High redshift radio galaxies and divergence from the CMB dipole

Previous studies have found our velocity in the rest frame of radio galaxies at high redshift to be substantially larger than that inferred from the CMB temperature dipole anisotropy. We construct a full sky catalogue NVSUMSS, by merging the NVSS and SUMSS catalogues and removing local sources by various means including cross-correlating with the 2MRS catalogue. We take into account both aberration and Doppler boost to deduce our velocity from the hemispherical number count asymmetry, as well as via a 3-dimensional linear estimator. Both the magnitude and direction depend on cuts made to the catalogue, e.g. on the lowest source flux, however these effects are small. With the hemispheric number count asymmetry method we obtain a velocity of 1729 $\pm$ 187 km/s i.e. about 4 times larger than that obtained from the CMB dipole, but close in direction, towards RA=149 $\pm$ 2 degree, DEC = -17 $\pm$ 12 degree. With the 3-dimensional estimator, the derived velocity is 1355 $\pm$ 174 km/s towards RA=141 $\pm$ 11 degree, DEC=-9 $\pm$ 10 degree. We assess the statistical significance of these results by constructing catalogues of random distributions and show that they are at best significant at the $2.81 \sigma$ (99.95% confidence) level.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, 10 tables; matches published versio

A Unique Wavelet-based Multicarrier System with and without MIMO over Multipath Channels with AWGN

yesRecent studies suggest that multicarrier systems using wavelets outperform conventional OFDM systems using the FFT, in that they have well-contained side lobes, improved spectral efficiency and BER performance, and they do not require a cyclic prefix. Here we study the wavelet packet and discrete wavelet transforms, comparing the BER performance of wavelet transform-based multicarrier systems and Fourier based OFDM systems, for multipath Rayleigh channels with AWGN. In the proposed system zero-forcing channel estimation in the frequency domain has been used. Results confirm that discrete wavelet-based systems using Daubechies wavelets outperform both wavelet packet transform- based systems and FFT-OFDM systems in terms of BER. Finally, Alamouti coding and maximal ratio combining schemes were employed in MIMO environments, where results show that the effects of multipath fading were greatly reduced by the antenna diversity

Functional photoacoustic microscopy of pH

pH is a tightly regulated indicator of metabolic activity. In mammalian systems, imbalance of pH regulation may result from or result in serious illness. Even though the regulation system of pH is very robust, tissue pH can be altered in many diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis and diabetes mellitus. Traditional high-resolution optical imaging techniques, such as confocal microscopy, routinely image pH in cells and tissues using pH sensitive fluorescent dyes, which change their fluorescence properties with the surrounding pH. Since strong optical scattering in biological tissue blurs images at greater depths, high-resolution pH imaging is limited to penetration depths of 1mm. Here, we report photoacoustic microscopy (PAM) of commercially available pH-sensitive fluorescent dye in tissue phantoms. Using both opticalresolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM), and acoustic resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM), we explored the possibility of recovering the pH values in tissue phantoms. In this paper, we demonstrate that PAM was capable of recovering pH values up to a depth of 2 mm, greater than possible with other forms of optical microscopy

In vitro regeneration, detection of somaclonal variation and screening for mosaic virus in sugarcane (Saccharum spp.) somaclones

Three sugarcane accessions susceptible to sugarcane mosaic virus; HSF-240, S-2000-US-359, and S-2003-US-704 were evaluated for callogenesis and regeneration ability. For callogenesis, five different concentrations of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was used. The best callogenesis was obtained when Murashige and Skoog (MS) was portified with 3 mg/L 2,4-D and the highest regeneration was obtained on media containing MS + kinetin 0.5 + 0.5 mg/L naphthalene acetic acid (NAA). After succesful regeneration and rooting on half strength MS medium, with 1.5 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid supplementation, plantlets were shifted to green house. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was performed to detect the presence of sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) in the regenerated plantlets and simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers were used to evaluate the genetic variation at DNA level between the parent’s plants and regenerated somaclones of the accession HSF-240. A total of 26 parent plants and 64 somaclones, among the regenerated plants were selected for the screening of virus through double antibody sandwich (DAS-ELISA) test. Four (4) parent plants out of the 26, showed negative reaction to the virus test. Ten (10) somaclones showed positive reaction to the disease, 9 somaclones showed mild reaction to virus and 45 somaclones showed negative reaction. For the detection of somaclonal variation, 38 primers pair were used and 15 simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer pairs were found to be polymorphic with 51.61% polymorphism. The study demonstrates that SSR genetic markers are the best tool for the investigation of genetic variation in sugarcane.Keywords: Callogenesis, somaclones, simple sequence repeats (SSR), genetic marker

Towards prevention of sportsmen burnout : Formal analysis of sub-optimal tournament scheduling

Funding Statement: The authors are grateful to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University, Saudi Arabia for funding this work through the Vice Deanship of Scientific Research Chairs: Chair of Pervasive and Mobile Computing.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Outdoor Microplastic Analysis Using Inlet Filters from an NOx Regulatory Air Quality Monitoring Device

Atmospheric microplastics (MPs) are a ubiquitous environmental contaminant of emerging concern. Sampling methods provide information relating to surface area concentration and MP characteristics, without direct comparison with routinely measured standard air quality parameters. This study analysed 6 active air samples generated by a local authority as part of their routine air quality monitoring activities. Continuous sampling totalled 10 months, within the city centre of Kingston-upon-Hull. By using μFTIR analysis, levels of total particles detected using the NOx inlet filters ranged from 5139 ± 2843 particles m−2 day−1, comprising 1029 ± 594 MPs m−2 day−1. The controls displayed a mean level of 2.00 ± 3.49 MPs. The polymers nylon (32%) and polypropylene, PP (22%) were the most abundant. Small fragments of 47.42 ± 48.57 μm (length) and 21.75 ± 13.62 μm (width) were most common. An increase in MP levels during April 2020 coincided with an increase in PM10 levels. This study used robust procedures to measure MPs in the air by exploiting existing air quality monitoring equipment. Knowing the levels, types, and characteristics of MPs can inform toxicity studies to provide more environmentally relevant exposures, which is urgent now that MPs have been reported in human lung tissu