Ecological Value of Soil Organic Matter (SOM) at Tropical Evergreen Aglaia-Streblus Forest of Meru Betiri National Park, East Java, Indonesia

As part of carbon pools, forest soil stores soil organic matter (SOM) that contains many elements including organic C, N, P, and K. These elements contribute nutrients for biogeochemical cycles within the ecosystem. This study was done to determine the ecological value of forest soil organic matter at tropical evergreen Aglaia-Streblus forest of Meru Betiri National Park (MBNP), East Java, Indonesia. The data were sampled along gradient topography in Pringtali tropical forest of TMBNP. Direct measurements of soil moisture, temperature, and pH were taken in the field. The soil samples were extracted from 6 points of soil solum using soil auger, and then oven-dried to get value of dry-weight. The elements content of organic C, N, P, and K were analyzed and estimated at the laboratory. The ecoval of SOM was appraised using developed ecological valuation tool. The result showed that SOM contributed higher ecoval of organic C (66.03 Mg ha-1) than other elements. Compared to P and K elements, N had the highest stock of element content. However, comparing to other two tropical forest ecosystems of Asia the ecoval of SOM elements in TMBNP was relatively low because of its natural geomorphological features.The ecoval of SOM elements in TMBNP was relatively low because of its natural geomorphological features. The ecovals contributed about 2.440,64 - 6.955,50 USD or  31.271.923,73 - 89.120.837,23  IDR per hectare of ecological value (d) to the ecosystem. This value was mainly contributed by organic C stock in the TMBNP forest SOM. It means the forest SOM had higher element content of organic C than N, P, and K elements. This d value is an indicator for TMBNP to protect the SOM elements meaning protecting their resources to sustain the biogeochemical cycles in the forest ecosystem. All the management and policy correlated to this protected area should consider this valuable information for their plan and actions

The use of energy looping between Tm3+^{3+} and Er3+^{3+} ions to obtain an intense upconversion under the 1208 nm radiation and its use in temperature sensing

The upconversion phenomenon allows for the emission of nanoparticles (NPs) under excitation with near-infrared (NIR) light. Such property is demanded in biology and medicine to detect or treat diseases such as tumours. The transparency of biological systems for NIR light is limited to three spectral ranges, called biological windows. However, the most frequently used excitation laser to obtain upconversion is out of these ranges, with a wavelength of around 975 nm. In this article, we show an alternative – Tm$^{3+}$/Er$^{3+}$-doped NPs that can convert 1208 nm excitation radiation, which is in the range of the 2$^{nd}$ biological window, to visible light within the 1$^{st}$ biological window. The spectroscopic properties of the core@shell NaYF$_4$:Tm$^{3+}$@NaYF$_4$ and NaYF$_4$:Er$^{3+}$,Tm$^{3+}$@NaYF$_4$ NPs revealed a complex mechanism responsible for the observed upconversion. To explain emission in the studied NPs, we propose an energy looping mechanism: a sequence of ground state absorption, energy transfers and cross-relaxation (CR) processes between Tm$^{3+}$ ions. Next, the excited Tm$^{3+}$ ions transfer the absorbed energy to Er3+ ions, which results in green, red and NIR emission at 526, 546, 660, 698, 802 and 982 nm. The ratio between these bands is temperature-dependent and can be used in remote optical thermometers with high relative temperature sensitivity, up to 2.37%/°C at 57 °C. The excitation and emission properties of the studied NPs fall within 1$^{st}$ and 2$^{nd}$ biological windows, making them promising candidates for studies in biological systems

Social Benefits of Niche Agricultural Products: The Case of Pasture-Based Beef in Appalachia Part 1: The Conceptual Framework

Niche agricultural products are growing in economic importance. This growth is driven mainly by the increased demand for more healthy, nutritious, fresh and locally grown food products. There is obviously a potential increase in private benefits to producers/landowners as a result of increased production of the underlying crops to satisfy this demand. What is less obvious is the potential to also generate increased social benefits, particularly as they relate to energy conservation, alternative energy or biogas development and carbon sequestration. In other words, calories and kilo-calories are becoming more linked. The objective of this analysis is to develop a conceptual framework to illustrate the linkages among production at the local level, farm-level profitability and regional economic and environmental benefits. Using an optimal control approach, we apply this framework to the case of pasture-based beef (PBB) in Appalachia. PBB is an alternative to conventional, grain-based beef production. The idea is to determine to what extent a transition to PBB would enhance farm-level profitability while enabling surrounding communities to benefit from higher quality food products, environmental improvement, economic development and, ultimately, quality of life. We expect the results to illustrate under what combination of market and policy outcomes it is optimal - from both private and social perspectives – for a given PBB farmer to switch between cattle farming, energy farming and carbon farming. This paper is the first in a three-part series, with subsequent papers devoted to: (a) integrating spatial effects into the model, and (b) model estimation and use in policy formulation. The overall effort is part of a larger, interdisciplinary multi-institutional research project funded by USDA, ARS, focusing on the development of sustainable PBB operations for Appalachia

