Natural Science

The human genome is a complex, dynamic information system that encodes principles of life and living systems. These principles are incorporated in the structure of human genome sequence variation and are foundational for the continuity of life and human survival. Using first principles of thermodynamics and statistical physics, we have developed analogous "genodynamic tools" for population genomic studies. Characterizing genomic information through the lens of physics has allowed us to develop energy measures for modeling genome-environment interactions. In developing biophysical parameters for genome-environment homeostasis, we found that stable genomic free energy trades off low genomic energy (genomic conservation and increased order) and high genomic entropy (genomic variation) with an environmental potential that drives the variation. In our approach, we assert that common variants are dynamic sites in the genome of a population and that the stability of whole genome adaptation is reflected in the frequencies of maintained diversity in common variants for the population in its environment. In this paper, we address the relativity of whole genome adaptation towards homeostasis. By this we mean that adaptive forces are directly reflected in the frequency distribution of alleles and/or haplotypes of the population relative to its environment, with adaptive forces driving the genome towards homeostasis. The use of genomic energy units as a biophysical metric in DNA sequence variation analyses provides new insights into the foundations of population biology and diversity. Using our biophysical tools, population differences directly reflect the adaptive influences of the environment on populations.

We investigate the characteristics of electromagnetic wave transmission by multilayered structures consisting of a pair of left-handed material (LHM) and dielectric slabs inserted between two semi-infinite dielectric media. The theoretical aspect is based on Maxwell's equations and matching the boundary conditions for the electric and magnetic fields of the incident waves at each layer interface. We calculate the reflected and transmitted powers of the multilayered structure taking into account the widths of the slabs and the frequency dependence of permittivity and permeability of the LHM. The obtained results satisfy the law of conservation of energy. We show that if the semi-infinite dielectric media have the same refractive index and the slabs have the same width, then the reflected power can be minimized and the transmittance-frequency curve shows no ripple. On the other hand if the semi-infinite dielectric media have different values of refractive indices and the slabs have different widths, then under certain conditions the reflected power can be maximized.

A correlation between maxima in virial coefficients (Bn), and "kissing" numbers for hard hyper-spheres up to dimension D=5, indicates a virial equation and close-packing relationship. Known virial coefficients up to B7, both for hard parallel cubes and squares, indicate that the limiting differences Bn-B(n-1) behave similar to spheres and disks, in the respective expansions relative to maximum close packing. In all cases, the increment Bn-B(n-1) will approach a negative constant with similar functional form in each dimension. This observation enables closed-virial equations-of-state for cubes and squares to be obtained. In both the 3D and 2D cases, the virial pressures begin to deviate from MD thermodynamic pressures at densities well-below crystallization. These results consolidate the general conclusion, from previous papers on spheres and disks, that the Mayer cluster expansion cannot represent the thermodynamic fluid phases up to freezing as commonly assumed in statistical theories.

We study kinetic models of reversible enzyme reactions and compare two techniques for analytic approximate solutions of the model. Analytic approximate solutions of non-linear reaction equations for reversible enzyme reactions are calculated using the Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM) and the Simple Iteration Method (SIM). The results of the approximations are similar. The Matlab programs are included in appendices.

We present a method of chromospheric flux simulation for 13 late-type main-sequence stars. These Sun-like stars have well-determined cyclic flux variations similar to 11 yr solar activity cycle. Our flux prediction is based on chromospheric HK emission time series measurements from Mount Wilson Observatory and comparable solar data. We show that solar three - component modeling explains well the stellar observations. We find that the 10 - 20% of K - stars disc surfaces are occupied by bright active regions.

Informational entropy is often identified as physical entropy. This is surprising because the two quantities are differently defined and furthermore the former is a subjective quantity while the latter is an objective one. We describe the problems and then present a possible view that reconciles the two entropies. Informational entropy of a system is interpreted as physical entropy of a whole composed of both the system and memories containing information about the system.

