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Potassium bromide (KBr) thin films were deposited by resistive thermal evaporation at substrate temperatures ranging from 50 °C to 250 °C to systematically elucidate the temperature-dependent evolution of their physical properties. Structural, morphological, and optical characteristics were examined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The results reveal a complex, non-monotonic response to temperature rather than a simple linear trend. As the substrate temperature increases, growth evolves from a mixed polycrystalline texture to a pronounced (200) preferred orientation. Morphological analysis shows that the film surface is smoothest at 150 °C, while the microstructure becomes densest at 200 °C. These structural variations directly modulate the optical constants: the refractive index attains its highest values in the 150–200 °C window, approaching that of bulk KBr. Cryogenic temperature (6 K) FTIR measurements further demonstrate that suppression of multi-phonon absorption markedly enhances the infrared transmittance of the films. Taken together, the data indicate that 150–200 °C constitutes an optimal process window for fabricating KBr films that combine superior crystallinity, low defect density, and high packing density. This study elucidates the temperature-driven structure–property coupling and offers valuable guidance for optimizing high-performance infrared and cryogenic optical components.

Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates rely on desalination to produce water for domestic use. Desalination produces brine that may intrude into the aquifers to pollute the fresh groundwater because of the concentration gradient and groundwater pumping. Modeling the trends of saltwater intrusion needs theoretical understanding and thorough logical experimentation. The objective of this exercise was to understand the phenomenon of saltwater intrusion using an existing set of data analyzed with the convective–diffusion equation and the two-region mobile–immobile solution model. The objective was achieved by optimizing non-measurable solute transport parameters from an existing set of data generated from a series of logical miscible displacements of potassium bromide through sepiolite minerals and curve-fitting simulations. Assumptions included that solute displacements through sepiolite porous media and the related simulations represented the phenomenon of saltwater intrusion under non-equilibrium conditions of porous media mimicking the aquifers. Miscible displacements of potassium bromide were observed from a column of 2.0–2.8 mm aggregates of sepiolite over 4 ranges of concentration and at 11 displacement speeds under saturated vertical flow deionized water and vice versa. Breakthrough curves of both bromide and potassium ions were analyzed by a curve-fitting technique to optimize transport parameters assuming solute movement was governed (i) by the convective–diffusion equation and (ii) the two-region mobile–immobile solution model. Column Peclet numbers from the two analyses were identical for potassium ions but those for bromide ions were c. 60% greater from the two-region model than from the convective–diffusion equation. For the two-region model, dispersion coefficients were well defined and remained unchanged from the convective–diffusion equation for potassium ions but decreased for bromide ions. Retardation factors for bromide ions were approximately the same, but those for potassium ions, though > 1, were poorly defined. In order to design mitigation strategies for avoiding groundwater contamination, this study’s findings may help model groundwater pollution caused by the activities of desalination of seawater, which produces concentrated liquid that intrudes into the coastal aquifer through miscible displacement. However, robust saltwater intrusion models may be considered in future studies to confirm the results of the approach presented in this exercise. Field data on the groundwater contamination levels may be collected to compare with simulated trends drawn from the saltwater intrusion models and the curve-fitting technique used in this work. A comparison of the output from the two types of models may help determine the right option to understand the phenomena of saltwater intrusion into coastal aquifers of various characteristics.

Ten new diterpene glycosides virescenosides Z9-Z18 (1–10) together with three known analogues (11–13) and aglycon of virescenoside A (14) were isolated from the marine-derived fungus Acremonium striatisporum KMM 4401. These compounds were obtained by cultivating fungus on wort agar medium with the addition of potassium bromide. Structures of the isolated metabolites were established based on spectroscopic methods. The effects of some isolated glycosides and aglycons 15–18 on urease activity and regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Nitric Oxide (NO) production in macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPC) were evaluated.

