Ground-based and additional science support for SMILE

The joint European Space Agency and Chinese Academy of Sciences Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission will explore global dynamics of the magnetosphere under varying solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field conditions,and simultaneously monitor the auroral response of the Northern Hemisphere ionosphere.Combining these large-scale responses with medium and fine-scale measurements at a variety of cadences by additional ground-based and space-based instruments will enable a much greater scientific impact beyond the original goals of the SMILE mission.Here,we describe current community efforts to prepare for SMILE,and the benefits and context various experiments that have explicitly expressed support for SMILE can offer.A dedicated group of international scientists representing many different experiment types and geographical locations,the Ground-based and Additional Science Working Group,is facilitating these efforts.Preparations include constructing an online SMILE Data Fusion Facility,the discussion of particular or special modes for experiments such as coherent and incoherent scatter radar,and the consideration of particular observing strategies and spacecraft conjunctions.We anticipate growing interest and community engagement with the SMILE mission,and we welcome novel ideas and insights from the solar-terrestrial community.

Assessment of the performance of the TOPGNSS and ANN-MB antennas for ionospheric measurements using low-cost u-blox GNSS receivers

Low-cost GNSS receivers have recently been gaining reliability as good candidates for ionospheric studies. In line with these gains are genuine concerns about improving the performance of these receivers. In this work, we present a comprehensive investigation of the performances of two antennas(the u-blox ANN-MB and the TOPGNSS TOP-106) used on a low-cost GNSS receiver known as the u-blox ZED-F9P. The two antennas were installed on two identical and co-located u-blox receivers. Data used from both receivers cover the period from January to June 2022. Results from the study indicate that the signal strengths are dominantly greater for the receiver with the TOPGNSS antenna than for the receiver with the ANN-MB antenna, implying that the TOPGNSS antenna is better than the ANN-MB antenna in terms of providing greater signal strengths. Summarily, the TOPGNSS antenna also performed better in minimizing the occurrence of cycle slips on phase TEC measurements. There are no conspicuous differences between the variances(computed as 5-min standard deviations) of phase TEC measurements for the two antennas, except for a period around May-June when the TOPGNSS gave a better performance in terms of minimizing the variances in phase TEC. Remarkably, the ANN-MB antenna gave a better performance than the TOPGNSS antenna in terms of minimizing the variances in pseudorange TEC for some satellite observations. For precise horizontal(North and East) positioning, the receiver with the TOPGNSS antenna gave better results, while the receiver with the ANN-MB antenna gave better vertical(Up) positioning. The errors for the receivers of both antennas are typically within about 5 m(the monthly mean was usually smaller than 1 m) in the horizontal direction and within about 10 m(the monthly mean was usually smaller than 4 m) in the vertical direction.

Gradient carbonyl-iron/carbon-fiber reinforced composite metamaterial for ultra-broadband electromagnetic wave absorption by multi-scale integrated design

The demand of high-end electromagnetic wave absorbing materials puts forward higher requirements on comprehensive performances of small thickness,lightweight,broadband,and strong absorption.Herein,a novel multi-layer stepped metamaterial absorber with gradient electromagnetic properties is proposed.The complex permittivity and permeability of each layer are tailored via the proportion of carbonyliron and carbon-fiber dispersing into the epoxy resin.The proposed metamaterial is further optimized via adjusting the electromagnetic parameters and geometric sizes of each layer.Comparing with the four-layer composite with gradient electromagnetic properties which could only realize reflection loss(RL)of less than−6 dB in 2.0-40 GHz,the optimized stepped metamaterial with the same thickness and electromagnetic properties realizes less than−10 dB in the relevant frequency range.Additionally,the RL of less than−15 dB is achieved in the frequency range of 11.2-21.4 GHz and 28.5-40 GHz.The multiple electromagnetic wave absorption mechanism is discussed based on the experimental and simulation results,which is believed to be attributed to the synergy effect induced by multi-scale structures of the metamaterial.Therefore,combining multi-layer structures and periodic stepped structures into a novel gradient absorbing metamaterial would give new insights into designing microwave absorption devices for broadband electromagnetic protections.

