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The article discusses the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) models with two-way coupled system with aerosol feedback of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) which need meteorological data for chemistry and transport simulation. It explores the disadvantages of the one-way coupling such as excessive temporal interpolation and lack on loading feedback of atmospheric pollutant. An overview of several coupled models including the WRF, CMAQ, and Coupler.

An interactive sulphate aerosol chemistry module has been incorporated in the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique General Circulation Model (LMD-GCM) to simulate the sulphur chemistry during the Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX) Intensive Field Phase-1999 (INDOEX-IFP). The originality of this module is its ability to predict particle mass and number concentration for the Aitken and accumulation modes. The model qualitatively reproduces the spatial patterns of observations on sulphate aerosol during INDOEX. On the basis of size distribution retrieved from the observations made along the cruise route during 1998 and 1999, the model successfully simulates the order of magnitude and the general north-south gradient in aerosol number concentration. The result shows the southward migration of minimum concentrations, which follows ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone) migration. Sulphate surface concentration during INDOEX-IFP at Kaashidhoo (73.46° E, 4.96° N) gives an agreement within a factor of 2 to 3. Predicted sulphate aerosol optical depth (AOD) matches reasonably with measured values, indicating the capability of this model to predict the vertically integrated column sulphate burden. The Indian contribution to estimated sulphate burden over India is more than 60% with values upto 40% over the Arabian Sea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We discuss an approach for modal expansion of optical far-field quantities based on quasinormal modes (QNMs). The issue of the exponential divergence of QNMs is circumvented by contour integration of the far-field quantities involving resonance poles with negative and positive imaginary parts. A numerical realization of the approach is demonstrated by convergence studies for a nanophotonic system.

Many nanophotonic devices rely on the excitation of photonic resonances to enhance light-matter interaction. The understanding of the resonances is therefore of a key importance to facilitate the design of such devices. These resonances may be analyzed by use of the quasi-normal mode (QNM) theory. Here, we illustrate how QNM analysis may help study and design resonant nanophotonic devices. We will in particular use the QNM expansion of far-field quantities based on Riesz projection to design optical antennas.

Cost-effective feeding management is required to support conservation hatcheries for lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens), an ecologically important species in the Great Lakes region. This study investigated an approach to transition lake sturgeon larvae from live feed (Artemia) to formulated feed and its effect on growth performance, survival, and response to acute hypoxia stress. The first experiment showed that sturgeon had similar (p > 0.05) growth and survival when fed Artemia or the combined feeding of Artemia with the commercial diet (crude protein, 551 g/kg diet). Feeding solely on the commercial or lab-made (crude protein, 491 g/kg diet) diet significantly reduced growth and survival (p < 0.05). In the second experiment, the growth performance of sturgeon (14 days post-hatch, DPH) fed with either Artemia only or combined feeding different feeding durations of two, three, and four weeks followed by a complete transition to the commercial diet. At the end of six weeks, the 3- and 4-week combined feeding periods resulted in significantly higher body weight and survival compared to the 2-week combined and the Artemia only feeding treatments. In the last experiment, sturgeons (27 DPH) were fed only with Artemia or combined feeding of Artemia with the commercial diet for four weeks followed by the complete transition to the commercial diet for two weeks. Eighteen fish from each treatment were investigated the response to acute hypoxic conditions (gradual decrease in dissolved oxygen level from 8 to 2.3 mg/L at the rate of 1 mg/L per hour). When the dissolved oxygen was between 3 and 4 mg/L, the mortality rate of the combination-fed sturgeon (11.7%) was significantly lower than those fed only Artemia (83.3%). These results clearly demonstrate that a commercial diet can partially replace Artemia at early life stages to improve growth, survival, and hypoxia tolerance and thus its co-feeding with Artemia is recommended.

Despite a wide array of applications, deep ultra-violet light emitting diodes offer relatively poor efficiencies compared to their optical counterparts. A contributing factor is the lower light extraction efficiency due to both highly absorbing p-contacts and total internal reflection. Here, we propose a structure consisting of a hexagonal periodic array of cylindrical nanoholes in the multi-layered p-contact which are filled with platinum. This nanostructure reduces the absorption of the p-contact layer, leading to a higher emission into the n-contact compared to a planar reference. An optimum geometry of the nanostructure allows a light extraction efficiency of 15.0%, much higher than the typical 4.6% of a planar reference. While the nanostructure strongly decreases the light absorption in the p-contact, it is still not able to considerably reduce the total internal reflection. Consequently, the nanostructured p-contact should be combined with other optical strategies, such as nanopatterned sapphire substrates to increase the efficiency even further. Despite this, the nanostructure described in this work provides a readily realizable path to enhancing the light extraction efficiency of state-of-the-art deep ultra-violet light emitting diodes., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Circular dichroism (CD) has long been used to trace chiral molecular states and changes of protein configurations. In recent years, chiral plasmonic nanostructures have shown potential for applications ranging from pathogen sensing to novel optical materials. The plasmonic coupling of the individual elements of such metallic structures is a crucial prerequisite to obtain sizeable CD signals. We here identify and implement various coupling entities-chiral and achiral-to demonstrate chiral transfer over distances close to 100 nm. The coupling is realized by an achiral nanosphere situated between a pair of gold nanorods that are arranged far apart but in a chiral fashion using DNA origami. The transmitter particle causes a strong enhancement of the CD response, the emergence of an additional chiral feature at the resonance frequency of the nanosphere, and a redshift of the longitudinal plasmonic resonance frequency of the nanorods. Matching numerical simulations elucidate the intricate chiral optical fields in complex architectures.