A ten-year-old indoor, castrated male Cardigan Welsh Corgi ( ) presented with the chief complaints of chronic vomiting, retching, hypersalivation, and bilateral submandibular masses for two months. The systemic examinations, including serum chemistry, radiography, ultrasonography, and fluoroscopy, were unremarkable. A fine-needle aspiration revealed bilateral submandibular sialadenitis. Broad-spectrum antibiotics with phenobarbital were prescribed to alleviate the ptyalism. Thereafter, the left submandibular glands were normalised, and the right submandibular glands decreased to half their size. Three weeks later, the animal had an emergency visit because of a sudden left exophthalmos. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed enlarged left zygomatic and right mandibular salivary glands. The affected glands were surgically removed; the histopathologic examination confirmed non-septic sialadenitis, and the patient was finally diagnosed with idiopathic sialadenitis. Vomiting continued after the gland removal and the dog required a gradual increase in the phenobarbital dosage and an additional antiepileptic drug (potassium bromide) to manage the symptoms. The patient died eight months later from an unknown cause. This case report of bilateral submandibular sialadenitis concurrent with unilateral zygomatic sialadenitis in a Welsh Corgi dog suggests that when multiple salivary glands are involved, the response to anti-epileptic drugs and the prognosis is poor compared to that involving a single salivary gland.

The effects of potassium bromate (KBrO3), sodium bromate (NaBrO3), and potassium bromide (KBr) on the sexual reproduction of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus were studied by 2-d population growth, 4-d sexual reproduction, and 7-d resting egg production tests. The results showed that low concentrations of bromate promote 2-d and 4-d rotifer population growth, while high concentrations limit it. Bromate stress significantly affected parameters of rotifer sexual reproduction, including the ratio of mictic to amictic females, the mictic rate of rotifers, and the fertilization rate of mictic females. KBrO3 at 0.001, 0.01, 1, and 10 mg/L, NaBrO3 at 1 and 10 mg/L, and KBr at 100 and 200 mg/L significantly increased resting egg production, while KBrO3 at 100 and 200 mg/L, and NaBrO3 at 200 mg/L significantly decreased it. Resting egg production appears to provide a sensitive endpoint in evaluating the effect of bromate on rotifer sexual reproduction.

Lateral subsurface flow (LSF) is a phenomenon that is widely occurring including the hummocky ground moraine landscape. Due to the heterogeneous structure of the subsurface, transport times of pesticides and nutrients from agricultural areas to adjacent water bodies are difficult to assess. Here, LSF at Luvisol and Regosol plots of an experimental field were studied by applying potassium bromide along a 10 m trench below the plow pan in October 2019. The soil solution was collected in suction cups 3 m downslope of the trench and in April 2021, the soil was sampled down to 1 m depth. Almost no bromide was found in the soil solution except for the 160 cm depth of the Regosol plot after a 541 day period. After the same time, bromide was observed in the 90 cm soil depth directly underneath the application trench of the Luvisol plot. A 3D reconstruction of the subsurface horizon boundaries of the Regosol revealed subsurface heterogeneities such as sand lenses that might have been attributed to the heterogeneous subsurface flow pattern.

Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) is one of the most famous artists in the world. During his 10-year career as an artist, he created more than 850 paintings. These works of art are now displayed in museums around the globe. It is therefore even more surprising that van Gogh sold just one painting during his lifetime. Van Gogh is also well-known for his mental illness. In 1888, at the age of 35, he famously sliced off his left ear. This was followed by multiple mental collapses in early 1889, leading to his admission to a mental hospital. Despite living in the asylum, van Gogh continued to paint and created some of his most beautiful works of art during the year at Saint-Rémy. Tragically, he committed suicide in 1890 at the age of 37. Over the 130 years since his death, there has been much speculation about the underlying illness of Vincent van Gogh. Many of his contemporary physicians felt that he had a form of epilepsy as the cause of his sudden “attacks”. By the last quarter of the 19th century, science and medicine were moving rapidly forward, and there were many medical conditions that had effective treatments. One example is the use of digoxin for the treatment of heart failure, and another is the discovery of potassium bromide for seizures. This paper provides an overview of van Gogh’s mental illness, the treatments that were offered by his contemporaneous physicians, and the role that these factors may have influenced his paintings.