In spiral galaxies, we explain their non-Keplerian rotation curves (RCs) by means of a non-luminous component embedding their stellar-gaseous disks. Understanding the detailed properties of this component (labelled Dark Matter, DM) is one of the most pressing issues of Cosmology. We investigate the recent relationship (claimed by Walker et al. 2010, hereafter W+10) between $r$, the galaxy radial coordinate, and $V_h(r)$, the dark halo contribution to the circular velocity at $r$, {\it a}) in the framework of the Universal Rotation Curve (URC) paradigm and directly {\it b}) by means of the kinematics of a large sample of DM dominated spirals. We find a general agreement between the W+10 claim, the distribution of DM emerging from the URC and that inferred in the (low luminosity) objects of our sample. We show that such a phenomenology, linking the spiral's luminosity, radii and circular velocities, implies an evident inconsistency with (naive) predictions in the $\Lambda$ Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) scenario.

We have written a new equation to study the statistics of earthquake distributions. We call this equation "the generalized logistic equation". The Gutenberg-Richter frequency-magnitude formula was derived from the solution of the generalized logistic equation as an asymptotic case in approximation of large magnitudes. To illustrate how the found solution of the generalized logistic equation works, it was used to approximate the observed cumulative distribution of earthquakes in four different geological provinces: the Central Atlantic (40N-25N, 5W-35W), Canary Islands, Magellan Mountains (20N-9S, 148E-170E), and the Sea of Japan. This approximation showed the excellent fit between the theoretical curves and observed data for earthquake magnitudes 1<m<9.

We present the Nearest Neighbor Distance (NND) analysis of SDSS DR5 galaxies. We give NND results for observed, mock and random sample, and discuss the differences. We find that the observed sample gives us a significantly stronger aggregation characteristic than the random samples. Moreover, we investigate the direction of NND and find that the direction has close relation with the size of the NND for the observed sample.

The traditional generalized Ohm's law in MHD do not explicitly present the relation of electric currents and electric fields in fully ionized plasma, and lead to some unexpected concepts, such as "the magnetic frozen-in plasma", magnetic reconnection etc. In the present paper, we solve the balance equation can give exact solution of the velocities of electrons and ions, and then derived the electric current in fully ionized plasma. In the case ignoring boundary condition, there is no electric current in the plane perpendicular to the magnetic field when external forces are ignored. The electric field in the plane perpendicular to magnetic field do not contribute to the electric currents, so do the induced electric field from the motion of the plasma across magnetic field. The lack of induced electric current will keep magnetic field in space unaffected. The velocity of the bulk velocity of the plasma perpendicular to magnetic field is not free, it is decided by electromagnetic field and the external forces. We conclude that the bulk velocity of the fully ionized plasma is not coupled with the magnetic field. The motion of the plasma do not change the magnetic field in space, but the plasma will be confined by magnetic field. Due to the confinement of magnetic field, the plasma kinetic energy will be transformed into plasma thermal energy by the Lamor motion and collisions between the same species of particles inside plasma. Because the electric field perpendicular to magnetic field do not contribute electric current, the variation of magnetic field will transfer energy directly into the plasma thermal energy by induced electric field. The heating of plasma could be from the kinetic energy and the variation of magnetic field. Comment: 9 pages, no figures

An analysis of composite inertial motion (relativistic sum) within the framework of special relativity leads to the conclusion that every translational motion must be the symmetrically composite relativistic sum of a finite number of quanta of velocity. It is shown that the resulting space-time geometry is Gaussian and the four-vector calculus has its roots in the complex-number algebra, furthermore, that Einstein's "relativity of simultaneity" is based on a misinterpretation of the principle of relativity. Among others predictions of the experimentally verified rise of the interaction-radii of hadrons in high energetic collisions are derived. From the theory also follows the equivalence of relativistically dilated time and relativistic mass as well as the existence of a quantum of time (fundamental length) and its quantitative value, to be found in good accord with experiment.

Recent discoveries show steady improvements in life expectancy during modern decades. Does this support that humans continue to live longer in future? We recently put forward the maximum survival tendency, as found in survival curves of industrialized countries, which is described by extended Weibull model with age-dependent stretched exponent. The maximum survival tendency suggests that human survival dynamics may possess its intrinsic limit, beyond which survival is inevitably forbidden. Based on such tendency, we develop the model and explore the patterns in the maximum lifespan limits from industrialized countries during recent three decades. This analysis strategy is simple and useful to interpret the complicated human survival dynamics. Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables; Natural Science (in press)

