Nonlocal contributions to the turbulent cascade in magnetohydrodynamic plasmas

We present evidence for nonlocal contributions to the turbulent energy cascade in magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) plasmas. Therefore, we revisit a well-known result derived directly from the MHD equations, i.e., the Politano and Pouquet law for the transfer of kinetic and magnetic energy in scale. We propose adding a term that accounts for nonlocal transfer and represents the influence of fluctuations from large scales due to the Alfvén effect. Supported by direct numerical simulations of homogeneous and isotropic MHD turbulence, we verify that in some plasma configurations, neglecting the additional nonlocal term might consistently overestimate energy dissipation rates and, thus, the contributions of turbulent energy dissipation potentially affecting solar wind heating, i.e., a central puzzle in space plasma physics that motivates the present work.

Can risk area designation help increase vaccination coverage for Tick-Borne Encephalitis? Evidence from German claims data

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Although vaccine preventable, the incidence of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) increased in Germany from 2001 to 2021 by on average 2% each year, with a peak of more than 700 TBE infections documented in 2020. TBE-risk areas, as designated by district based on incidence of human cases, expanded north- and northeastward, present in 11 of the 16 Federal States as of 2022. Using claims data from a German statutory health insurance in the Federal States of Saxony and Thuringia (AOK PLUS), we aimed to assess whether official assignment of a district to a risk area had an impact on vaccination rates in Germany.

METHODS

The data covered the period from 01/01/2010 to 31/12/2018 and included information on vaccine administrations from outpatient physicians. Yearly incident vaccination rates were reported overall and by district. To investigate the association between a new designation of an incident TBE-risk area and vaccination rates, a difference-in-difference analysis was conducted.

RESULTS

Overall, the incident vaccination rates increased from 6.2 to 9.5 per 1,000 person-years between 2012 and 2018, with a peak of 12.2 in 2015. While districts that had been risk-areas for the whole study period had always a higher vaccination rate compared to districts that were never categorized as risk areas, the increase between 2012 and 2018 was comparable in the two groups (3.0 and 3.2 per 1,000 person-years, respectively). In contrast, districts that were newly designated risk districts during the study period experienced a significantly larger increase in vaccination rates, going from 5.8 to 14.7 per 1,000 person-years between 2012 and 2018, with a peak of 19.6 in 2015.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that the new designation of a district as risk area has a significant positive impact on vaccination rates, which is strongest immediately after designation of risk area.

Assessing the chemical anthropocene - Development of the legacy pollution fingerprint in the North Sea during the last century

The North Sea and its coastal zones are heavily impacted by anthropogenic activities, which has resulted in significant chemical pollution ever since the beginning of the industrialization in Europe during the 19th century. In order to assess the chemical Anthropocene, natural archives, such as sediment cores, can serve as a valuable data source to reconstruct historical emission trends and to verify the effectiveness of changing environmental legislation. In this study, we investigated 90 contaminants covering inorganic and organic pollutant groups analyzed in a set of sediment cores taken in the North Seas' main sedimentation area (Skagerrak). We thereby develop a chemical pollution fingerprint that records the constant input of pollutants over time and illustrates their continued great relevance for the present. Additionally, samples were radiometrically dated and PAH and PCB levels in porewater were determined using equilibrium passive sampling. Furthermore, we elucidated the origin of lead (Pb) contamination utilizing non-traditional stable isotopic analysis. Our results reveal three main findings: 1. for all organic contaminant groups covered (PAHs, OCPs, PCBs, PBDEs and PFASs) as well as the elements lead (Pb) and titanium (Ti), determined concentrations decreased towards more recent deposited sediment. These decreasing trends could be linked to the time of introductions of restrictions and bans and therefor our results confirm, amongst possible other factors, the effectiveness of environmental legislation by revealing a successive change in contamination levels over the decades. 2. concentration trends for ΣPAH and ΣPCB measured in porewater correspond well with the ones found in sediment which suggests that this method can be a useful expansion to traditional bulk sediment analysis to determine the biologically available pollutant fraction. 3. Arsenic (As) concentrations were higher in younger sediment layers, potentially caused by emissions of corroded warfare material disposed in the study area after WW II.

Stochastic Interpolation of Sparsely Sampled Time Series via Multipoint Fractional Brownian Bridges

We propose and test a method to interpolate sparsely sampled signals by a stochastic process with a broad range of spatial and/or temporal scales. To this end, we extend the notion of a fractional Brownian bridge, defined as fractional Brownian motion with a given scaling (Hurst) exponent H and with prescribed start and end points, to a bridge process with an arbitrary number of intermediate and nonequidistant points. Determining the optimal value of the Hurst exponent H_{opt}, appropriate to interpolate the sparse signal, is a very important step of our method. We demonstrate the validity of our method on a signal from fluid turbulence in a high Reynolds number flow and discuss the implications of the non-self-similar character of the signal. The method introduced here could be instrumental in several physical problems, including astrophysics, particle tracking, and specific tailoring of surrogate data, as well as in domains of natural and social sciences.

