Discrete numerical modeling of granular materials considering crushability

The aim of this study is to numerically investigate the influence of particle breakage on the mechanical behavior of granular materials using a discrete element method (DEM). To enable particle crushing, non-crushable elementary particles are boned together to represents the granular aggregates which can be crushed when the external force exceeds its strength. The flaw of the aggregate was also modeled by randomly distributed void. Single particle crushing tests were carried out to determine the distribution of particle strength. The results of single particle crushing tests illustrate that the simulated single particle fracture strength and pattern agree well with the Weibull’s distribution equation. Conventional oedometer tests, drained monotonic and cyclic triaxial tests were also carried out to investigate the crushing of the aggregates and the associated mechanical behaviors. The effect of confining pressure on the crushing of aggregates and the mechanical behavior was also analyzed. It was found that the peak stress and dilation decrease significantly when particle crushing was considered. The deformation behavior of the specimen is essentially controlled by two factors: particle rearrangement - induced dilation and particle crushing - induced contraction. The increase of permanent strain and the reduction of dilation were observed during cyclic loading and they tend to reach a stable state after a certain number of cycles. The crushing of aggregate is most significant in the first two cycles. The results also indicated that for the same axial strain the volumetric strain and the bound breakage in the cyclic loading tests are significantly larger than that in the monotonic loading tests, especially at high cyclic stress ratio.     

Selecting suitable sites for mountain ginseng (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Panax ginseng</Emphasis>) cultivation by using geographically weighted logistic regression

With the well-being trends to pursue a healthy life, mountain ginseng (Panax ginseng) is rising as one of the most profitable forest products in South Korea. This study was aimed at evaluating a new methodology for identifying suitable sites for mountain ginseng cultivation in the country. Forest vegetation data were collected from 46 sites and the spatial distribution of all sites was analyzed using GIS data for topographic position, landform, solar radiation, and topographic wetness. The physical and chemical properties of the soil samples, including moisture content, pH, organic matter, total nitrogen, exchangeable cations, available phosphorous, and soil texture, were analyzed. The cultivation suitability at each site was assessed based on the environmental conditions using logistic regression (LR) and geographically weighted logistic regression (GWLR) and the results of both methods were compared. The results show that the areas with northern aspect and higher levels of solar radiation, moisture content, total nitrogen, and sand ratio are more likely to be identified as suitable sites for ginseng cultivation. In contrast to the LR, the spatial modeling with the GWLR results in an increase in the model fitness and indicates that a significant portion of spatial autocorrelation in the data decreases. A higher value of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve presents a better prediction accuracy of site suitability by the GWLR. The geographically weighted coefficient estimates of the model are non-stationary, and reveal that different site suitability is associated with the geographical location of the forest stands. The GWLR increases the accuracy of selecting suitable sites by considering the geographical variations in the characteristics of the cultivation sites.     

Peat humification- and δ<Superscript>13</Superscript>C<Subscript>cellulose</Subscript>-recorded warm-season moisture variations during the past 500 years in the southern Altai Mountains within northern Xinjiang of China

To predict future spatio-temporal patterns of climate change, we should fully understand the spatio-temporal patterns of climate change during the past millennium. But, we are not yet able to delineate the patterns because the qualities of the retrieved proxy records and the spatial coverage of those records are not adequate. Northern Xinjiang of China is one of such areas where the records are not adequate. Here, we present a 500-yr land-surface moisture sequence from Heiyangpo Peat (48.34°N, 87.18°E, 1353 m a.s.l) in the southern Altai Mountains within northern Xinjiang. Specifically, peat carbon isotope value of cellulose (δ¹³C_cellulose) was used to estimate the warm-season moisture variations and the degree of humification was used to constrain the δ¹³C_cellulose-based hydrological interpretation. The climatic attributions of the interpreted hydrological variations were based on the warm-season temperature reconstructed from Belukha ice core and the warm-season precipitation inferred from the reconstructed Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillations (AMO). The results show that humification decreased and the δ¹³C_cellulose-suggested moisture decreased from ~1510 to ~1775 AD, implying that a constant drying condition may have inhibited peat decay. Our comparison with reconstructed climatic parameters suggests that the moisture-level decline was most likely resulted from a constant decline of precipitation. The results also show that humification kept a stable level and the δ¹³C_cellulose-suggested moisture also decreased from ~1775 to ~2013 AD, implying that peat decay in the acrotelm primarily did not depend on the water availability or an aerobic environment. Again, our comparison with reconstructed climatic parameters suggests that the land-surface moisturelevel decline was most likely resulted from a steady warming of growing-season temperature.     

Antiangiogenic activity of low-temperature lysozyme from a marine bacterium <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vivo</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">in vitro</Emphasis>

We extracted marine low-temperature lysozyme (MLTL), a novel lysozyme, from a marine microorganism through fermentation. Our previous study suggested that a low molecular weight (16 kDa) may exert anti-tumor activity through antiangiogenesis. In this study, we extracted a high weight (39 kDa) and investigated its antiangiogenic activity in vivo and in vitro. Using zebrafish embryos as an in vivo study model, we found that treatment with MLTL significantly inhibited the growth of subintestinal vessels (SIVs) in a dose-dependent manner and that 400 μg/ml MLTL was sufficient to block the growth of SIVs. An in vitro study conducted using human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) revealed that MLTL suppressed the proliferation, migration and tube formation of HUVECs in a dose-dependent manner. Interestingly, assays by flow cytometry and DNA electrophoresis indicated that MLTL was able to induce apoptosis of HUVECs. Moreover, further study demonstrated that the disruption of intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis may play an important role in MLTL induced apoptosis of HUVECs. Taken together, the results of this study demonstrate for the first time that MLTL inhibits angiogenesis through its pleiotropic effects on vascular endothelial cells and induces apoptosis through regulation of cellular Ca²⁺ levels. The results of this study also revealed a possible mechanism underlying the antiangiogenic effect of MLTL and suggested that MLTL may be a promising new antiangiogenic agent for use in cancer therapy.     

