Auroral substorm response to solar wind pressure shock

Two cases of auroral substorms have been studied with the Polar UVI data, which were associated with solar wind pressure shock arriving at the Earth. The global aurora activities started about 1–2 min after pressure shocks arrived at dayside magnetopause, then nightside auroras intensified rapidly 3–4 min later, with auroral substorm onset. The observations in synchronous orbit indicated that the compressing effects on magnetosphere were observed in their corresponding sites about 2 min after the pressure shocks impulse magnetopause. We propose that the auroral intensification and substorm onset possibly result from hydromagnetic wave produced by the pressure shock. The fast-mode wave propagates across the magnetotail lobes with higher local Alfven velocity, magnetotail was compressed rapidly and strong lobe field and cross-tail current were built in about 1–2 min, and furthermore the substorm was triggered due to an instability in current sheet.     

Systematic generation of high-resolution deletion coverage of the Drosophila melanogaster genome

In fruit fly research, chromosomal deletions are indispensable tools for mapping mutations, characterizing alleles and identifying interacting loci. Most widely used deletions were generated by irradiation or chemical mutagenesis. These methods are labor-intensive, generate random breakpoints and result in unwanted secondary mutations that can confound phenotypic analyses. Most of the existing deletions are large, have molecularly undefined endpoints and are maintained in genetically complex stocks. Furthermore, the existence of haplolethal or haplosterile loci makes the recovery of deletions of certain regions exceedingly difficult by traditional methods, resulting in gaps in coverage. Here we describe two methods that address these problems by providing for the systematic isolation of targeted deletions in the D. melanogaster genome. The first strategy used a P element-based technique to generate deletions that closely flank haploinsufficient genes and minimize undeleted regions. This deletion set has increased overall genomic coverage by 5-7%. The second strategy used FLP recombinase and the large array of FRT-bearing insertions described in the accompanying paper to generate 519 isogenic deletions with molecularly defined endpoints. This second deletion collection provides 56% genome coverage so far. The latter methodology enables the generation of small custom deletions with predictable endpoints throughout the genome and should make their isolation a simple and routine task.     

High-speed flowing plasmas in the Earth’s plasma sheet

A research topic of great interest to the space physics community is the observation of plasmas flowing at hundreds of kilometers per second in the Earth’s plasma sheet. Although considerable effort has been made to understand the source of fast-flowing plasmas, many questions remain unanswered about the mechanisms that produce high-speed flows and the effects they have on magnetospheric disturbances, especially their contributions to magnetospheric convection and substorms. In this paper, we discuss briefly the history of high-speed flows and review the proposed mechanisms, signatures of high-speed flows in auroras and their interaction with the background plasma. We then summarize the relationships between high-speed flows and magnetic structures, discuss questions associated with substorms, and finally pose several important scientific questions that need to be addressed.     

Evidence for multinuclear metal-ion complexes at solid/water interfaces from X-ray absorption spectroscopy

Metals dissolved in natural waters often become sorbed onto oxide or clay minerals, so that prediction of their chemical behaviour and transport properties requires knowledge of the structure and bonding of metal species at the solid/water interface. For many sorption systems, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) can be used to determine the identity and number of nearest-neighbour atoms and interatomic distances in aqueous complexes on solid surfaces, and thus to identify the dominant type of surface complex and the partitioning mechanism. Here we describe an XAS study of divalent cobalt (Co(II)) complexes sorbed on three different solids, gamma-Al2O3, rutile (TiO2) and kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4). We find direct evidence for the presence of multinuclear sorption complexes at surface coverages below one monolayer of Co(II) atoms. Our spectroscopic data reveal distinct differences in the number of coordinating atoms and interatomic distances in the surface complexes formed on each of the solids at the same sorption density. These results suggest that different oxide and clay surfaces influence the structure and properties of aqueous surface complexes, and therefore must be accounted for in models of metal-ion sorption.     

Solar cycle dependence of the seasonal variation of auroral hemispheric power

Although much has been done on the hemispheric asymmetry (or seasonal variations) of auroral hemispheric power (HP), the dependence of HP hemispheric asymmetry on solar cycle has not yet been studied. We have analyzed data during 1979–2010 and investigated the dependence of HP hemispheric asymmetry/seasonal variation for the whole solar cycle. Here we show that (1) the hemispheric asymmetry of HP is positively correlated to the value of solar F10.7 with some time delay; (2) it is closely related to the coupling function between the solar wind and magnetosphere; and (3) the winter hemisphere receives more auroral power than the summer hemisphere for K _p～0 to 6. The statistic results can be partly understood in the framework of the ionospheric conductivity feedback model. The similarity and differences between our results and previous results are discussed in the paper.     

Improved Pinning Center Morphology in HTS with Order-of-Magnitude Increase in J_c and B_pin Compared to Columnar Pinning

The motivation for continuous columnar pinning centers has been to provide maximum Upin. It has been assumed that this provides the best Jc and Bpin. Limitations on Jc and Spin observed for columnar pinning have been attributed to degradation of the order parameter and Tc. We examine columnar pinning by ionic damage and conclude instead that geometrical effects of columnar pinning on percolation path and on the number of pinning centers are the dominant limitations of columnar pinning, leading to a limit of Bpin- 4 T. Evidence suggests that multiple-in-line-defects (MILD) are far better suited to increase Jc and Bpin. The morphology of MILD pinning is reviewed. Ion energy loss per unit distance, Se, is found to be most promising in a regime almost diametrically opposite to that sought to maximize Upin. We expect Jc - 106 A/cm2 and Bpin > 40T from MILD pinning, despite sharply decreased Upin. Experimental confirmation is proposed.