Selection signatures for high-altitude adaptation in ruminants

High-altitude areas are important socio-economical habitats with ruminants serving as a major source of food and commodities for humans. Living at high altitude, however, is extremely challenging, predominantly due to the exposure to hypoxic conditions, but also because of cold temperatures and limited feed for livestock. To survive in high-altitude environments over the long term, ruminants have evolved adaptation strategies, e.g. physiological and morphological modifications, which allow them to cope with these harsh conditions. Identification of such selection signatures in ruminants may contribute to more informed breeding decisions, and thus improved productivity. Moreover, studying the genetic background of altitude adaptation in ruminants provides insights into a common molecular basis across species and thus a better understanding of the physiological basis of this adaptation. In this paper, we review the major effects of high altitude on the mammalian body and highlight some of the most important short-term (coping) and genetically evolved (adaptation) physiological modifications. We then discuss the genetic architecture of altitude adaptation and target genes that show evidence of being under selection based on recent studies in various species, with a focus on ruminants. The yak is presented as an interesting native species that has adapted to the high-altitude regions of Tibet. Finally, we conclude with implications and challenges of selection signature studies on altitude adaptation in general. We found that the number of studies on genetic mechanisms that enable altitude adaptation in ruminants is growing, with a strong focus on identifying selection signatures, and hypothesise that the investigation of genetic data from multiple species and regions will contribute greatly to the understanding of the genetic basis of altitude adaptation.

Accuracy of genotype imputation in Labrador Retrievers

The dog is a valuable model species for the genetic analysis of complex traits, and the use of genotype imputation in dogs will be an important tool for future studies. It is of particular interest to analyse the effect of factors like single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density of genotyping arrays and relatedness between dogs on imputation accuracy due to the acknowledged genetic and pedigree structure of dog breeds. In this study, we simulated different genotyping strategies based on data from 1179 Labrador Retriever dogs. The study involved 5826 SNPs on chromosome 1 representing the high density (HighD) array; the low-density (LowD) array was simulated by masking different proportions of SNPs on the HighD array. The correlations between true and imputed genotypes for a realistic masking level of 87.5% ranged from 0.92 to 0.97, depending on the scenario used. A correlation of 0.92 was found for a likely scenario (10% of dogs genotyped using HighD, 87.5% of HighD SNPs masked in the LowD array), which indicates that genotype imputation in Labrador Retrievers can be a valuable tool to reduce experimental costs while increasing sample size. Furthermore, we show that genotype imputation can be performed successfully even without pedigree information and with low relatedness between dogs in the reference and validation sets. Based on these results, the impact of genotype imputation was evaluated in a genome-wide association analysis and genomic prediction in Labrador Retrievers.

Waste Heat Energy Harvesting by use of BaTiO3 for Pyroelectric Hydrogen Generation

The generation of hydrogen as a chemical energy storage for power generation via fuel cells or for the synthesis of fuels has attained a strong interest in recent years. By way of example this is realized using electrolysis of water with the help of excess electricity of wind power plants. However with low temperature grade waste heat as it could be found in many industrial and household applications, there is another source of usable energy for this purpose. In a first pragmatic experimentation we investigated the pyroelectric effect of ferroelectric BaTiO3 combined with a temperature cycling to generate hydrogen from water. Therefore, single crystals ground to powder were brought into contact with distilled water and set to a cyclical temperature change from 40 °C to 70 °C. With the help of a highly selective and sensitive measuring system based on a coulometric solid electrolyte detector we could provide a first indication of pyroelectric generated hydrogen by a fraction of 300 Vol.-ppb in the sample gas.

Characterization of azimuthal and radial velocity fields induced by rotors in flows with a low Reynolds number

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the flow field that emerges from a rodlike microrotor rotating about its center in a nonaxisymmetric manner. A simple theoretical model is proposed that uses a superposition of two rotlets as a fundamental solution to the Stokes equation. The predictions of this model are compared to measurements of the azimuthal and radial microfluidic velocity field components that are induced by a rotor composed of fused microscopic spheres. The rotor is driven magnetically and the fluid flow is measured with the help of a probe particle fixed by an optical tweezer. We find considerable deviations of the mere azimuthal flow pattern induced by a single rotating sphere as it has been reported by Di Leonardo et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 134502 (2006)]. Notably, the presence of a radial velocity component that manifests itself by an oscillation of the probe particle with twice the rotor frequency is observed. These findings open up a way to discuss possible radial transport in microfluidic devices.

Genetics of cattle temperament and its impact on livestock production and breeding – a review

Abstract. Cattle temperament, which describes individual behaviour differences with regard to a stressor or environmental challenge, is known for its impact on working safety, adaptability to new housing conditions, animal productivity and for evaluation of animal welfare. However, successful use of temperament in animal breeding and husbandry to improve keeping conditions in general or animal welfare in particular, requires the availability of informative and reproducible phenotypes and knowledge about the genetic modulation of these traits. However, the knowledge about genetic influences on cattle temperament is still limited. In this review, an outline is given for the interdependence between production systems and temperament as well as for the phenotyping of cattle temperament based on both behaviour tests and observations of behaviour under production conditions. In addition, the use of temperament as a selection criterion is discussed.

