The present study provides new insight into suitable microsporidian–host associations. It relates regional and continental-wide host specialization in microsporidians infecting amphipods to degraded and recovering habitats across 2 German river catchments. It provides a unique opportunity to infer the persistence of parasites following anthropogenic disturbance and their establishment in restored rivers. Amphipods were collected in 31 sampling sites with differing degradation and restoration gradients. Specimens were morphologically (hosts) and molecularly identified (host and parasites). Amphipod diversity and abundance, microsporidian diversity, host phylogenetic specificity and continental-wide β-specificity were investigated and related to each other and/or environmental variables. Fourteen microsporidian molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs), mainly generalist parasites, infecting 6 amphipod MOTUs were detected, expanding the current knowledge on the host range by 17 interactions. There was no difference in microsporidian diversity and host specificity among restored and near-natural streams (Boye) or between those located in urban and rural areas (Kinzig). Similarly, microsporidian diversity was generally not influenced by water parameters. In the Boye catchment, host densities did not influence microsporidian MOTU richness across restored and near-natural sites. High host turnover across the geographical range suggests that neither environmental conditions nor host diversity plays a significant role in the establishment into restored areas. Host diversity and environmental parameters do not indicate the persistence and dispersal of phylogenetic host generalist microsporidians in environments that experienced anthropogenic disturbance. Instead, these might depend on more complex mechanisms such as the production of resistant spores, host switching and host dispersal acting individually or conjointly.

We present an experimental study of the dynamics of shocks generated by the interaction of a double-spot laser in different kinds of targets: simple aluminum foils and foam–aluminum layered targets. The experiment was performed using the Prague PALS iodine laser working at 0.44 μm wavelength and irradiance of a few 1015 W/cm2. Shock breakouts for pure Al and for foam-Al targets have been recorded using time-resolved self-emission diagnostics. Experimental results have been compared with numerical simulations. The shocks originating from two spots move forward and expand radially in the targets, finally colliding in the intermediate region and producing a very strong increase in pressure. This is particularly clear for the case of foam layered targets, where we also observed a delay of shock breakout and a spatial redistribution of the pressure. The influence of the foam layer doped with high-Z (Au) nanoparticles on the shock dynamics was also studied.

In Germany all keepers of livestock are legally required to record animal welfare indicators as part of their on-farm self-assessment. The Association for Technology and Structures in Agriculture (Kuratorium für Technik und Bauwesen in der Landwirtschaft e.V. (KTBL)) has suggested the use of a particular set of animal welfare indicators in their publication Animal welfare indicators: Practical guide – Pigs. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the inter-observer reliability (Inter-OR) and intra-observer reliability (Intra-OR) of these indicators with respect to the welfare of fattening pigs. For the assessment of Inter-OR, three observers evaluated six KTBL animal welfare indicators. The Inter-OR of the indicators was calculated from the results using intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC). ‘Excellent’ Inter-OR results were found for the indicators tail length (ICC 0.89), skin lesions (ICC 0.77) and ear lesions (ICC 0.80). In contrast, the Inter-OR of the indicators tail lesions (ICC 0.46) and faecal soiling (ICC 0.47) were considered to be only ‘fair’ and that of the indicator lameness (ICC 0.36) as ‘poor’. For the evaluation of the Intra-OR, the same three observers assessed the welfare of 162 to 200 fattening pigs using the same welfare indicators in total eight times. Again ICCs, here per indicator and observer, were used to calculate the Intra-OR. The Intra-OR of the indicators faecal soiling (ICC 0.81) and ear lesions (ICC 0.97) lay in the ‘excellent’ range on average. While the Intra-OR of the indicators skin lesions (ICC 0.67), tail length (ICC 0.74) and lameness (ICC 0.60) could still be considered as being ‘good’, the Intra-OR of the indicator tail lesions (ICC 0.52) could only be assessed as being ‘fair’. From these results the significance of the KTBL indicators could be judged as follows: it is possible to use all the chosen indicators apart from the indicator tail lesions as an internal controlling instrument or as part of an internal weak-point analysis as long as the indicators are evaluated by the same person. A comparison of the indicators tail lesions, lameness and faecal soiling when assessed by different observers should be considered critically because the Inter-OR of these three indicators could only be considered as being ‘poor’ to ‘fair’.