This research inspects possible influence of solar cycles on earthquakes through of statistical analyses. We also discussed the mechanism that would drive the occurrence of increasing of earthquakes during solar maxima. The study was based on worldwide earthquakes events during approximately four hundred years (1600-2010). The increase of earthquakes events followed the Maxima of Solar cycle, and also depends on the tectonic plate location. From 1600 until 1645 events increased during the Maxima in some of the tectonic plates as Pacific, Arabian and South America. The earthquakes analyzed during two grand solar minima, the Maunder (1645-1720) and the Dalton (1790-1820) showed a decrease in the number of earthquakes and the solar activity. It was observed during these minima a significant number of events at specific geological features. After the last minima (Dalton) the earthquakes pattern increased with solar maxima. The calculations showed that events increasing during solar maxima most in the Pacific, South America or Arabian until 1900. Since there were few records during these three centuries we needed additional analysis on modern data. We took the last four solar cycles events (1950-2010) and made similar calculations. The results agreed with the former calculations. It might be that the mechanism for the Sun-Earth connection relies on the solar wind speed. In both records (1600-1900) and (1950-2010) the results showed a significant increase in earthquakes events in some of the tectonic plates linked to solar maxima. The Solar wind energy striking the Earth's magnetosphere affects the entire environment because the pressure on the region increases and the magnetosphere shrinks sometimes four Earth's radii. This sudden compression causes earthquakes in specific plates. During the times of solar minima the pressure from the solar wind on the earth decreases, then the magnetosphere expands and earthquakes happen in a different pattern according to the geological feature on earth's surface less frequently. Solar driven events include coronal mass ejections (CME) and coronal holes, which are at a maximum during the descending phase of solar activity. The tectonic are important because there is heterogeneity in the crust and the tectonic stress depends on each region. The geo-effectiveness of solar wind from a coronal hole only depends on the position of the hole relative to the Earth and for the CMEs an additional factor is their velocity. The influence of these solar events could be detected from electromagnetic variations on the ground prior the earthquakes. The goal in this research was to show the solar events influenced the earthquakes and seismologic events following some special display and also how the Sun's activity played to make earthquakes increase. This paper discussed details of this mechanism, calculations and associated factors.

We investigate changes in total water storage mass (GRACE), land-surface temperature (MODIS) and atmospheric CO2 (AIRS) satellite-based and in-situ (runoff and bias corrected precipitation) measurements from August 2002 through December 2008. Our region of interest spans 75 to 165E and 50 to 80N centered on the Lena River watershed as a physical reference frame. We find energy and mass changes on the continuous and discontinuous permafrost zones indicating: 1) Arctic uplands such as the Siberian Plateau show strongly positive water equivalent mass and strongly negative land-surface temperature gradients during May. 2) Arctic lowlands such as the thaw-lake regions of Kolyma, Lena Delta, and Taymyr and the wetlands near Yakutsk show strongly negative water equivalent mass and strongly positive land-surface temperature gradients during September. 3) Areas with strongly positive water equivalent mass and negative land-surface temperature gradients during May show weakly positive CO2 gradients, whereas areas of strongly negative water equivalent mass and strongly positive land-surface temperature gradients during September show strongly positive CO2 gradients. This indicates permafrost ecosystem response is in phase with energy and mass changes over the period of measurements.

BACKGROUND: The H1N1 pandemic in 2009 required a systematic coordinated response, which in Australia included a monovalent (H1N1/09) vaccine (Panvax?). SAEFVIC (Surveillance of Adverse Events Following Vaccination In the Community) is the Victorian, Australia state-based vaccine safety unit. The aim of the study was to review SAEFVIC reports of adverse events following immunisations (AEFI) temporally associated with H1N1/09 vaccines [monovalent and Trivalent Influenza Vaccines (TIV)]. METHODS: 1) Analysis of AEFI related to H1N1/09 vaccines reported to SAEFVIC from September 2009 to December 2010; 2) Review of febrile convulsions (ICD-10 code R56.0), in children under 5 years of age presenting to the Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) Melbourne, Emergency Department between 1 March-30 April 2010. The presentation details and immunisation history were clarified by a telephone interview. RESULTS: 1) There were 659 reports of 749 adverse events following H1N1 vaccines. Among the TIV group, Fluvax had the most AEFI reported, with 77 per 100,000 doses distributed. Serious AEFI temporally associated with H1N1/09 vaccines included: 3 deaths, 2 anaphylactic reactions, and 3 GuillainBarre Syndrome. There were 7 reports of drug administration error; 2) There were 179 presentations with fever and 67 reported febrile convulsions out of 11025 presentations (0.61%), 11 following H1N1 vaccines. Fluvax? was associated with 55% (6/11) reports. The mean onset time of AEFI was 13.2 hours post vaccination, and there was complete resolution of symptoms in allcases with no significant morbidity. CONCLUSION: Consistent with other Australian states in 2010, there was a TIV brand specific [Fluvax?] increase in febrile convulsions post vaccination. As a result this vaccine is no longer licensed for children <5 years of age. Comprehensive passive and active surveillance for AEFI needs to be incorporated into future pandemic planning.

