Potential of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor for the monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence

Global monitoring of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is improving our knowledge about the photosynthetic functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The feasibility of SIF retrievals from spaceborne atmospheric spectrometers has been demonstrated by a number of studies in the last years. In this work, we investigate the potential of the upcoming TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite mission for SIF retrieval. TROPOMI will sample the 675–775 nm spectral window with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of 7 km × 7 km. We use an extensive set of simulated TROPOMI data in order to assess the uncertainty of single SIF retrievals and subsequent spatio-temporal composites. Our results illustrate the enormous improvement in SIF monitoring achievable with TROPOMI with respect to comparable spectrometers currently in-flight, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument. We find that TROPOMI can reduce global uncertainties in SIF mapping by more than a factor of 2 with respect to GOME-2, which comes together with an approximately 5-fold improvement in spatial sampling. Finally, we discuss the potential of TROPOMI to map other important vegetation parameters at a global scale with moderate spatial resolution and short revisit time. Those include leaf photosynthetic pigments and proxies for canopy structure, which will complement SIF retrievals for a self-contained description of vegetation condition and functioning

Typology of organizations in the aspect of corruption counteraction in the Russian Federation

Objective: to perform typologization of organizations in the aspect of counteracting corruption based on generalization of approaches to understanding organizations and highlighting their types in the system of scientific knowledge.Methods: general scientific method of dialectical cognition, as well as a number of specific scientific methods, such as legal, systemic-structural, formal-logical, etc.Results: a significant obstacle in building a system of corruption counteraction in organizations is the lack of fundamental intersectoral scientific research ranking organizations depending on the degree of influence of their activities on national security. The typologization of organizations in the aspect of corruption counteraction is of great methodological importance, since it allows establishing the basic scientific and practical approaches to ensuring anti-corruption activities, depending on the degree of corruption-related danger of such organizations. Generalization of approaches to the understanding of organizations and the identification of their varieties allowed establishing the dominance of civil law in the knowledge of organizations. At the same time, the classifications of organizations used in this branch of law do not enable to achieve the goal of this study. In this regard, within the framework of this work, the need for interdisciplinary scientific knowledge of the essential characteristics of organizations is actualized, the identification of signs for the typologization of organizations is problematized, and a working typology of organizations in the aspect of combating corruption is proposed. The further scientific cognition of corruption manifestations and mechanisms of their reproduction in the activities of various types of organizations will make it possible to reveal the reserves of anti-corruption activities and provide a systematic multilevel approach in their implementation.Scientific novelty: the paper substantiates the need for typologization of organizations in interconnection with the influence of their corruptiogenity on the security of society and the state to build a multilevel system of counteracting corruption in organizations of various types.Practical significance: the research results can be used in determining the directions for improving state policy in the field of corruption counteraction, as well as anticorruption activity of organizations

Scaling analysis of the magnetic monopole mass and condensate in the pure U(1) lattice gauge theory

We observe the power law scaling behavior of the monopole mass and condensate in the pure compact U(1) gauge theory with the Villain action. In the Coulomb phase the monopole mass scales with the exponent \nu_m=0.49(4). In the confinement phase the behavior of the monopole condensate is described with remarkable accuracy by the exponent \beta_{exp}=0.197(3). Possible implications of these phenomena for a construction of a strongly coupled continuum U(1) gauge theory are discussed.Comment: Added references [1

Processing Succinct Matrices and Vectors

We study the complexity of algorithmic problems for matrices that are represented by multi-terminal decision diagrams (MTDD). These are a variant of ordered decision diagrams, where the terminal nodes are labeled with arbitrary elements of a semiring (instead of 0 and 1). A simple example shows that the product of two MTDD-represented matrices cannot be represented by an MTDD of polynomial size. To overcome this deficiency, we extended MTDDs to MTDD_+ by allowing componentwise symbolic addition of variables (of the same dimension) in rules. It is shown that accessing an entry, equality checking, matrix multiplication, and other basic matrix operations can be solved in polynomial time for MTDD_+-represented matrices. On the other hand, testing whether the determinant of a MTDD-represented matrix vanishes PSPACE$-complete, and the same problem is NP-complete for MTDD_+-represented diagonal matrices. Computing a specific entry in a product of MTDD-represented matrices is #P-complete.Comment: An extended abstract of this paper will appear in the Proceedings of CSR 201

