71 MaNGA galaxies, out of the 10,010 unique galaxies from the final MaNGA catalog, with $\ge$ 5$\sigma$ confidence. In our sample, we measure [NeV]$\lambda$3347, $\lambda$3427, [FeVII]$\lambda$3586, $\lambda$3760, $\lambda$6086, and [FeX]$\lambda$6374 emission and crossmatch the CL galaxies with a catalog of AGNs that were confirmed with broad line, X-ray, IR, and radio observations. We find that [NeV] emission, compared to [FeVII] and [FeX] emission, is best at identifying high luminosity AGN. Moreover, we find that the CL galaxies with the least dust extinction yield the most iron CL detections. We posit that the bulk of the iron CLs are destroyed by dust grains in the galaxies with the highest [OIII] luminosities in our sample, and that AGN in the galaxies with low [OIII] luminosities are possibly too weak to be detected using traditional techniques.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures, 8 table

PHIBSS: molecular gas content and scaling relations in z~1-3 normal star forming galaxies

We present PHIBSS, the IRAM Plateau de Bure high-z blue sequence CO 3-2 survey of the molecular gas properties in normal star forming galaxies (SFGs) near the cosmic star formation peak. PHIBSS provides 52 CO detections in two redshift slices at z~1.2 and 2.2, with log(M*(M_solar))>10.4 and log(SFR(M_solar/yr))>1.5. Including a correction for the incomplete coverage of the M*-SFR plane, we infer average gas fractions of ~0.33 at z~1.2 and ~0.47 at z~2.2. Gas fractions drop with stellar mass, in agreement with cosmological simulations including strong star formation feedback. Most of the z~1-3 SFGs are rotationally supported turbulent disks. The sizes of CO and UV/optical emission are comparable. The molecular gas - star formation relation for the z=1-3 SFGs is near-linear, with a ~0.7 Gyrs gas depletion timescale; changes in depletion time are only a secondary effect. Since this timescale is much less than the Hubble time in all SFGs between z~0 and 2, fresh gas must be supplied with a fairly high duty cycle over several billion years. At given z and M*, gas fractions correlate strongly with the specific star formation rate. The variation of specific star formation rate between z~0 and 3 is mainly controlled by the fraction of baryonic mass that resides in cold gas.Comment: Submitted to the Astrophysical Journal; 14 figure

A comparison of the strong lensing properties of the Sersic and the NFW profiles

We investigate the strong lensing properties of the Sersic profile as an alternative to the NFW profile, focusing on applications to lens modelling of clusters. Given an underlying Sersic dark matter profile, we study whether an NFW profile can provide an acceptable fit to strong lensing constraints in the form of single or multiple measured Einstein radii. We conclude that although an NFW profile that fits the lensing constraints can be found in many cases, the derived parameters may be biased. In particular, we find that for n~2, which corresponds to massive clusters, the mass at r_200 of the best fit NFW is overestimated (by a factor of ~2) and the concentration is very low (c~2). The differences are important enough to warrant the inclusion of Sersic profile for future analysis of strong lensing clusters.Comment: 19 pages (single column format), 11 figures. Accepted for publication by JCA

HST Observations of the Double-Peaked Emission Lines in the Seyfert Galaxy Markarian 78: Mass Outflows from a Single AGN

Previous ground based observations of the Seyfert 2 galaxy Mrk 78 revealed a double set of emission lines, similar to those seen in several AGN from recent surveys. Are the double lines due to two AGN with different radial velocities in the same galaxy, or are they due to mass outflows from a single AGN?We present a study of the outflowing ionized gas in the resolved narrow-line region (NLR) of Mrk 78 using observations from Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and Faint Object Camera (FOC) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope(HST) as part of an ongoing project to determine the kinematics and geometries of active galactic nuclei (AGN) outflows. From the spectroscopic information, we deter- mined the fundamental geometry of the outflow via our kinematics modeling program by recreating radial velocities to fit those seen in four different STIS slit positions. We determined that the double emission lines seen in ground-based spectra are due to an asymmetric distribution of outflowing gas in the NLR. By successfully fitting a model for a single AGN to Mrk 78, we show that it is possible to explain double emission lines with radial velocity offsets seen in AGN similar to Mrk 78 without requiring dual supermassive black holes.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures (2 color), accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Biochar chemistry in a weathered tropical soil: kinetics of phosphorus sorption.

The phosphorus (P) chemistry of biochar (BC)-amended soils is poorly understood. This statement is based on the lack of published research attempting a comprehensive characterization of biochar?s influence on P sorption. Therefore, this study addressed the kinetic limitations of these processes. This was accomplished using a fast pyrolysis biochar made from a mix of waste materials applied to a highly weathered Latossolo Vermelho distrofico (Oxisol) from São Paulo, Brazil. Standard method (batch method) was used. The sorption kinetic studies indicated that P sorption in both cases, soil (S) and soil-biochar (SBC), had a relatively fast initial reaction between 0 to 5 min. This may have happened because adding biochar to the soil decreased P sorption capacity compared to the mineral soil alone. Presumably, this is a result of: (i) Inorganic phosphorus desorbed from biochar was resorbed onto the mineral soil; (ii) charcoal particles physically covered P sorption locations on soil; or (iii) the pH increased when BC was added SBC and the soil surface became more negatively charged, thus increasing anion repulsion and decreasing P sorption