Anodic oxidation of Co, Cu, Zn, and Sn metals in an acetone solution of 1,1-malonayl-bis(4-pChloro-phenylthiosemicarbazide) yields complexes of composition with general formula [Co2(pClMaTS)(H2O)6]·2H2O, [Cu2(pClMaTS)(H2O)6], [Zn2(pClMaTS)(H2O)6] and [Sn2(pClMaTS)(H2O)6]·2H2O. Chelation was investigated based on elemental analysis, conductivity, magnetic moment, spectral (UV-Vis, IR, Raman, 1 HNMR, mass), thermal, and ESR studies. The Raman and infrared spectral studies suggests the tridentate behavior of the ligand from each tail. Since the ligand has two thiosemicarbazide groups, it may acts in an SNO tridentate fashion from each side with one of the two metal ions forming a polynuclear complex coordinating through both of the lone pair of electrons the enolic oxygen of the carbonyl group (C=O), the azomethine nitrogen (C=N) and the thioenol form of the thiocarbonyl group (C=S). The differential thermogravimetric analysis (DTG) curves were used to study the decomposition steps of the isolated complexes using Horowitz-Metzger (HM) and Coats-Redfern (CR) methods. The kinetic thermodynamic parameters such as: E*, ∆H*, ∆S*and ∆G* are calculated from the DTG curves.

A short 220 bp sequence was used to study the taxonomic organization of the bacterial Order Bacillales. The nucleotide sequences of the 3' end of the 16S rDNA and the 16S-23S Internal transcribed spacer (ITS) were determined for 32 Bacillales species and strains. The data for 40 additional Bacillales species and strains were retrieved directly from Genbank. Together, these 72 Bacillales species and strains encompassed eight families and 21 genera. The 220 bp se-quence used here covers a conserved 150 bp sequence located at the 3' end of the 16S rDNA and a conserved 70 bp sequence located at the 5' end of the 16S-23S ITS. A neighbor-joining phylogenetic tree was inferred from compara-tive analyses of all 72 nucleotide sequences. Eight major Groups were revealed. Each Group was sub-divided into sub-groups and branches. In general, the neighbor-joining tree presented here is in agreement with the currently accepted phylogeny of the Order Bacillales based on phenotypic and genotypic data. The use of this 220 bp sequence for phylogenetic analyses presents several advantages over the use of the entire 16S rRNA genes or the generation of ex-tensive phenotypic and genotypic data. This 220 bp sequence contains 150 bp at the 3' end of the 16S rDNA which allows discrimination among distantly related species and 70 bp at the 5' end of the 16S-23S ITS which, owing to its higher percentage of nucleotide sequence divergence, adds discriminating power among closely re-lated species from same genus and closely re-lated genera from same family. The method is simple, rapid, suited to large screening pro-grams and easily accessible to most laborato-ries.

The efficacy of Endocrine Disrupting Com-pounds (EDCs), 17β-estradiol was tested on the fish Oreochromis niloticus in order to under-stand the intersex relationship of fish, in which sequential hermaphrodism can consist of a male changing into a female (protandry) or a female changing into a male (protogyny). The fish were equally divided into 3 groups. The first group was the control group; the second and third groups were treated with 10 and 100 g L -1 of 17β-estradiol, respectively, for 30 days. The overall result in this experiment had no signifi-cant effect on the growth parameters. Among the two treated groups, the low concentration group shows results similar to those of the control groups. The high concentration group shows changes to the male reproductive sys-tem with the appearance of the testis-ova pre-sent resulting in an intersex condition of the male gonads. With this experiment, it can be concluded that 17β-estradiol at high concentra-tion reveals positive changes towards the male reproductive system of the fish, Oreochromis niloticus.