Double Deep Q-Network Method for Energy Efficiency and Throughput in a UAV-Assisted Terrestrial Network

Increasing the coverage and capacity of cellular networks by deploying additional base stations is one of the fundamental objectives of fifth-generation(5G)networks.However,it leads to performance degradation and huge spectral consumption due to the massive densification of connected devices and simultaneous access demand.To meet these access conditions and improve Quality of Service,resource allocation(RA)should be carefully optimized.Traditionally,RA problems are nonconvex optimizations,which are performed using heuristic methods,such as genetic algorithm,particle swarm optimization,and simulated annealing.However,the application of these approaches remains computationally expensive and unattractive for dense cellular networks.Therefore,artificial intelligence algorithms are used to improve traditional RA mechanisms.Deep learning is a promising tool for addressing resource management problems in wireless communication.In this study,we investigate a double deep Q-network-based RA framework that maximizes energy efficiency(EE)and total network throughput in unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)-assisted terrestrial networks.Specifically,the system is studied under the constraints of interference.However,the optimization problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program.Within this framework,we evaluated the effect of height and the number of UAVs on EE and throughput.Then,in accordance with the experimental results,we compare the proposed algorithm with several artificial intelligence methods.Simulation results indicate that the proposed approach can increase EE with a considerable throughput.

Background removal from global auroral images:Data-driven dayglow modeling

Global images of auroras obtained by cameras on spacecraft are a key tool for studying the near-Earth environment.However,the cameras are sensitive not only to auroral emissions produced by precipitating particles,but also to dayglow emissions produced by photoelectrons induced by sunlight.Nightglow emissions and scattered sunlight can contribute to the background signal.To fully utilize such images in space science,background contamination must be removed to isolate the auroral signal.Here we outline a data-driven approach to modeling the background intensity in multiple images by formulating linear inverse problems based on B-splines and spherical harmonics.The approach is robust,flexible,and iteratively deselects outliers,such as auroral emissions.The final model is smooth across the terminator and accounts for slow temporal variations and large-scale asymmetries in the dayglow.We demonstrate the model by using the three far ultraviolet cameras on the Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration(IMAGE)mission.The method can be applied to historical missions and is relevant for upcoming missions,such as the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)on the SMILE Mission

The Soft X-ray Imager(SXI)is part of the scientific payload of the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer(SMILE)mission.SMILE is a joint science mission between the European Space Agency(ESA)and the Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS)and is due for launch in 2025.SXI is a compact X-ray telescope with a wide field-of-view(FOV)capable of encompassing large portions of Earth’s magnetosphere from the vantage point of the SMILE orbit.SXI is sensitive to the soft X-rays produced by the Solar Wind Charge eXchange(SWCX)process produced when heavy ions of solar wind origin interact with neutral particles in Earth’s exosphere.SWCX provides a mechanism for boundary detection within the magnetosphere,such as the position of Earth’s magnetopause,because the solar wind heavy ions have a very low density in regions of closed magnetic field lines.The sensitivity of the SXI is such that it can potentially track movements of the magnetopause on timescales of a few minutes and the orbit of SMILE will enable such movements to be tracked for segments lasting many hours.SXI is led by the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom(UK)with collaborating organisations on hardware,software and science support within the UK,Europe,China and the United States.

Clarification on Polarity of Bipolar Electric Field Solitary Structures in Space Plasmas with Satellite Observation

The bipolar electric field solitary(EFS)structures observed frequently in space plasmas by satellites have two different polarities,first positive electric field peak then negative(i.e.,positive/negative)and first negative then positive peak(i.e.,negative/positive).We provide the physical explanation on the polarity of observed bipolar EFS structures with an electrostatic ion fluid model.The results show that if initial electric field𝐸E_(0)>0,the polarity of the bipolar EFS structure will be positive/negative;and if𝐸E_(0)<0,the polarity of the bipolar EFS structure will be negative/positive.However,for a fixed polarity of the EFS,either positive/negative or negative/positive,if the satellite is located at the positive side of the EFS,the observed polarity should be positive/negative,if the satellite is located at the negative side of the EFS,the observed polarity should be negative/positive.Therefore,we provide a method to clarify the natural polarity of the EFS with observed polarity by satellites.Our results are significant to understand the physical process in space plasma with the satellite observation.

