Injection of liquids into the soil with a high-pressure jet

With regard to injection fertilizing, the more general topic of liquid injection into the soil with the aid of a high-pressure jet is of great importance.  Injection fertilizing means that liquid fertilizer is injected into the soil near the plant roots.  This provides many agronomical advantages.  However, currently available mechanical injection fertilizing techniques in the field use have some disadvantages, such as very heavy wear on individual components.  Therefore, research on the direct, contactless injection of liquids into the soil with the aid of a high-pressure jet is being carried out at the Institute of Agricultural Machinery and Fluid Power of the Technische Universitaet of Braunschweig.  The potential and the possibilities of injection by a high-pressure jet are being examined in trials on a stationary test rig.  In these trials, different soils were used under different conditions (soil moisture, and soil density), and the possibilities of injecting pure water in the form of a high-pressure water jet were studied.  It was shown that the variation of different parameters of the high-pressure jet, such as water pressure, volume flow, etc., allow different injection depths in the soil to be realized.  Especially soil moisture has a very great influence on injection.  In dry soils, for example, the binding forces of the soil bodies (solid body bridges, van-der-Waals forces, etc.) are very strong so that only small injection depths can be reached.  The higher the degree of soil moisture is, the larger the injection depth becomes.  Depending on the soil type, average soil moisture, water pressure of 40 MPa, and speed of the nozzle over the ground of 2 m/s provide injection depths of 70 – 90 mm.  In addition to application in the area of injection fertilizing, the considered injection of liquids into the soil also shows great potential in plant protection, irrigation, as well as the injection of decontamination agents into contaminated soils.Keywords: injection of liquids, soil, fertilisation, high pressure, contactless, frictionles

Structural, magnetic and electrical properties of single crystalline La_(1-x)Sr_xMnO_3 for 0.4 < x < 0.85

We report on structural, magnetic and electrical properties of Sr-doped LaMnO_3 single crystals for doping levels 0.4 < x < 0.85. The complex structural and magnetic phase diagram can only be explained assuming significant contributions from the orbital degrees of freedom. Close to x = 0.6 a ferromagnetic metal is followed by an antiferromagnetic metallic phase below 200 K. This antiferromagnetic metallic phase exists in a monoclinic crystallographic structure. Following theoretical predictions this metallic antiferromagnet is expected to reveal an (x^2-y^2)-type orbital order. For higher Sr concentrations an antiferromagnetic insulator is established below room temperature.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure

A Search for Technosignatures Around 11,680 Stars with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.15-1.73 GHz

We conducted a search for narrowband radio signals over four observing sessions in 2020-2023 with the L-band receiver (1.15-1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. We pointed the telescope in the directions of 62 TESS Objects of Interest, capturing radio emissions from a total of ~11,680 stars and planetary systems in the ~9 arcminute beam of the telescope. All detections were either automatically rejected or visually inspected and confirmed to be of anthropogenic nature. In this work, we also quantified the end-to-end efficiency of radio SETI pipelines with a signal injection and recovery analysis. The UCLA SETI pipeline recovers 94.0% of the injected signals over the usable frequency range of the receiver and 98.7% of the injections when regions of dense RFI are excluded. In another pipeline that uses incoherent sums of 51 consecutive spectra, the recovery rate is ~15 times smaller at ~6%. The pipeline efficiency affects calculations of transmitter prevalence and SETI search volume. Accordingly, we developed an improved Drake Figure of Merit and a formalism to place upper limits on transmitter prevalence that take the pipeline efficiency and transmitter duty cycle into account. Based on our observations, we can state at the 95% confidence level that fewer than 6.6% of stars within 100 pc host a transmitter that is detectable in our search (EIRP > 1e13 W). For stars within 20,000 ly, the fraction of stars with detectable transmitters (EIRP > 5e16 W) is at most 3e-4. Finally, we showed that the UCLA SETI pipeline natively detects the signals detected with AI techniques by Ma et al. (2023).Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, submitted to AJ, revise

Systematic Review of Potential Health Risks Posed by Pharmaceutical, Occupational and Consumer Exposures to Metallic and Nanoscale Aluminum, Aluminum Oxides, Aluminum Hydroxide and Its Soluble Salts