Generalized vortex model for the inverse cascade of two-dimensional turbulence

We generalize Kirchhoff's point vortex model of two-dimensional fluid motion to a rotor model which exhibits an inverse cascade by the formation of rotor clusters. A rotor is composed of two vortices with like-signed circulations glued together by an overdamped spring. The model is motivated by a treatment of the vorticity equation representing the vorticity field as a superposition of vortices with elliptic Gaussian shapes of variable widths, augmented by a suitable forcing mechanism. The rotor model opens up the way to discuss the energy transport in the inverse cascade on the basis of dynamical systems theory.

High-precision determination of the electric and magnetic form factors of the proton

New precise results of a measurement of the elastic electron-proton scattering cross section performed at the Mainz Microtron MAMI are presented. About 1400 cross sections were measured with negative four-momentum transfers squared up to Q² = 1 (GeV/c)² with statistical errors below 0.2%. The electric and magnetic form factors of the proton were extracted by fits of a large variety of form factor models directly to the cross sections. The form factors show some features at the scale of the pion cloud. The charge and magnetic radii are determined to be <r²E>½ = 0.879(5)stat(4)syst(2)model(4)group fm and <r²M>½ = 0.777(13)stat(9)syst(5)model(2)group fm.

Surface with antimicrobial activity obtained through silane coating with covalently bound polymyxin B

Surfaces exhibiting antimicrobial activity were prepared for potential medical application. A polycationic lipopeptide polymyxin B was selected as the bioactive agent for covalent immobilization onto the surface. First, by using sol-gel technology the inert glass substrate was functionalized by a silane coating with epoxide rings to which the peptide was coupled by means of a catalyst. Preparation of the coating and presence of the peptide on the surface were followed by FTIR, XPS and AFM analyses. The obtained material showed antimicrobial effect indicating that in spite of immobilization the peptide has retained its bioactivity. The coated surface was able to reduce bacterial cell counts of the Gram-negative bacterium Escherichia coli by more than five orders of magnitude in 24 h of incubation. It can be concluded that bioactive coatings with covalently bound polycationic peptides have potential for application on medical devices where leakage into the surrounding is not allowed in order to prevent bacterial growth and biofilm formation.

Nachweisverfahren zur Beurteilung der Keimbelastung in Einstreumaterialien und des daraus resultierenden Mastitisrisikos

Gegenstand und Ziel: Der Anteil von Mastitiden des Rindes, die durch umweltassoziierte Mikroorganismen verursacht werden, ist in den letzten Jahren gestiegen. Die Anzahl dieser Mikroorganismen im Einstreumaterial beeinflusst die Inzidenz dieser Erkrankungen. Die Studie hat zum Ziel, eine diagnostische Methode und ihre Interpreta tion zu beschreiben, die geeignet ist, das Risiko der Entstehung von Mastitiden durch umweltassoziierte Mikroorganismen aus der Boxeneinstreu einzuschätzen. Material und Methoden: Mittels jeweils 1 g einer frischen Probe an Einstreumaterial (Stroh: n = 406; Späne: n = 281) wurde ein homogenisiertes Wasser-Einstreumaterial-Gemisch gewonnen und zur Erstellung einer Verdünnungsreihe gemäß §64 LFGB Methode L00.00 54 verwendet. Die Ansätze wurden mithilfe des Plattengussbzw. des Spatelverfahrens nach §64 LFGB L01.00–57 zum Nachweis der aeroben Gesamtkeimzahl sowie von Escherichia coli, coliformen Mikroorganismen und äskulinpositiven Streptokokken auf unterschiedlichen (Selektiv-)Nährmedien ausgestrichen. Nach entsprechender Bebrütungszeit erfolgten die Auswertung und die Berechnung der Keimzahlen. Ergebnisse: Die Variabilität der Mikroorganismendichte in üblichen Einstreumaterialien (EM) ist groß. Hygienisch einwandfreie EM weisen nahezu keine coliformen Mikroorganismen oder äskulinspaltende Streptokokken auf und unterschreiten regelmäßig eine Gesamtkeimzahl von < 106 KbE/g aeroben mesophilen Mikroorganismen. Dagegen gibt es optisch einwandfreie, frische organische EM, die bereits vor Anwendung als Boxeneinstreu übliche Grenzwerte der verschiedenen Mikroorganismen überschreiten und damit als risikoreich zu bewerten sind. Schlussfolgerung und klinische Relevanz: Durch die mikrobiologische Untersuchung frischer EM können wichtige Hinweise im Hinblick auf das Risiko für die Entstehung so genannter Umweltmastitiden gewonnen werden. Selbstverständlich sind für die Minderung des Wachstums von Mikroorganismen im Liegebereich der Tiere auch die Kontamination mit Kot, Harn und Milch, die Wechselfrequenz, der Gesamtpflegeaufwand und das Stallklima von Bedeutung.