Phenol in High-mass Star-forming Regions

Phenol,which belongs to the C_(6)H_(6)O isomeric group,is the simplest molecule in the family of alcohol of the aromatic series.Although phenol has yet to be detected in the interstellar medium,a tentative identification was reported toward the Orion KL hot core using the IRAM-30 m line survey.To explore some more species of this isomeric group,we consider ten species to study the fate of their astronomical detection.It is noticed that phenol is the most energetically favorable isomer of this group.In contrast,propargyl ether is the least favorable(having relative energy~103kcal mol^(-1)compared to phenol)species of this group.So far,the studies associated with the formation of phenol are heavily concentrated on combustion chemistry.Here,we suggest a few key reactions(C_(6)H_(6)+OH→C_(6)H_(5)+H_(2)O,C_(6)H_(6)+O→C_(6)H_(5)OH,C_(6)H_(6)+H→C_(6)H_(5)+H_(2),and C_(6)H_(5)+OH→C_(6)H_(5)OH+hν)for the formation of phenol.All these pathways are included in a large gas-grain chemical network to study its formation in high mass star-forming regions and dark cloud environments.It is noticed that the phenyl(-C_(6)H_(5))formation by the ice-phase hydrogen abstraction reaction of benzene(i.e.,C_(6)H_(6)+OH→C_(6)H_(5)+H_(2)O if allowed at~10 K)could serve as the starting point for the formation of phenol in the gas phase by radiative association reaction C_(6)H_(5)+OH→C_(6)H_(5)OH+hν.The gasphase reaction C_(6)H_(6)+O→C_(6)H_(5)OH significantly contributes to the formation of phenol,when the ice-phase reaction C_(6)H_(6)+OH→C_(6)H_(5)+H_(2)O is not considered at low temperature.Band 4 ALMA archival data of a hot molecular core,G10.47+0.03,are analyzed.It yields an upper limit on phenol abundance of 5.19×10^(-9).Our astrochemical model delivers an upper limit on phenol abundance of~2.20×10^(-9)in the hot molecular core,whereas its production in the dark cloud is not satisfactory.

Application of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems in Determining the Groundwater Potential in the Crystalline Basement of Bulawayo Metropolitan Area, Zimbabwe

This study is concerned with the identification and delineation of aquiferous zones for potential groundwater development across Bulawayo Metropolitan from remotely sensed data and geological inference. Attempts have been made to review literatures on groundwater exploitation in the study area and the constraints to effective and sustainable management of underground water in the study area. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) is useful in the recognition and delineation of aquiferous zones for potential groundwater in crystalline basement aquifers. LANDSAT ETM+ image, SRTM data, aeromagnetic data and other ancillary data sets were utilized to extract information on the groundwater storing controlling features of this study area. Six thematic maps were produced from remote sensing data and other ancillary data—Land use/landcover, drainage density, slope map, contact density, lithology and lineament density. GIS modeling technique of the index overlay method was used to produce the groundwater potential map. The study revealed that the regional lineaments correlate with faults, fracture zones, and lithological contrasts along fold belts in the crystalline basement rocks, while the main direction of faulting and jointing is north-north-west to north with several faults oriented, to the north-north-east, parallel to the Great Dyke. Proximity to lineaments is the highest zone of increased porosity and permeability which in turn have a greater chance of accumulating groundwater. The results have shown massive spatial variability of ground water potential ranging from very good to poor. The variability closely followed variations in the structures, geology, topography/slope, drainage density and land use/land cover in the project area. This work is a reconnaissance which needs to be validated by the use of high-resolution terrain data and satellite imagery and the quantitative analysis should be done using geophysical and hydrogeological surveys.

Assessing the Correlation between Forest Degradation and Climate Variability in the Oluwa Forest Reserve, Ondo State, Nigeria

Between 1981 and 1994, Nigeria lost 3.7 million hectares of its forests. It is estimated that less than 4% of Nigeria’s rainforest cover is left. Reckless use and abuse of the forest reserves in Nigeria lead to degradation. However, the relationship between forest degradation and climate variability has not been clearly elucidated. This study assesses the trend of forest degradation between 1986, 2002 and 2014 in the study area and also examines the correlation between forest degradation and climate variability using temperature and rainfall parameters. Classification of Landsat images (TM 1986, ETM+ 2002, and OLI 2014) and change analysis using NDVI values of three-timed period were performed to observe forest degradation in the study area. NDVI values were calculated by combining bands 4 (near infrared) and 3 (visible red) for Landsat TM and ETM+ and bands 5 (near infrared) and 4 (visible red) for Landsat OLI using the spatial analysis extension in ArcGIS environment Linear regression statistical analysis was employed to determine the correlation between forest degradation and climate variability. The results show a fluctuation in the trend of forest degradation, while a positive correlation coefficient of 0.58 shows that there is a relationship between forest degradation and temperature and rainfall variability. The study concludes that though there is a positive correlation between forest degradation and climate variability in the study area, the relationship is weak and not strong enough to make generalizations.