A novel thiol-reactive bifunctional agent, an analogue of fluorobenzaldehyde-O-[6-(2,5-dioxo-2,5-dihydro-pyrrol-1-yl)-hexyl]oxime, (FBAM) has been synthesized. The new prosthetic group, [ 18 F]-FBAMPy, replaces the 4-fluorophenyl moiety with a 2-fluoropyridinyl moiety leading to increased polarity (FBAM analytical HPLC Rf = 6.4 min; FBAMPy Rf = 4.8 min) while retaining the sulfur-reactive pendant. By altering the polarity of the molecule, this new prosthetic group should have significant impact in coupling it with small peptides and other biomolecules.

Wild collection management and farming of the mangrove oyster (Crassostrea gasar) occurring widely at the Benin (West Africa) coastal zone require knowledge on the feeding ecology to explore energy sources and nutritional needs. Six hundred thirty (630) individuals of C. gasar have been sampled in the rearing site at the Benin coastal lagoon to investigate on the trophic ecology of this cultivated bivalve. The diet analysis revealed that C. gasar is a filter-feeder foraging mainly on phytoplankton (72.70%) and substrate particles (22.95%). This trophic specialization results from anatomical structure, mainly the presence of gills which facilitate the filtering of number of plankton taxa. Dominant phytoplanktons ingested comprised of Diatomophycea (33.52%), Chlorophycae (17.19%), Scenedesmacae (13.80%), Dictyosphaeriacae (3.79%), and Pleurococcacae (2.75%). Eight genuses of phytoplankton, Polycystis, Coelosphaerium, Protococcus, Botryoccocus, Crucigenia, Melosira, Cyclotella, and Gyrosigma dominated the diet of C. gasar with aggreated volumetric proportions reaching 69.06% of the diet. Higher occurrences were recorded mainly for Melosira occurring in 263 (41.75%) stomachs, substrate particles in 211 (33.49%), and Polycystis in 151 (23.97%). C. gasar exhibited a high niche breadths varying from 4.54 to 5.78, suggesting that this bivalve consumed a high variety of food items, thus exhibiting a degree of trophic plasticity. Diet overlaps (?jk) among different size classes were high and varied from 0.71 to 0.98, indicating an ontogenetic diet shift pattern in C. gasar. Probably, to adapt to the benthic-muddy environment and to increase survival, C. gasar has evolved a specialized feeding mechanism and strategy to retrieve only needed nutrients for growth and to reject awful and nondigestible foods. Also, at the oyster rearing grounds, there is an evidence of shift in the food web structure leading to an increase of the biological productivity at the coastal zone. The output from this study is a valuable documentation for the sustainable development of oyster aquaculture, wild stock management and conservation. However, further scientific knowledge on nutritional needs, phytoplankton toxicity and habitat degradation, and improvement of farming techniques are required for an integrated oyster management.

Very recently, we have applied the random walk model to fit the global temperature anomaly, CRUTEM3. With encouraging results, we apply the random walk model to fit the temperature walk that is the conversion of recorded tem-perature and real recorded temperature in 46 gamma world cities from 1901 to 1998 in this study. The results show that the random walk model can fit both temperature walk and real recorded temperature although the fitted results from other climate models are unavailable for comparison in these 46 cities. Therefore, the random walk model can fit not only the global temperature anomaly, but also the real recorded temperatures in various cities around the world.

Mathematical modeling of precipitation is an important step to understand the precipitation patterns, and paves the way to possibly predict the precipitation. In this study, we attempt to use the random walk model to fit the annual precipitation in 49 European capitals from 1901 to 1998. At first, we used the simplest random walk model to fit the precipitation walk, which is the conversion of recorded precipitations into ±1 format, and then we used a more complex random walk model to fit the recorded precipi-tations. The results show that the random walk models can fit both precipitation walk and re-corded precipitation. Thus this study provides a model to describe the precipitation patterns during this period in these cities.

