Channel Electron Multiplier and Channelplate Efficiencies for Detecting Positive Ions

Absolute detection efficiencies for singly and multiply charged positive ions have been measured for a channelplate and for two different channel electron multipliers (CEM). The efficiencies were measured for impact energies between approximately 0.25 and 25 keV and for ion masses ranging from 14 to 132. The maximum efficiencies were found to be the same for all ions investigated and were approximately 58% for a channelplate and 89% for the CEMs. For a channelplate it is shown that the detection efficiencies for heavier ions scale to a single curve if plotted versus the impact energy divided by the square root of the ion mass. Data taken from the literature imply that lighter ions scale differently. Polynomial fitting parameters to the present efficiency curves are provided

Benefits and risks of barefoot harness racing in Standardbred trotters

There is a lack of research on the benefits and risks of shoeing conditions in harness racing. Thus, our objectives were to: (a) investigate whether velocity times (VT; s/km) are affected by racing unshod (N = 76,932 records on 5,247 horses); (b) determine the potential risks of galloping, being penalized, and disqualification when competing unshod (N = 111,755 records on 6,423 horses); and (c) identify additional environmental factors that affect VT and risks. VT was found to be significantly influenced by shoeing condition (e.g., unshod, shod front, shod hind, or fully shod), but also by sex, age, season, track, track condition, start method, start position, distance, and driver-horse performance level (p < 2e-16). The risks of galloping and disqualification were significantly influenced by shoeing condition, sex, age, season, track, start method, start position, or driver-horse performance level (p =.05). Horses racing unshod had 0.7 s/km lower VT than fully shod horses and showed better performance when racing on neutral tracks during the late summer than horses with other shoeing conditions during the same period. However, racing unshod increased the relative risks of galloping and disqualification by 15%-35% in all seasons. Horses shod only on the hind hooves showed better performance than fully shod horses, without higher risks associated with competing unshod

Relative Riemann-Zariski spaces

In this paper we study relative Riemann-Zariski spaces attached to a morphism of schemes and generalizing the classical Riemann-Zariski space of a field. We prove that similarly to the classical RZ spaces, the relative ones can be described either as projective limits of schemes in the category of locally ringed spaces or as certain spaces of valuations. We apply these spaces to prove the following two new results: a strong version of stable modification theorem for relative curves; a decomposition theorem which asserts that any separated morphism between quasi-compact and quasi-separated schemes factors as a composition of an affine morphism and a proper morphism. (In particular, we obtain a new proof of Nagata's compactification theorem.)Comment: 30 pages, the final version, to appear in Israel J. of Mat

Phenotypic plasticity and population differentiation in response to salinity in the invasive cordgrass Spartina densiflora

Salinity and tidal inundation induce physiological stress in vascular plant species and influence their distribution and productivity in estuarine wetlands. Climate change-induced sea level rise may magnify these abiotic stressors and the physiological stresses they can cause. Understanding the potential of invasive plants to respond to predicted salinity increases will elucidate their potential niche breadth. To examine potential phenotypic plasticity and functional trait responses to salinity stress in the invasive cordgrass Spartina densiflora, we collected rhizomes from four invasive populations occurring from California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia on the Pacific Coast of North America. In a glasshouse common garden experiment, we measured plant traits associated with growth and allocation, photosynthesis, leaf pigments, and leaf chemistry and calculated plasticity indices across imposed salinity treatments. Fifteen of 21 leaf chemistry, pigment, morphological and physiological traits expressed plastic responses to salinity. When averaged across all measured traits, degree of plasticity did not vary among sampled populations. However, differences in plasticity among populations in response to salinity were observed for 9 of 21 measured plant traits. Leaf chemistry and adaxial leaf rolling trait responses demonstrated the highest degree of plasticity, while growth and allocation measures were less plastic. Phenotypic plasticity of leaf functional traits to salinity indicates the potential of S. densiflora to maintain invasive growth in response to rising estuarine salinity with climate change

Trait responses of invasive aquatic macrophyte congeners: colonizing diploid outperforms polyploid