Corrigendum to “Hydrodesulphurization of Bonny light crude oil using nanoCo-Mo supported on zeolite synthesized from Akoko clay” [Mater Rep:Energy 2 (2022) 100162]

3.7.Catalyst performance on yields via cracking reaction The Products of the hydrocracking reaction are gaseous,liquids and solids.Tables 3-5 showed the conversion and product distribution over cracking reactions.

Detection and Mapping of Violent Crime Hotspots in Southwestern Nigeria

The increasing rate of insecurity in Nigeria, especially the southwest requires a paradigm shift from popular approach to crime hotspots detection. This study employed geospatial technologies to integrate spatio-temporal crime, social media and field observation data from the communities in all the six states in the southwest to develop crime hotspots that can serve as preliminary information to assist in allocating resources for crime control and prevention. Historical crime data from January 1972 to April, 2021 were compiled and updated with rigorous field survey in September, 2021. The field data were encoded, input to the SPSS 17 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. A total 936 crime locations data were geolocated and exported to ArcGIS 10.5 for spatial mapping using point map operation and further imported to e-Spatial web-based and QGIS for the generation of hotspot map using heatmap tool. The results revealed that armed robbery, assassination and cultism were more pronounced in Lagos and Ogun States. Similarly, high incidences of farmers/herdsmen conflicts are observed in Oyo and Osun States. Increasing incidences of kidnapping are common in all the south-western states but very prominent in Ondo, Lagos and Oyo States. Most of the violent crime incidents took place along the highways, with forests being their hideouts. Violent crimes are dominantly caused by high rate of unemployment while farmer/herdsmen conflicts were majorly triggered by the scarcity of grazing fields and destruction of arable crops. The conflicts have resulted in the increasing cases of rape and disruption of social group, intake of hard drugs, cult-related activities, low income and revenue generation, and displacement of farmers and infrastructural damages. The study advocates regular retraining and equipping of security agents, establishment of cattle ranch, and installation of sophisticated IP Camera at the crime hotspots to assist in real-time crime monitoring and management.

Novel Approach to Nonlinear PID Parameter Optimization Using Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm

This paper presents an application of an Ant Colony Optimization （ACO） algorithm to optimize the parameters in the design of a type of nonlinear PID controller. The ACO algorithm is a novel heuristic bionic algorithm, which is based on the behaviour of real ants in nature searching for food. In order to optimize the parameters of the nonlinear PID controller using ACO algorithm, an objective function based on position tracing error was constructed, and elitist strategy was adopted in the improved ACO algorithm. Detailed simulation steps are presented. This nonlinear PID controller using the ACO algorithm has high precision of control and quick response.

Inference on disk-jet connection of MAXI J1836–194 from spectral analysis with the TCAF solution

Galactic transient black hole candidate(BHC)MAXI J1836–194 was discovered on 2011 Aug30,by MAXI/GSC and Swift/BAT.The source activity during this outburst continued for^3 months before entering into the quiescent state.It again became active in March 2012 and continued for another^2 months.In this paper,3-25 keV RXTE/PCA spectra from the 2011 outburst and 0.5-10.0 keV Swift/XRT data during its 2012 outburst are analyzed with the two-component advective flow(TCAF)model based fits files in XSPEC.We calculate the X-ray contributions coming from jets/outflow using a newly developed method based on the deviation of the TCAF model normalization.We also study the correlation between observed radio and estimated jet X-ray fluxes.The correlation indices(b)are found to be 1.79 and 0.61,when the 7.45 GHz Very Large Array(VLA)radio flux is correlated with the total X-ray and jet X-ray fluxes in 3-25 keV range respectively.It has been found that the jet contributes in X-rays up to a maximum of 86%during its 2011 outburst.This makes the BHC MAXI J1836–194 strongly jet dominated during the initial rising phase.

A review of solar type Ⅲ radio bursts

Solar type III radio bursts are an important diagnostic tool in the understanding of solar accelerated electron beams. They are a signature of propagating beams of nonthermal electrons in the solar atmosphere and the solar system. Consequently, they provide information on electron acceleration and transport, and the conditions of the background ambient plasma they travel through. We review the observational properties of type III bursts with an emphasis on recent results and how each property can help identify attributes of electron beams and the ambient background plasma. We also review some of the theoretical aspects of type III radio bursts and cover a number of numerical efforts that simulate electron beam transport through the solar corona and the heliosphere.