Tb3+→Eu3+ energy transfer processes in crystals of TbAl3(BO3)4 doped with Eu3+

In this contribution, the dynamics of the energy transfer process involving Tb3+ ion in samples of trigonal huntite-type Tb1-xEuxAl3(BO3)4 (with x = 0, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15 and 0.2) single crystals has been investigated upon fitting the Tb3+ 5D4 luminescence decay curves with suitable mathematical equations. In the undoped TbAl3(BO3)4 compound, the Inokuti-Hirayama model properly fits the decay, so that the dominant 5D4 relaxation channel is the direct transfer of the excitation energy to the quenching impurity (Mo3+ or other crystal defects) at short times after the excitation pulse. On the other hand, the transfer of the excitation energy to this quenching impurity through energy migration is negligible. As for the Eu3+ doped samples, a generalization of the Parent et al. model has been employed. In this case, in the fitting equation the contribution of four different terms has been considered and calculated, one for each possible relaxation channel, that is: i) the intrinsic Tb3+ decay, ii) the direct (not assisted by energy migration) Tb3+-> Mo3+ (or other crystal defects) energy transfer, iii) the direct (not assisted by energy migration) Tb3+-> Eu3+energy transfer and iv) the Tb3+-> Eu3+ energy transfer assisted by energy migration in the Tb3+ sublattice. From a semi-quantitative point of view, our investigation aligns with what has been qualitatively previously concluded on Tb3+-> Eu3+ energy transfer dynamics in TbAl3(BO3)4, which would be ruled by an intermediate regime where the rate of the energy transfer among donors (Tb3+) is comparable to the rate of the Tb3+-> Eu3+ energy transfer. More in detail, our study underlines the increasing impact of the term W on the 5D4 decay with the increase of the Eu3+ concentration. This term is directly connected with the energy migration phenomenon involving the Tb3+ subarray

Distribution and occurrence of milkfish Chanos chanos (Forskal)

The geographic distribution of Chanos chanos; Family - Chanidae: Order Isospondyli, is discussed from available literature sources as well as actual surveys made by the writer. The existence of the species in natural waters as well as its culture in specific areas are noted. The seasonal occurrence and distribution of milkfish fry which is the basis of aquaculture for this species is enumerated. An attempt is also made to describe the nature of distribution of the species in the countries where surveys have been made or where data is available

Synthesis and optical characterization of Er-doped bismuth titanate nanoparticles grown by sol-gel hydrothermal method

The Er-doped bismuth titanate (BiTiO, BIT) nanoparticles were synthesized by a combined sol-gel and hydrothermal method under a partial oxygen pressure of 30 bar. The composition and morphology were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Raman scattering. They showed pure and homogeneous spherical BIT nanoparticles with a size below the 30 nm. The incorporation of Er ions showed a strong decrease in the lattice parameters, as well as averaged particle size. The photoluminescence up-conversion (excitation wavelength =1480 nm) showed an enhancement of the infrared emission (980 nm) as Er concentration increased, achieving a maximum for 6% mol, while photoluminescence spectra (excitation wavelength =473 nm) showed a strong green emission (529 and 553 nm) with a maximum at 4% mol

Regular oscillations and random motion of glass microspheres levitated by a single optical beam in air

We experimentally report on optical binding of many glass particles in air that levitate in a single optical beam. A diversity of particle sizes and shapes interact at long range in a single Gaussian beam. Our system dynamics span from oscillatory to random and dimensionality ranges from 1 to 3D. The low loss for the center of mass motion of the beads could allow this system to serve as a standard many body testbed, similar to what is done today with atoms, but at the mesoscopic scale

Constructing [2.2]Paracyclophane‐Based Ultrasensitive Optical Fluorescent‐Phosphorescent Thermometer with Cucurbit[8]uril Supramolecular Assembly

The pursuit of developing novel approaches to fully organic and efficient phosphorescent materials is in high demand. The optical activity of such functional, organic phosphorescent/fluorescent materials may exhibit great temperature dependence, allowing their application as advanced, highly sensitive molecular thermometers. In this study, a rational strategy involving host–guest complexation and polymerization of [2.2]paracyclophane (PCP) based molecules with cucurbit[8]uril (CB8) to suppress the molecular motion and promote temperature-dependent phosphorescence is presented. The rigid cavity of CB8 provides an ideal microenvironment to host PCP molecules 1 and 2, significantly enhancing the photophysical performance after complexation. Co-polymerizing phosphors 1 and 2 with acrylamide is an efficient method for improving phosphorescence. Incorporating CB8 into the resulting P-1 and P-2 polymers enhances phosphorescence performance. Importantly, the obtained materials exhibit a big structure-dependent spectral shift and change of phosphorescence lifetimes with temperature, allowing novel, phosphorescence-based, and purely organic optical thermometers to be developed. The practical applications of PCP-based luminescent materials in temperature sensing via a multi-parameter approach are showcased, i.e., using fluorescence spectral shift and changes in bandwidth, as well as phosphorescence lifetimes, exhibiting thermal sensitivity of ≈17.7 cm$^{−1}$ °C$^{−1}$, 47.8 cm$^{−1}$ °C, and 5.2% °C$^{−1}$, respectively

Philippine Structural Transformation - With or Without Maharlika

It appears the Maharlika Investment Fund (MIF) is a fait accompli. As we write, our finance officials are in New York and Toronto, pitching the MIF to international bankers and representatives of Middle East sovereign wealth funds. This means once President Marcos, Jr. affixes his signature, a newly-created Maharlika Investment Corporation (MIC) will pool, before the year is over, PhP 75 billion in seed capital from the LandBank and Development Bank of the Philippines. With a further PhP 50 billion plus two full years of dividends from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), its nine directors, all presidential appointees, will be able to invest in tradable commodities, overseas instruments, and local development projects to earn dual bottom line returns — financial and social — for the country