Forbush Decrease: A New Perspective with Classification

Sudden short-duration decreases in cosmic ray flux, known as Forbush decreases (FDs), are mainly caused by interplanetary disturbances. A generally accepted view is that the first step of an FD is caused by a shock sheath and the second step is due to the magnetic cloud (MC) of the interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME). This simplistic picture does not consider several physical aspects, such as whether the complete shock sheath or MC (or only part of these) contributes to the decrease or the effect of internal structure within the shock-sheath region or MC. We present an analysis of 16 large (\({\geq}\,8 \%\)) FD events and the associated ICMEs, a majority of which show multiple steps in the FD profile. We propose a reclassification of FD events according to the number of steps observed in their respective profiles and according to the physical origin of these steps. This study determines that 13 out of 16 major events (\({\sim}\,81\%\)) can be explained completely or partially on the basis of the classic FD model. However, it cannot explain all the steps observed in these events. Our analysis clearly indicates that not only broad regions (shock sheath and MC), but also localized structures within the shock sheath and MC have a significant role in influencing the FD profile. The detailed analysis in the present work is expected to contribute toward a better understanding of the relationship between FD and ICME parameters.     

Gulmarg,Kashmir, India: Potential Site for Optical Astronomical Observations

The site characteristics of Gulmarg, Kashmir at an altitude of about 2743.2 m above sea level is based on analysis of meteorological conditions, cloud cover, temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure, etc. Analysis and characterization of meteorological conditions suggest that Gulmarg, Kashmir is a potential site for carrying out photometric as well as spectroscopic observations of celestial objects.     

Revisiting Field Burial by Accretion onto Neutron Stars

The surface magnetic field strength of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) is found to be about 4 orders of magnitude lower than that of garden variety radio pulsars (with a spin of \({\sim }\)0.5–5 s and \(B{\sim }10^{12}\hbox { G}\)). The exact mechanism of the apparent reduction of field strength in MSPs is still a subject of debate. One of the proposed mechanisms is burial of the surface magnetic field under matter accreted from a companion. In this article we review the recent work on magnetic confinement of accreted matter on neutron stars poles. We present the solutions of the magneto-static equations with a more accurate equation of state of the magnetically confined plasma and discuss its implications for the field burial mechanism.     

Study and application of the resonant secular dynamics beyond Neptune

We use a secular representation to describe the long-term dynamics of transneptunian objects in mean-motion resonance with Neptune. The model applied is thoroughly described in Saillenfest et al. (Celest Mech Dyn Astron, doi: 10.1007/s10569-016-9700-5, 2016). The parameter space is systematically explored, showing that the secular trajectories depend little on the resonance order. High-amplitude oscillations of the perihelion distance are reported and localised in the space of the orbital parameters. In particular, we show that a large perihelion distance is not a sufficient criterion to declare that an object is detached from the planets. Such a mechanism, though, is found unable to explain the orbits of Sedna or \(2012\text {VP}_{113}\), which are insufficiently inclined (considering their high perihelion distance) to be possibly driven by such a resonant dynamics. The secular representation highlights the existence of a high-perihelion accumulation zone due to resonances of type 1:k with Neptune. That region is found to be located roughly at \(a\in [100;300]\) AU, \(q\in [50;70]\) AU and \(I\in [30;50]^{\circ }\). In addition to the flux of objects directly coming from the Scattered Disc, numerical simulations show that the Oort Cloud is also a substantial source for such objects. Naturally, as that mechanism relies on fragile captures in high-order resonances, our conclusions break down in the case of a significant external perturber. The detection of such a reservoir could thus be an observational constraint to probe the external Solar System.     

Tides in a body librating about a spin–orbit resonance: generalisation of the Darwin–Kaula theory

The Darwin-Kaula theory of bodily tides is intended for celestial bodies rotating without libration. We demonstrate that this theory, in its customary form, is inapplicable to a librating body. Specifically, in the presence of libration in longitude, the actual spectrum of Fourier tidal modes differs from the conventional spectrum rendered by the Darwin–Kaula theory for a nonlibrating celestial object. This necessitates derivation of formulae for the tidal torque and the tidal heating rate, that are applicable under libration. We derive the tidal spectrum for longitudinal forced libration with one and two main frequencies, generalisation to more main frequencies being straightforward. (By main frequencies we understand those emerging due to the triaxiality of the librating body.) Separately, we consider a case of free libration at one frequency (once again, generalisation to more frequencies being straightforward). We also calculate the tidal torque. This torque provides correction to the triaxiality-caused physical libration. Our theory is not self-consistent: we assume that the tidal torque is much smaller than the permanent-triaxiality-caused torque, so the additional libration due to tides is much weaker than the main libration due to the permanent triaxiality. Finally, we calculate the tidal dissipation rate in a body experiencing forced libration at the main mode, or free libration at one frequency, or superimposed forced and free librations.