This paper provides a summary of recent research connected with the shock ignition (SI) concept of the inertial confinement fusion which was carried out at PALS. In the experiments, Cu planar targets coated with a thin CH layer were used. Two-beam irradiation experiment was applied to investigate the effect of preliminary produced plasma to shock-wave generation. The 1ω or 3ω main beam with a high intensity >1015 W/cm2 generates shock wave, while the other 1ω beam with the intensity below 1014 W/cm2 creates CH pre-plasma simulating the pre-compressed plasma related to SI. Influence of laser wavelength on absorbed energy transfer to shock wave was studied by means of femtosecond interferometry and measuring the crater volume. To characterize the hot electron and ion emission, two-dimensional (2D) Kα-imaging of Cu plasma and grid collector measurements were used. In single 1ω beam experiments energy transport by fast electrons produced by resonant absorption made a significant contribution to shock-wave pressure. However, two-beam experiments with 1ω main beam show that the pre-plasma is strongly degrading the scalelength which leads to decreasing the fast electron energy contribution to shock pressure. In both the single 3ω beam experiments and the two-beam experiments with the 3ω main beam, do not show any clear influence of fast electron transport on shock-wave pressure. The non-monotonic behavior of the scalelength at changing the laser beam focal radius in both presence and absence of pre-plasma reflects the competition of plasma motion and electron heat conduction under the conditions of one-dimensional and 2D plasma expansion at large and small focal radii, respectively.

The experimental study of the plasma projectile acceleration in the laser-induced cavity pressure acceleration (LICPA) scheme is reported. In the experiment performed at the kilojoule PALS laser facility, the parameters of the projectile were measured using interferometry, a streak camera and ion diagnostics, and the measurements were supported by two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations. It is shown that in the LICPA accelerator with a 200-J laser driver, a 4-μg gold plasma projectile is accelerated to the velocity of 140 km/s with the energetic acceleration efficiency of 15–19% which is significantly higher than those achieved with the commonly used ablative acceleration and the highest among the ones measured so far for any projectiles accelerated to the velocities ≥100 km/s. This achievement opens the possibility of creation and investigation of high-energy-density matter states with the use of moderate-energy lasers and may also have an impact on the development of the impact ignition approach to inertial confinement fusion.

The paper is a continuation of research carried out at Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) related to the shock ignition (SI) approach in inertial fusion, which was carried out with use of 1ω main laser beam as the main beam generating a shock wave. Two-layer targets were used, consisting of Cu massive planar target coated with a thin polyethylene layer, which, in the case of two-beam irradiation geometry, simulate conditions related to the SI scenario. The investigations presented in this paper are related to the use of 3ω to create ablation pressure for high-power shock wave generation. The interferometric studies of the ablative plasma expansion, complemented by measurements of crater volumes and Kα emission, clearly demonstrate the effect of changing the incident laser intensity due to changing the focal radius on efficiency of laser energy transfer to a shock wave and fast electron emission. The efficiency of the energy transfer increases with the radius of the focused laser beam. The pre-plasma does not significantly change the character of this effect. However, it unambiguously results in the increasing temperature of fast electrons, the total energy of which remains very small (<0.1% of the laser energy). This study shows that the optimal radius from the point of view of 3ω radiation energy transfer to the shock wave is the maximal one used in these experiments and equal to 200 µm that corresponds to the minimal effect of two-dimensional (2D)-expansion. Such a result is typical for the ablation process determined by electron conductivity energy transfer under the conditions of one-dimensional or 2D matter expansion without any appreciable effect due to energy transfer by fast electrons. The 2D simulations based on application of the ALANT-HE code and an analytical model that includes generation and transport of hot electrons has been used to support of experimental data.

The effect of laser intensity on characteristics of the plasma ablated from a low-Z (CH) planar target irradiated by a 250 ps, 0.438 µm laser pulse with the intensity of up to 1016 W/cm2 as well as on parameters of the laser-driven shock generated in the target for various scale-lengths of preformed plasma was investigated at the kilojoule Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS) laser facility. Characteristics of the plasma were measured with the use of 3-frame interferometry, ion diagnostics, an X-ray spectrometer, and Kα imaging. Parameters of the shock generated in a Cl doped CH target by the intense 3ω laser pulse were inferred by numerical hydrodynamic simulations from the measurements of craters produced by the shock in the massive Cu target behind the CH layer. It was found that the pressure of the shock generated in the plastic layer is relatively weakly influenced by the preplasma (the pressure drop due to the preplasma presence is ~10–20%) and at the pulse intensity of ~1016 W/cm2 the maximum pressure reaches ~80–90 Mbar. However, an increase in pressure of the shock with the laser intensity is slower than predicted by theory for a planar shock and the maximum pressure achieved in the experiment is by a factor of ~2 lower than predicted by the theory. Both at the preplasma absence and presence, the laser-to-hot electrons energy conversion efficiency is small, ~1% or below, and the influence of hot electrons on the generated shock is expected to be weak.