Understanding traits underlying colonization and niche breadth of invasive plants is key to developing sustainable management solutions to curtail invasions at the establishment phase, when efforts are often most effective. The aim of this study was to evaluate how two invasive congeners differing in ploidy respond to high and low resource availability following establishment from asexual fragments. Because polyploids are expected to have wider niche breadths than diploid ancestors, we predicted that a decaploid species would have superior ability to maximize resource uptake and use, and outperform a diploid congener when colonizing environments with contrasting light and nutrient availability. A mesocosm experiment was designed to test the main and interactive effects of ploidy (diploid and decaploid) and soil nutrient availability (low and high) nested within light environments (shade and sun) of two invasive aquatic plant congeners. Counter to our predictions, the diploid congener outperformed the decaploid in the early stage of growth. Although growth was similar and low in the cytotypes at low nutrient availability, the diploid species had much higher growth rate and biomass accumulation than the polyploid with nutrient enrichment, irrespective of light environment. Our results also revealed extreme differences in time to anthesis between the cytotypes. The rapid growth and earlier flowering of the diploid congener relative to the decaploid congener represent alternate strategies for establishment and success

The Research Unit VolImpact: Revisiting the volcanic impact on atmosphere and climate – preparations for the next big volcanic eruption

This paper provides an overview of the scientific background and the research objectives of the Research Unit “VolImpact” (Revisiting the volcanic impact on atmosphere and climate – preparations for the next big volcanic eruption, FOR 2820). VolImpact was recently funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) and started in spring 2019. The main goal of the research unit is to improve our understanding of how the climate system responds to volcanic eruptions. Such an ambitious program is well beyond the capabilities of a single research group, as it requires expertise from complementary disciplines including aerosol microphysical modelling, cloud physics, climate modelling, global observations of trace gas species, clouds and stratospheric aerosols. The research goals will be achieved by building on important recent advances in modelling and measurement capabilities. Examples of the advances in the observations include the now daily near-global observations of multi-spectral aerosol extinction from the limb-scatter instruments OSIRIS, SCIAMACHY and OMPS-LP. In addition, the recently launched SAGE III/ISS and upcoming satellite missions EarthCARE and ALTIUS will provide high resolution observations of aerosols and clouds. Recent improvements in modeling capabilities within the framework of the ICON model family now enable simulations at spatial resolutions fine enough to investigate details of the evolution and dynamics of the volcanic eruptive plume using the large-eddy resolving version, up to volcanic impacts on larger-scale circulation systems in the general circulation model version. When combined with state-of-the-art aerosol and cloud microphysical models, these approaches offer the opportunity to link eruptions directly to their climate forcing. These advances will be exploited in VolImpact to study the effects of volcanic eruptions consistently over the full range of spatial and temporal scales involved, addressing the initial development of explosive eruption plumes (project VolPlume), the variation of stratospheric aerosol particle size and radiative forcing caused by volcanic eruptions (VolARC), the response of clouds (VolCloud), the effects of volcanic eruptions on atmospheric dynamics (VolDyn), as well as their climate impact (VolClim)

LPP3 mediates self-generation of chemotactic LPA gradients by melanoma cells

Melanoma cells steer out of tumours using self-generated lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) gradients. The cells break down LPA, which is present at high levels around the tumours, creating a dynamic gradient that is low in the tumour and high outside. They then also migrate up this gradient, creating a complex and evolving outward chemotactic stimulus. Here we introduce a new assay for self-generated chemotaxis, and show that raising LPA levels causes a delay in migration rather than loss of chemotactic efficiency. Knockdown of the lipid phosphatase LPP3 - but not its homologues LPP1 or LPP2 - diminishes the cell's ability to break down LPA. This is specific for chemotactically active LPAs, such as the 18:1 and 20:4 species. Inhibition of autotaxin-mediated LPA production does not diminish outward chemotaxis, but loss of LPP3-mediated LPA breakdown blocks it. Similarly, in both 2D and 3D invasion assays, knockdown of LPP3 diminishes melanoma cells' ability to invade. Our results demonstrate that LPP3 is the key enzyme in melanoma cells' breakdown of LPA, and confirm the importance of attractant breakdown in LPA-mediated cell steering

Embedding Four-directional Paths on Convex Point Sets

A directed path whose edges are assigned labels "up", "down", "right", or "left" is called \emph{four-directional}, and \emph{three-directional} if at most three out of the four labels are used. A \emph{direction-consistent embedding} of an \mbox{$n$-vertex} four-directional path $P$ on a set $S$ of $n$ points in the plane is a straight-line drawing of $P$ where each vertex of $P$ is mapped to a distinct point of $S$ and every edge points to the direction specified by its label. We study planar direction-consistent embeddings of three- and four-directional paths and provide a complete picture of the problem for convex point sets.Comment: 11 pages, full conference version including all proof