TOPICAL ISSUES OF ANTICORRUPTION ENLIGHTENMENT AND ANTICORRUPTION EDUCATION

Objective: to familiarize a wide range of interested persons with the results of the 2nd Siberian Anti-corruption Forum with international participation “Topical issues of anti-corruption enlightenment and anti-corruption education” held on 15-16September 2016 at the Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk).Methods: in the preparation of their presentations, the forum participants used the scientific method of dialectical cognition, and a number of specific scientific methods: historical-legal, systemic-structural, comparative legal, formal logic (deduction, induction, definition and division of concepts), etc.Results: elaboration of proposals on improvement of anti-corruption enlightenment and anti-corruption education. In the forum took part the Vice-rector for social Affairs of SFU, Doctor of Economics, Professor S. I. Mutovin, Director of the Law Institute of SFU, Doctor of Law, Professor I. V. Shishko and Head of Research and Development Department of International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO (France), PhD in Education M. Poisson, Head of the Department of Delictology and Criminology of the Law Institute of SFU, Doctor of Law, Professor N. V. Shchedrin, Director of the Center for anti-corruption technologies (Tomsk), PhD in Law S. M. Budatarov, Head of the Center for the Russian Law Studies, Professor of the Heilongjiang University of Harbin (China), PhD in Law Pan Dunmay, Director of the Center for combating corruption and legal expertise of SFU, Associate Professor of the Deparment of Delictology and Criminology of the Law Institute of SFU, PhD in Law I. A. Damm, as well as representatives of public authorities, local governments, civil society institutions, and mass media.Scientific novelty: the forum held interdisciplinary scientific-practical discussion of the key issues of formation of public intolerance towards corruption behavior by means of anti-corruption enlightenment and anti-corruption education. Practical significance: in the ensued scientific discussion, the forum participants put forward a number of proposals for improvement of legal regulation and organization of anti-corruption enlightenment and anti-corruption education in the light of the accumulated experience, including in foreign countries

Potential of the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor for the monitoring of terrestrial chlorophyll fluorescence

Global monitoring of sun-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) is improving our knowledge about the photosynthetic functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. The feasibility of SIF retrievals from spaceborne atmospheric spectrometers has been demonstrated by a number of studies in the last years. In this work, we investigate the potential of the upcoming TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) onboard the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite mission for SIF retrieval. TROPOMI will sample the 675–775 nm spectral window with a spectral resolution of 0.5 nm and a pixel size of 7 km × 7 km. We use an extensive set of simulated TROPOMI data in order to assess the uncertainty of single SIF retrievals and subsequent spatio-temporal composites. Our results illustrate the enormous improvement in SIF monitoring achievable with TROPOMI with respect to comparable spectrometers currently in-flight, such as the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment-2 (GOME-2) instrument. We find that TROPOMI can reduce global uncertainties in SIF mapping by more than a factor of 2 with respect to GOME-2, which comes together with an approximately 5-fold improvement in spatial sampling. Finally, we discuss the potential of TROPOMI to map other important vegetation parameters at a global scale with moderate spatial resolution and short revisit time. Those include leaf photosynthetic pigments and proxies for canopy structure, which will complement SIF retrievals for a self-contained description of vegetation condition and functioning

Assessment of intraocular lens/capsular bag biomechanical interactions following cataract surgery in a human in vitro graded culture capsular bag model