This paper aims at investigation of efficiency of an ablative plasma energy transfer into a massive aluminum target using different atomic number ablators. For this reason, several target materials representing a wide range of atomic numbers (Z = 3.5–73) were used. The experiment was carried out at the iodine Prague Asterix Laser System. The laser provided a 250 ps pulse with energy of 130 J at the third harmonic frequency (λ3 = 0.438 μm). To study the plasma stream configurations a four-frame X-ray pinhole camera was used. The electron temperature of the plasma in the near-surface target region was measured by means of an X-ray spectroscopy. The efficiency of the plasma energy transport to the target was determined via the crater volume measurement using the crater replica technique. The experimental results were compared with two-dimensional numerical simulations where the plasma dynamics was based on the one-fluid, two temperature model, including radiation transport in diffusive approximation and ionization kinetics. It was shown that the plasma expansion geometry plays an important role in the ablative plasma energy transfer into the target.

This paper reports on properties of a plasma formed by sequential action of two laser beams on a flat target, simulating the conditions of shock-ignited inertial confinement fusion target exposure. The experiments were performed using planar targets consisting of a massive copper (Cu) plate coated with a thin plastic (CH) layer, which was irradiated by the 1ω PALS laser beam (λ = 1.315 μm) at the energy of 250 J. The intensity of the fixed-energy laser beam was scaled by varying the focal spot radius. To imitate shock ignition conditions, the lower-intensity auxiliary 1ω beam created CH-pre-plasma which was irradiated by the main beam with a delay of 1.2 ns, thus generating a shock wave in the massive part of the target. To study the parameters of the plasma treated by the two-beam irradiation of the targets, a set of various diagnostics was applied, namely: (i) Two-channel polaro-interferometric system irradiated by the femtosecond laser (~40 fs), (ii) spectroscopic measurements in the X-ray range, (iii) two-dimensional (2D)-resolved imaging of the Kα line emission from Cu, (iv) measurements of the ion emission by means of ion collectors, and (v) measurements of the volume of craters produced in a massive target providing information on the efficiency of the laser energy transfer to the shock wave. The 2D numerical simulations have been used to support the interpretation of experimental data. The general conclusion is that the fraction of the main laser beam energy deposited into the massive copper at two-beam irradiation decreases in comparison with the case of pre-plasma. The reason is that the pre-formed and expanding plasma deteriorates the efficiency of the energy transfer from the main laser pulse to a solid part of the targets by means of the fast electrons and the wave of an electron thermal conductivity.

The laser system PALS, as a driver of a broad-beam ion source, delivered deuterons which generated neutrons with energies higher than 14 MeV through the $\def \xmlpi #1{}\def \mathsfbi #1{\boldsymbol {\mathsf {#1}}}\let \le =\leqslant \let \leq =\leqslant \let \ge =\geqslant \let \geq =\geqslant \def \Pr {\mathit {Pr}}\def \Fr {\mathit {Fr}}\def \Rey {\mathit {Re}}{}^{7}\mathrm{Li(d,n)}{}^{8}\mathrm{Be}$ reaction. Deuterons with sub-MeV energy were accelerated from the front surface of a massive $\mathrm{CD}_{2}$ target in the backward direction with respect to the laser beam vector. Simultaneously, neutrons were emitted from the primary $\mathrm{CD}_{2}$ target and a secondary LiF catcher. The total maximum measured neutron yield from ${}^{2}\mathrm{D(d,n)}{}^{3}\mathrm{He}$, ${}^{7}\mathrm{Li(d,n)}{}^{8}\mathrm{Be}$, ${}^{12}\mathrm{C(d,n)}{}^{13}\mathrm{N}$ reactions was ${\sim } 3.5 ({\pm }0.5) \times 10^{8}\ \mathrm{neutrons/shot}$.