Potassium bromide is a frequently used antiseizure medication with a half-life time of over 25 days. Oral intake of sodium chloride as well as renal function influence this half-life time and may have an influence on the needed dose to get proper serum levels. The hypothesis is that dogs living close to coastal areas require a greater potassium bromide dose than dogs living more inland. The main study objective was to determine the relationship between bromide dose, serum bromide concentration, treatment duration, type of food, concurrent therapies and the proximity of the dog's residency to a coastal area. A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed. A total of 658 bromide serum measurements were retrieved from the veterinary faculty's laboratory archive, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. Information on the bromide dose, renal function, treatment period, type of food, concurrent therapies and residence was obtained retrospectively from owners of all dogs using a postal survey. A dataset of 220 unique study units was created. The dogs were grouped based on their residence (proximity to the coast > or <50 km). Differences between the groups of dogs regarding bromide dose, serum bromide concentration, treatment duration, type of food and concurrent therapies were analyzed to evaluate the effect of residence on bromide dose and serum concentration.

NaBr and KBr single crystals were exposed to X-ray (W-target, 30 kV, 20 mA) at room temperature and strain rate cycling tests associated with ultrasonic oscillation were carried out for the crystals at 77–293 K. The stress decrement (Δ τ ) due to oscillation and the stress change due to strain rate cycling have been measured during plastic deformation. The relative curve of ∆ τ and strain rate sensitivity ( λ ) of flow stress has a stair-like shape for the two kinds of crystals. That is to say, the curve has two bending points and is divided into three regions: two plateau regions and the region between the two bending points, where λ decreases gradually with increasing ∆ τ . The first region is a plateau within the small ∆ τ . This implies that X-ray-induced defects have weak interaction with dislocation and act as obstacles to dislocation motion. Furthermore, the dependence of stress decrement ( τ p ) at the first bending point on the activation volume ( V ) obtained from the difference between λ in the first and second plateau regions reflects the interaction between dislocation and defects induced by the X-irradiation. The activation energy for the break-away of a dislocation from the defect could be obtained on the basis of τ p – V curve fitting the Barnett model to the experimental results. Then, the values of activation energy are 0.76 and 0.81 eV for NaBr and for KBr, respectively.

Managed grasslands are characterized by rotations of leys and arable crops. The regime of water flow evolves during the leys because of earthworm and root activity, climate and agricultural practices (fertilizer, cutting and cattle trampling). The effects of duration of the leys, cattle trampling and fertilizer practice on the movement of water through sandy loam soil profiles were investigated in managed grassland of a dairy operation. Experiments using tracer chemicals were performed, with or without cattle slurry application, with cutting or grazing, in the 1st and the 3rd year of ley, and in winter rye. Each plot was irrigated for an hour with 18·5 mm of water containing a conservative tracer, potassium bromide; 24 h after irrigation, macropores >1 mm were recorded visually on a horizontal plan of 0·7 m2 at five depths (10, 30, 40, 70 and 100 cm). The bromide (Br−) concentration in soil was also analysed at these depths and the density of the different earthworm species were recorded. The density of macropores was not directly influenced by the factors investigated. The abundance of anecic earthworms was larger after 3 years of ley and was not affected by grazing (trampling or dung pat deposits) or fertilizer practice. The water infiltration estimated from the Br− concentration was not influenced by fertilizer practice and was reduced after 3 years of ley due to settlement, but was greater than that for the arable phase of the rotation. As shown by Br− concentration, preferential flow was induced by the grazing regime. Infiltrating water may bypass the soil matrix under similar or more extreme conditions than in the current experiment. Such hydraulic functioning in the grazing regime is expected to reduce the risk of leaching of nitrate contained in soil water.