Aluminum (Al) is a ubiquitous substance encountered both naturally (as the third most abundant element) and intentionally (used in water, foods, pharmaceuticals, and vaccines); it is also present in ambient and occupational airborne particulates. Existing data underscore the importance of Al physical and chemical forms in relation to its uptake, accumulation, and systemic bioavailability. The present review represents a systematic examination of the peer-reviewed literature on the adverse health effects of Al materials published since a previous critical evaluation compiled by Krewski et al. (2007). Challenges encountered in carrying out the present review reflected the experimental use of different physical and chemical Al forms, different routes of administration, and different target organs in relation to the magnitude, frequency, and duration of exposure. Wide variations in diet can result in Al intakes that are often higher than the World Health Organization provisional tolerable weekly intake (PTWI), which is based on studies with Al citrate. Comparing daily dietary Al exposures on the basis of “total Al”assumes that gastrointestinal bioavailability for all dietary Al forms is equivalent to that for Al citrate, an approach that requires validation. Current occupational exposure limits (OELs) for identical Al substances vary as much as 15-fold. The toxicity of different Al forms depends in large measure on their physical behavior and relative solubility in water. The toxicity of soluble Al forms depends upon the delivered dose of Al+ 3 to target tissues. Trivalent Al reacts with water to produce bidentate superoxide coordination spheres [Al(O2)(H2O4)+ 2 and Al(H2O)6 + 3] that after complexation with O2•−, generate Al superoxides [Al(O2•)](H2O5)]+ 2. Semireduced AlO2• radicals deplete mitochondrial Fe and promote generation of H2O2, O2 • − and OH•. Thus, it is the Al+ 3-induced formation of oxygen radicals that accounts for the oxidative damage that leads to intrinsic apoptosis. In contrast, the toxicity of the insoluble Al oxides depends primarily on their behavior as particulates. Aluminum has been held responsible for human morbidity and mortality, but there is no consistent and convincing evidence to associate the Al found in food and drinking water at the doses and chemical forms presently consumed by people living in North America and Western Europe with increased risk for Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). Neither is there clear evidence to show use of Al-containing underarm antiperspirants or cosmetics increases the risk of AD or breast cancer. Metallic Al, its oxides, and common Al salts have not been shown to be either genotoxic or carcinogenic. Aluminum exposures during neonatal and pediatric parenteral nutrition (PN) can impair bone mineralization and delay neurological development. Adverse effects to vaccines with Al adjuvants have occurred; however, recent controlled trials found that the immunologic response to certain vaccines with Al adjuvants was no greater, and in some cases less than, that after identical vaccination without Al adjuvants. The scientific literature on the adverse health effects of Al is extensive. Health risk assessments for Al must take into account individual co-factors (e.g., age, renal function, diet, gastric pH). Conclusions from the current review point to the need for refinement of the PTWI, reduction of Al contamination in PN solutions, justification for routine addition of Al to vaccines, and harmonization of OELs for Al substances

Roentgendiffraktometrische Untersuchungen der Ladungsordnungen in Selten-Erd-dotiertem La_2_-_xSr_xCuO_4 und in La_1_-_xSr_xMnO_3

X-ray diffraction experiments have been performed to study charge ordering phenomena in manganites and cuprates. Photon energies of 100 keV and 120 keV have been utilized. The high penetration depths of the hard X-rays allows for probing the bulk of the studied single crystals. In a ferromagnetic phase the manganites of the doping series La_1_-_xSr_xMnO_3 show a strongly reduced resistivity. This connection between resistivity and magnetism is well known as the collosal magnetoresistive effect (CMR) and is qualitatively explained with the double exchange model from C. Zener. At the borderline between the metallic and isolating phase orbital ordering and most likely charge ordering occurs. These structural and electrical properties are not considered in the double exchange model. Four samples of the doping series La_1_-_xSr_xMnO_3 have been studied with Sr-doping levels of x = 0.11, x = 0.125, x = 0.14, and x = 0.15. They all show a low temperature (&lt;150 K) structural phase with a fourfold superstructure compared to the cubic perovskite unit cell. The appearance of this phase is connected to a complete suppression of the co-operative Jahn-Teller distortions which are usually observed in slightly doped manganites. In the low temperature structural phase a new kind of orbital ordering occurs. This ordering is restricted to the small doping range around x = 1/8 in the structural phase diagram. Charge ordering might be a concomitant phenomenon, but further work is needed to elucidate this point. In Nd doped La_2_-_xSr_xCuO_4 the stripe ordering of the holes in the CuO_2 planes has been studied in the low temperature tetragonal (LTT) phase. These stripes are antiphase domain walls for the antiferromagnetic ordering of the Cu spins. This work presents detailed information about the stripe ordering in La_1_._6_-_xNd_0_._4Sr_xCuO_4. Samples with Sr doping levels of x = 0.10, x = 0.12, and x = 0.15 show stripe ordering which is always restricted to the LTT phase. The correlation length of the stripe ordering has been successfully measured in both directions of the CuO_2 plane. (orig.)142 refs.Available from TIB Hannover: RR 8919(2000-011) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Impact of disease duration and β-cell reserve on the efficacy of switching to iGlarLixi in adults with type 2 diabetes on glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist therapy: Exploratory analyses from the LixiLan-G trial