Between the 1940s and the 1960s there was a significant lowering of the surface temperatures of the central North Pacific. This cool-down is discussed on the basis of analyses of a very large surface temperature data base, covering most of the North Pacific, which began in 1947 and continued for at least 30 years afterwards. A surface area more than 20 degrees of latitude by approximately 70 degrees of longitude, centered on 40°N, cooled down within about a ten year period by typically 0.5℃ and by as much as 1.0℃. Previously a permanent surface and near surface circulation was proposed in which a shallow very broad warm surface layer flows northeastward at mid-latitudes on the eastern side of the North Pacific while colder water returns southward to the east, west and underneath the warm surface current. It is suggested that variations in this hypothesized circulation, due to natural causes not yet completely understood, potentially provide a mechanism for producing a cooling down (or warming up) of a large region of the central North Pacific at mid-latitudes in a relatively short period of time (ten years or less).

Cell-PLoc 2.0 is a package of web-servers evolved from Cell-PLoc (Chou, K.C. & Shen, H.B., Nature Protocols, 2008, 2:153-162) by a top-down approach to improve the power for predicting subcellular localization of proteins in various organisms. It contains six predictors: Euk-mPLoc 2.0, Hum-mPLoc 2.0, Plant-mPLoc, Gpos-mPLoc, Gneg-mPLoc, and Virus-mPLoc, specialized for eukaryotic, human, plant, Grampositive bacterial, Gram-negative bacterial, and virus proteins, respectively. Compared with Cell-PLoc, the predictors in the Cell-PLoc 2.0 have the following advantageous features: (1) they all have the capacity to deal with the multiplex proteins that can simultaneiously exist, or move between, two or more subcellular location sites; (2) no accession number is needed for the input of a query protein even if using the “highlevel” GO (gene ontology) prediction engine; (3) the functional domain information and sequential evolution information are fused into the “ab initio” sequence-based prediction engine to enhance its accuracy. In this protocol, a stepto-step guide is provided for how to use the web server predictors in the Cell-PLoc 2.0 package, which is freely accessible to the public at http://www.csbio.sjtu.edu.cn/bioinf/Cell-PLoc-2/.

Pse-in-One 2.0 is a package of web-servers evolved from Pse-in-One (Liu, B., Liu, F., Wang, X., Chen, J. Fang, L. & Chou, K.C. Nucleic Acids Research, 2015, 43:W65-W71). In order to make it more flexible and comprehensive as suggested by many users, the updated package has incorporated 23 new pseudo component modes as well as a series of new feature analysis approaches. It is available at http://bioinformatics.hitsz.edu.cn/Pse-in-One2.0/. Moreover, to maximize the convenience of users, provided is also the stand-alone version called “Pse-in-One-Analysis”, by which users can significantly speed up the analysis of massive sequences.

In this study, the application of the resilience concept of the flood event depending on progress of the time is analyzed as the hazard occurrence, the disaster risk, the damage risk, and the evolution of the damages. Flood disaster is defined as the occurrence of an inundation in an exposed area. The human exposure (loss of life, injury, ···), structural (buildings, roads, ···) and functional (economic , political, ··· functions of an area) economic exposure cause high risk of damage if the area in which the hazard occurs is at low resilience. Furthermore the damage will increase without adequate response against disaster. The flood disaster risk is decreased by flood control measures, reducing structural and functional exposure. Non-structural measures, such as appropriate prior-evacuation, decrease the human exposure to flood disaster. This study reviews the events of 2000 and 2011 floods in the Shonai River basin in Japan to help assess resilience to flood disaster. These two events had the same type of hazards in intensity and location, allowing the study in terms of adaptation to flood disaster in the river basin to focus on the structural and nonstructural effort to increase resilience of the disaster depending on progress of the time.