High Speed Lapping of SiC Ceramic Material with Solid (Fixed) Abrasives

An experimental investigation is carried out to machine SiC ceramic material through the method of high speed plane lapping with solid(fixed) abrasives after the critical condition of brittle-ductile transition is theoretically analyzed. The results show that the material removal mechanism and the surface roughness are chiefly related to the granularity of abrasives for brittle materials such as SiC ceramic. It is easily realized to machine SiC ceramic in the ductile mode using W3.5 grit and a high efficiency, low cost and smooth surface with a surface roughness of R_a 2.4?nm can be achieved.

Characterization of chaotic and periodic dynamics in a time series

In order to characterize synthesizing periodic and chaotic component dynamics in a time series, classical chaotic system-logistic map and Duffing system was examined by time dependent exponent (TDE) of the direct dynamical test. The simulative calculation results with the logistic map and Duffing system showed that periods and chaotic dynamics can be readily characterized by computing a series of TDE curves. The method was also applied to study power short-term load time series as well as measured a time series. Their dynamic characteristics of chaotic component and period were conveniently found.

TRULY BALANCED PULSE GENERATOR USING MICROWAVE TRANSISTOR AND SRD

A novel efficient circuit for Ultra-WideBand(UWB) balanced sub-nanosecond monocycle pulse generation is presented.The pulse generator employs wideband bipolar transistor,step recovery diodes,Schottky diodes,and simple charging and discharging circuitry.Simple transient analysis and design of the circuit are presented along with their operating principle.The pulse generator produces truly balanced monocycle pulse with 500 ps pulse-width and 800 mV peak voltage.The generated monocycle pulse also has very symmetrical positive and negative portions and low ringing level.The presented pulse generator can be used as both a transmitter feeding UWB balanced antennas without broadband baluns and a balanced switching pulse generator that used in UWB receiver.

Transonic Accretion and Winds Around Pseudo-Kerr Black Holes And Comparison with General Relativistic Solutions

Spectral and timing properties of accretion flows on a black hole depend on their density and temperature distributions,which in turn come from the underlying dynamics.Thus,an accurate description of the flow which includes hydrodynamics and radiative transfer is a must to interpret the observational results.In the case of nonrotating black holes,a pseudo-Newtonian description of surrounding spacetime enables one to make significant progress in predicting spectral and timing properties.This formalism is lacking for spinning black holes.In this paper,we show that there exists an exact form of a"natural"potential derivable from the general relativistic(GR)radial momentum equation.Use of this potential in an otherwise Newtonian set of equations allows to describe transonic flows very accurately as is evidenced by comparing with solutions obtained from the full GR framework.We study the properties of the critical points and the centrifugal pressure supported shocks in the parameter space spanned by the specific energy and angular momentum,and compare with the results of GR hydrodynamics.We show that this potential can safely be used for the entire range of Kerr parameter-1<a<1 for modeling of observational results around spinning black holes.We assume the flow to be inviscid.Thus,it is non-dissipative with constant energy and angular momentum.These assumptions are valid very close to the black hole as the infall timescale is much shorter as compared to the viscous timescale.

Accretion flow properties of XTE J1118+480 during its 2005 outburst

We study spectral and temporal properties of Galactic short orbital period transient black hole XTE J1118+480 during its 2005 outburst using archival data of RXTE PCA and HEXTE instruments in the combined energy range of 3−100 keV.Spectral analysis with the physical two component advective flow(TCAF)model allows us to understand the accretion flow properties of the source.We found that this outburst of XTE J1118+480 is an unconventional outburst as the source was only in the hard state(HS).Our spectral analysis suggests that during the entire outburst,the source was highly dominated by the low angular momentum sub-Keplerian halo rate.Since the source was active in radio throughout the outburst,we make an effort to estimate X-ray contribution of jets to total observed X-ray emissions from the spectral analysis with the TCAF model.The total X-ray intensity shows a similar nature of evolution as that of radio and jet X-ray fluxes.This allowed us to define this‘outburst’also as a jet dominated‘outburst’.Total X-ray flux is also found to subside when jet activity disappears.Our detailed spectral analysis also indicated that although the source was only in the HS during the outburst,in the late declining phase the spectrum became slightly softer due to the slow rise in the Keplerian disk rate.