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of iGlarLixi by C-peptide levels and duration of diabetes in an exploratory analysis of the LixiLan-G study. Methods: LixiLan-G was a 26-week, randomized, open-label study in adults with type diabetes (T2D) inadequately controlled while on a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA), with metformin, with or without pioglitazone and/or a sodium-glucose co-transporter-2 inhibitor. This analysis investigated the efficacy of switching to iGlarLixi by fasting baseline quartile C-peptide levels and baseline quartile of duration of T2D compared with continued GLP-1 RA use. Results: Change in glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) from baseline to week 26 was significantly greater with iGlarLixi compared with continued GLP-1 RAs across all fasting C-peptide quartiles (−1.00% to −1.06% vs. –0.23% to −0.54% range, respectively) and irrespective of all T2D duration quartiles (−0.94% to −1.07% vs. –0.25% to −0.50% range). A significantly greater proportion of participants in the iGlarLixi arm achieved an HbA1c of &lt;7% across all C-peptide quartiles (51%-73% range) than in the GLP-1 RA arm (19%-32% range). The greatest reductions in HbA1c in participants receiving iGlarLixi were observed in those with the shortest duration of disease, although consistently greater than reductions observed with continued GLP-1 RAs. Reductions in HbA1c were comparable across C-peptide quartiles within the iGlarLixi arm. Conclusions: The results of this study suggest that iGlarLixi is an effective treatment option, irrespective of C-peptide levels or duration of diabetes, in adults with insufficiently controlled T2D receiving GLP-1 RAs

Benefits of LixiLan, a Titratable Fixed-Ratio Combination of Insulin Glargine Plus Lixisenatide, Versus Insulin Glargine and Lixisenatide Monocomponents in Type 2 Diabetes Inadequately Controlled on Oral Agents: The LixiLan-O Randomized Trial.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate efficacy and safety of LixiLan (iGlarLixi), a novel titratable fixed-ratio combination of insulin glargine (iGlar) and lixisenatide (Lixi), compared with both components, iGlar and Lixi, given separately in type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled on metformin with or without a second oral glucose-lowering drug. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: After a 4-week run-in to optimize metformin and stop other oral antidiabetic drugs, participants (N = 1,170, mean diabetes duration ∼8.8 years, BMI ∼31.7 kg/m(2)) were randomly assigned to open-label once-daily iGlarLixi or iGlar, both titrated to fasting plasma glucose <100 mg/dL (<5.6 mmol/mol) up to a maximum insulin dose of 60 units/day, or to once-daily Lixi (20 μg/day) while continuing with metformin. The primary outcome was HbA1c change at 30 weeks. RESULTS: Greater reductions in HbA1c from baseline (8.1% [65 mmol/mol]) were achieved with iGlarLixi compared with iGlar and Lixi (-1.6%, -1.3%, -0.9%, respectively), reaching mean final HbA1c levels of 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) for iGlarLixi versus 6.8% (51 mmol/mol) and 7.3% (56 mmol/mol) for iGlar and Lixi, respectively (both P < 0.0001). More subjects reached target HbA1c <7% with iGlarLixi (74%) versus iGlar (59%) or Lixi (33%) (P < 0.0001 for all). Mean body weight decreased with iGlarLixi (-0.3 kg) and Lixi (-2.3 kg) and increased with iGlar (+1.1 kg, difference 1.4 kg, P < 0.0001). Documented symptomatic hypoglycemia (≤70 mg/dL) was similar with iGlarLixi and iGlar (1.4 and 1.2 events/patient-year) and lower with Lixi (0.3 events/patient-year). iGlarLixi improved postprandial glycemic control versus iGlar and demonstrated considerably fewer nausea (9.6%) and vomiting (3.2%) events than Lixi (24% and 6.4%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: iGlarLixi complemented iGlar and Lixi effects to achieve meaningful HbA1c reductions, close to near normoglycemia without increases in either hypoglycemia or weight, compared with iGlar, and had low gastrointestinal adverse effects compared with Lixi