The goal of this study was to determine whether climate has affected vegetation regrowth over the past decade (2000 to 2010) in post-fire forest ecosystems of the United States and Canada. Our methodology detected trends in the monthly MODerate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) timeseries within forest areas that burned between 1984 and 1999. The trends in summed growing season EVI (composited to 8 km spatial resolution) within all burned area perimeters showed that nearly 1.6% post-fire forest area declined in vegetation greenness cover significantly (p < 0.05) over the past decade. Nearly 62% of all post-fire forest area showed a non significant EVI regrowth trend from 2000 to 2010. Regression results detected numerous significantly negative trend pixels in post-fire areas from 1994-1999 to indicate that forest regrowth has not yet occurred to any measurable level in many recent wildfire areas across the continent. We found several noteworthy relationships between annual temperature and precipitation patterns and negative post-fire forest EVI trends across North America. Change patterns in the climate moisture index (CMI), growing degree days (GDD), and the standardized precipitation index (SPI) were associated with post-fire forest EVI trends. We conclude that temperature warming-induced change and variability of precipitation at local and regional scales may have altered the trends of large post-fire forest regrowth and could be impacting the resilience of post-fire forest ecosystems in North America.

During total solar eclipses, we can observe the outer atmospheric layers of the sun (chromosphere and corona). The solar corona extends to several solar radii depending on the sunspot cycle. Basic coronal structures such as polar streamers, helmet type structures were observed during the 2006 total solar eclipse. Our total solar eclipse 2006 observations through both White light corona and H-Alpha filter allowed us to describe coronal structures and Prominence Activity. We found that the solar corona is extended to 4 times of solar radii, the existence different zones of white light corona were shown, moreover, we compared the defined features of solar corona at different observing locations along the track of total solar eclipse 2006. The solar limb activity was studied during both of partial and total eclipse phases by using H-Alpha and white light observations from Salloum, Egypt. We got same prominence activity during partial and total phases of the solar eclipse and recorded three prominences on solar limb. Finally, our processed image in a good agreement with the published processed images was observed from different locations along the track of total eclipse, added, similar magnetic field structure shown in our processed image and published one.

The Wenchuan Earthquake caused a large number of avalanches and landslides at different scales. It is extremely significant to evaluate the sediment in the earthquake river basins. Along the 38 km long upper Mianyuan River 196 landslides and avalanches happened during the earthquake, which have formed 25 landslide dams and quake lakes. The total volume of sediment erosion due to earthquake was about 115 million m3, which is 75 times higher than the soil erosion in normal years. Only a part of the solid material could be transported by the river water flow as suspended load and bed load. The total volume of bed load deposit in the river and the quake lakes was 1.43 million m3. Moreover the quake lakes had also trapped 0.12 million m3 suspended load. Only 0.18 million m3 of fine sediment had been drifted through the quake lakes and transported into the lower reaches of the Mianyuan River. The wide range of size distributions of sediment from earthquake erosion caused the extreme difference in the amounts of sediment erosion and transportation. Most of the sediment from earthquake erosion can be only transported for a short distance by landslides and debris flows. Less than 0.2% of the total volume of sediment from earthquake erosion may be transported into large rivers. Therefore, earthquake erosion has little effect on the sediment transportation and fluvial processes in the large rivers.

The US Navy VLF/LF Transmitter’s NSY signal (45.9 kHz) transmitted from Niscemi, Sicily, Italy, and received at the Kiel Long Wave Monitor, Germany, was analyzed for the period of two months, May and June (EQ-month) of 2013. There were 12 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 4 that hit Italy in these two months, of which the earthquake of 21st June having magnitude of 5.2 and a shallow focal depth of 5 km was the major one. We studied the earthquake of 21st of June 2013, which struck Tuscany, Central Italy, (44.1713°N and 10.2082°E) at 10:33 UT, and also analyzed the effects of this earthquake on the sub-ionos- pheric VLF/LF signals. In addition, we also studied another earthquake, of magnitude 4.9, which hit the same place at 14:40 UT on 30th of June and had shallow focal depth of 10 km. We assessed the data using terminator time (TT) method and night time fluctuation method and found unusual changes in VLF/LF amplitudes/phases. Analysis of trend, night time dispersion, and night time fluctuation was also carried and several anomalies were detected. Most ionospheric perturbations in these parameters were found in the month of June, from few days to few weeks prior to the earthquakes. Moreover, we filtered the possible effects due to geomagnetic storms, auroras, and solar activities using parameters like Dst index, AE index, and Kp index for analyzing the geomagnetic effects, and Bz (sigma) index, sunspot numbers, and solar index F10.7 for analyzing the solar activities for the confirmation of anomalies as precursors.