The paper is directed to the study of high-temperature plasma and ablation plasma formation as well as efficiency of the laser energy transfer to solid targets irradiated by laser pulses with intensities of 1–50 PW/cm2 and duration of 200–300 ps, i.e., at conditions corresponding to the characteristics of the laser spike designed to generate the igniting shock wave in the shock ignition concept. The experiments have been performed at Prague Asterix Laser System. The iodine laser delivered 250 ps (full width at half maximum) pulses with the energy in the range of 100–600 J at the first (λ1 = 1.315 µm) and third (λ3 = 0.438 µm) harmonic frequencies. The focal spot radius of the laser beam on the surface of Al or Cu targets made was gradually decreased from 160 to 40 µm. The diagnostic data collected using three-frame interferometry, X-ray spectroscopy, and crater replica technique were interpreted by two-dimensional numerical and analytical modeling which included generation and transport of fast electrons. The coupling parameter Iλ2 was varied in the range of 1 × 1014−8 × 1016 Wμm2/cm2 covering the regimes of weak to intense fast electron generation. The dominant contribution of fast electron energy transfer into the ablation process and shock wave generation was found when using the first harmonic laser radiation, the focal spot radius of 40–100 µm, and the laser energy of 300–600 J.

A massive deuterated polyethylene target was exposed to laser intensities of about 3 × 1016 W/cm2 employing the 3-TW Prague Asterix Laser System (PALS). We achieved a yield of 2 × 108 neutrons per laser shot. Average time-of-flight signals of scintillation detectors operated in current mode reveal broad energy spectra of fusion neutrons with dominating energy of about 2.45 MeV. The energy dependence of the neutron yield shows a consistency in results of nanosecond, picosecond and sub-picosecond experiments. Here we also show that ions emitted in the backward direction from the front target surface have a multi-peak energy spectrum, which is caused by burst emission mechanisms.

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of butaphosphan and cyanocobalamin (BTPC) supplementation on plasma metabolites and milk production in postpartum dairy cows. A total of fifty-two Holstein cows were randomly assigned to receive either: (1) 10 ml of saline (NaCl 0.9%, control group); (2) 1000 mg of butaphosphan and 0.5 mg of cyanocobalamin (BTPC1 group); and (3) 2000 mg of butaphosphan and 1.0 mg of cyanocobalamin (BTPC2 group). All cows received injections every 5 days from calving to 20 days in milk (DIM). Blood samples were collected every 15 days from calving until 75 DIM to determine serum concentration of glucose, non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA), β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), cholesterol, urea, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P), magnesium (Mg), aminotransferase aspartate (AST) and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT). The body condition score (BCS) and milk production were evaluated from calving until 90 DIM. Increasing doses of BTPC caused a linear reduction in plasma concentrations of NEFA and cholesterol. Supplementation of BTPC also reduced concentrations of BHB but it did not differ between the two treatment doses. Milk yield and milk protein had a linear increase with increasing doses of BTPC. A quadratic effect was detected for milk fat and total milk solids according to treatment dose, and BTPC1 had the lowest mean values. Concentrations of glucose, urea, P, Mg, AST, GGT, milk lactose and BCS were not affected by treatment. These results indicate that injections of BTPC during the early postpartum period can reduce NEFA and BHB concentrations and increase milk production in Holstein cows.

Carbon-based forest conservation requires the establishment of ‘reference emission levels’ against which to measure a country or region's progress in reducing their carbon emissions. In East Africa, landscape-scale estimates of carbon fluxes are uncertain and factors such as deforestation poorly resolved due to a lack of data. In this study, trends in vegetation cover and carbon for East Africa were quantified using moderate-resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) land cover grids from 2002 to 2008 (500-m spatial resolution), in combination with a regional carbon look-up table. The inclusion of data on rainfall and the distribution of protected areas helped to gauge impacts on vegetation burning (assessed using 1-km spatial resolution MODIS active fire data) and biome trends. Between 2002 and 2008, the spatial extents of forests, woodlands and scrublands decreased considerably and East Africa experienced a net carbon loss of 494 megatonnes (Mt). Most countries in the area were sources of carbon emissions, except for Tanzania and Malawi, where the areal increase of savannah and woodlands counterbalanced carbon emissions from deforestation. Both Malawi and Tanzania contain large areas of planted forest. Vegetation burning was correlated with rainfall (forest only) and differed depending on land management. Freely available global earth observation products have provided ways to achieve rapid assessment and monitoring of carbon change hotspots at the landscape scale.