The effects of dietary 17beta-estradiol (E(2)) on growth and liver transcriptomics were investigated in the yellow perch (Perca flavescens). After a 3-mo treatment, E(2) significantly stimulated an increase in length and weight of juvenile male and female perch relative to control animals. The increase was significantly greater in females compared with males. Separate, unnormalized cDNA libraries were constructed from equal quantities of RNA from 6 male and 6 female livers of E(2)-treated and control perch, and 3,546 and 3,719 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were obtained, respectively. To characterize E(2)-regulated transcripts, EST frequencies between libraries were calculated within contiguous sequences that were assembled from the combined ESTs of both libraries. Frequencies were also determined in EST transcript groupings produced by aligning all of the ESTs from both libraries at the nucleotide level. From these analyses, there were 28 annotated transcripts that were regulated by 75% between libraries and for which there were at least 5 ESTs of the same transcript between libraries. Regulation of a subset (14) of these transcripts was confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (QPCR). Transcripts that were upregulated by E(2) included reproduction-related proteins, binding proteins, and proteases and protease inhibitors. While not part of the transcript frequency analysis, QPCR showed significant upregulation of estrogen receptor esr1 and of insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) in E(2) livers. E(2)-downregulated transcripts represented a variety of functional categories including components of the respiratory chain, lipid transport and metabolism, glycolysis, amino acid and nitrogen metabolism, binding proteins, a hydrolytic enzyme, and a transcriptional regulator. In perch it appears that exogenous estrogen drastically shifts liver metabolism toward the production of lipoproteins and carbohydrate binding proteins, and that the growth-promoting action may involve an increase in hepatic IGF-I production.

With the worlds population becoming increasingly focused on coastal locations there is a need to better understand the interactions between anthropogenic emissions and marine atmospheres. Herein an atmospheric chemistry-transport model is used to assess the impacts of sea-spray chemistry on the particle composition in and downwind of a coastal city--Vancouver, British Columbia. It is shown that the model can reasonably represent the average features of the gas phase and particle climate relative to in situ measurements. It is further demonstrated that reactions in/on sea-spray affect the entire particle ensemble and particularly the size distribution of particle nitrate, but that the importance of these heterogeneous reactions is critically dependent on both the initial vertical profile of sea spray and the sea-spray source functions. The results emphasize the need for improved understanding of sea spray production and dispersion and further that model analyses of air quality in coastal cities conducted without inclusion of sea-spray interactions may yield mis-leading results in terms of emission sensitivities of particle composition and concentrations.

The effects of environmental stress conditions on the defense response of rainbow trout following a four week exposure to subacute levels of un-ionized ammonia or temperatures 5 C above and 5 C below the temperature optimum (15 C) were investigated. These experimental studies can serve as a model to evaluate the metabolic response of fish to external agents (e.g., drugs, vaccines) under environmental conditions seen in the culture of fish. Blood and tissue immune parameters measured include hematocrits, antibody levels and differentiation of white blood cell populations in tissue imprints of the anterior kidney. These analyses were compared to the growth parameter, average percent weight gain. Fish given primary and secondary immunization with a bacterial vaccine (Aeromonas hydrophila) were exposed to sublethal concentrations of un-ionized ammonia of 0.2, 0.3 or 0.4 mg/ml. Fish exposed to the higher concentrations of ammonia showed a decrease in growth compared to control fish. Several significant changes were observed in the leukocytes of the anterior kidney at the various concentrations of ammonia tested. A decrease in antibody titers to A hydrophila was seen at the two higher concentrations of ammonia. In a second study, the effects of non-optimum temperature conditions (10 C and 20 C) were compared with an optimum temperature (15 C). Fish held at sub-optimum temperatures had significantly lower hematocrits than the control fish maintained at 15 C. Several significant changes were also seen in the anterior kidney leukocytes. Antibody titers to A hydrophila were significantly lower at the end of the stressing period in the trout maintained at 10 C compared to the immunized controls at 15 C. In contrast, fish held at 20 C had significantly higher antibody titers than did the immunized controls. Compared to controls, fish growth was increased at 10 C and decreased at 20 C. These studies confirm that environmental factors can induce stress and affect the metabolism and health of the fish.

A large meteorological wind tunnel was used to simulate a suburban atmospheric boundary layer. The model-prototype scale was 1:300 and the roughness length was approximately 1.0 m full scale. The model boundary layer simulated full scale dispersion from ground-level and elevated release points over surfaces of comparable roughness length. This information should prove useful in a variety of transport and diffusion studies over short to moderate downwind distances. It will be used in Part II as the baseline data set with which to compare diffusion downwind of standard-design nuclear power plants.

Laboratory experiments were conducted to simulate radiopollutant effluents released to the atmosphere from two standard-design nuclear power plants. The main objective of the study was to compare the dispersion in the wakes of the plants with that in a simulated atmospheric boundary layer. Dispersion functions are determined that describe the spread of the effluent plume in the wake of each plant. These dispersion functions are described by power laws. They are determined for three incident wind angles and the number of stacks associated with each plant. Lateral plume spread was directly related to the silhouette area of the plants. A graphical technique is presented relating the lateral dispersion to the associated silhouette area of the building or building complex.