Intraocular lenses (IOLs) are implanted during cataract surgery. For optimum results, stable positioning of the IOL in the capsular bag is important. Wound-healing events following cataract surgery lead to modification of the capsular bag and secondary visual loss due to posterior capsule opacification. At present, it is unclear how these biological events can affect stability of the IOL within the capsular bag. In the present study, a human in vitro graded culture capsular bag model was the experimental system. Capsulorhexis and lens extraction performed on human donor eyes generated suspended capsular bags (5 match-paired experiments). Preparations were secured by pinning the ciliary body to a silicone ring and maintained in 6 mL of medium for 84 days using a graded culture system: days 1–3, 5% human serum and 10 ng/mL transforming growth factor β (TGFβ2); days 4–7, 2% human serum and 1 ng/mL TGFβ2; days 8–14, 1% human serum and 0.1 ng/mL TGFβ2; days 15–84, serum-free Eagle's minimum essential medium (EMEM). A CT LUCIA 611PY IOL was implanted in all preparations. Quantitative measures were determined from whole bag images captured weekly. Images were registered using FIJI and analysed in ImageJ to determine capsular bag area; distortion; angle of contact; haptic stability; capsulorhexis area; and a fusion footprint associated with connection between the anterior and posterior capsules. Cell coverage and light scatter were quantified at end-point. The transdifferentiation marker, α-SMA was assessed by immunocytochemistry. Immediately following surgery, distortion of the capsular bag was evident, such that a long axis is generated between haptics relative to the non-haptic regions (short axis). The angle of contact between the haptics and the peripheral bag appeared inversely correlated to capsular bag area. Growth on the peripheral posterior capsule was observed 1 week after surgery and beneath the IOL within 1 month. As coverage of the posterior capsule progressed this was associated with matrix contraction/wrinkles of both the central posterior capsule and peripheral capsular bag. Cells on the central posterior capsule expressed αSMA. Fusion footprints formed in non-haptic regions of the peripheral bag and progressively increased over the culture period. Within and at the edge of the fusion footprint, refractive structures resembling lens fibre cells and Elschnig's pearls were observed. Cell attachment to the IOL was limited. An impression in the posterior capsule associated with the CT LUCIA 611PY optic edge was evident; cell density was much greater peripheral to this indent. Wound-healing events following surgery reduced capsular bag area. This was associated with the long/short axis ratio and angle of contact increasing with time. In summary, we have developed a human capsular bag model that exhibits features of fibrotic and regenerative PCO. The model permits biomechanical information to be obtained that enables better understanding of IOL characteristics in a clinically relevant biological system. Throughout culture the CT LUCIA 611PY appeared stable in its position and capsular bag modifications did not change this. We propose that the CT LUCIA 611PY optic edge shows an enhanced barrier function, which is likely to provide better PCO management in patients

On practical problems to compute the ghost propagator in SU(2) lattice gauge theory

In SU(2) lattice pure gauge theory we study numerically the dependence of the ghost propagator G(p) on the choice of Gribov copies in Lorentz (or Landau) gauge. We find that the effect of Gribov copies is essential in the scaling window region, however, it tends to decrease with increasing beta. On the other hand, we find that at larger beta-values very strong fluctuations appear which can make problematic the calculation of the ghost propagator.Comment: 15 pages, 5 postscript figures. 2 Figures added Revised version as to be published in Phys.Rev.

Finding needles in haystacks: linking scientific names, reference specimens and molecular data for Fungi

DNA phylogenetic comparisons have shown that morphology-based species recognition often underestimates fungal diversity. Therefore, the need for accurate DNA sequence data, tied to both correct taxonomic names and clearly annotated specimen data, has never been greater. Furthermore, the growing number of molecular ecology and microbiome projects using high-throughput sequencing require fast and effective methods for en masse species assignments. In this article, we focus on selecting and re-annotating a set of marker reference sequences that represent each currently accepted order of Fungi. The particular focus is on sequences from the internal transcribed spacer region in the nuclear ribosomal cistron, derived from type specimens and/or ex-type cultures. Re-annotated and verified sequences were deposited in a curated public database at the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), namely the RefSeq Targeted Loci (RTL) database, and will be visible during routine sequence similarity searches with NR_prefixed accession numbers. A set of standards and protocols is proposed to improve the data quality of new sequences, and we suggest how type and other reference sequences can be used to improve identification of Fungi