517 research outputs found
High-velocity hot CO emission close to Sgr A*: Herschel/HIFI submillimeter spectral survey toward Sgr A*
The properties of molecular gas, the fuel that forms stars, inside the cavity
of the circumnuclear disk (CND) are not well constrained. We present results of
a velocity-resolved submillimeter scan (~480 to 1250 GHz}) and [CII]158um line
observations carried out with Herschel/HIFI toward Sgr A*; these results are
complemented by a ~2'x2' CO (J=3-2) map taken with the IRAM 30 m telescope at
~7'' resolution. We report the presence of high positive-velocity emission (up
to about +300 km/s) detected in the wings of CO J=5-4 to 10-9 lines. This wing
component is also seen in H2O (1_{1,0}-1_{0,1}) a tracer of hot molecular gas;
in [CII]158um, an unambiguous tracer of UV radiation; but not in [CI]492,806
GHz. This first measurement of the high-velocity CO rotational ladder toward
Sgr A* adds more evidence that hot molecular gas exists inside the cavity of
the CND, relatively close to the supermassive black hole (< 1 pc). Observed by
ALMA, this velocity range appears as a collection of CO (J=3-2) cloudlets lying
in a very harsh environment that is pervaded by intense UV radiation fields,
shocks, and affected by strong gravitational shears. We constrain the physical
conditions of the high positive-velocity CO gas component by comparing with
non-LTE excitation and radiative transfer models. We infer T_k~400 K to 2000 K
for n_H~(0.2-1.0)x10^5 cm^-3. These results point toward the important role of
stellar UV radiation, but we show that radiative heating alone cannot explain
the excitation of this ~10-60 M_Sun component of hot molecular gas inside the
central cavity. Instead, strongly irradiated shocks are promising candidates.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letters ( this v2 includes
corrections by language editor
Study of Biodiesel Production from Sunflower Oil Using Non Usual Basic Polymeric Resin as Catalyst
Biodiesel is defined as a long-chain mono alkyl (methyl, ethyl or propyl) ester of fatty acids obtained from renewable sources by transesterification reaction using an acid or base. In this work, a basic resin, Amberlyst A26, was used to produce methyl sunflower biodiesel. The iodine value, corrosion to copper, oxidative stability, specific mass, water content, acid value, cloud point and ester composition were evaluated. The heterogeneous catalyst was also characterized to verify its efficiency and its ability to be reused. We used the following analytical techniques: scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), X-rays fluorescence (XRF) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The results showed that the characteristics of biodiesel made from sunflower oil using resin A26 as a catalyst are in accordance with Brazilian biodiesel regulations, except the oxidative stability. The techniques used to characterize the resin showed that it is possible to reuse the resin after regeneration
Evaluation of a Pomegranate Peel Extract as an Alternative Means to Control Olive Anthracnose
Olive anthracnose is caused by different species of Colletotrichum spp. and may be regarded as the most damaging disease of olive fruit worldwide, greatly affecting quality and quantity of the productions. A pomegranate peel extract (PGE) proved very effective in controlling the disease. The extract had a strong in vitro fungicidal activity against Colletotrichum acutatum sensu stricto, was very effective in both preventive and curative trials with artificially inoculated fruit, and induced resistance in treated olive tissues. In field trials, PGE was significantly more effective than copper, which is traditionally used to control the disease. The highest level of protection was achieved by applying the extract in the early ascending phase of the disease outbreaks because natural rots were completely inhibited with PGE at 12 g/liter and were reduced by 98.6 and by 93.0% on plants treated with PGE at 6 and 3 g/liter, respectively. Two treatments carried out 30 and 15 days before the expected epidemic outbreak reduced the incidence of the disease by 77.6, 57.0, and 51.8%, depending on the PGE concentration. The analysis of epiphytic populations showed a strong antimicrobial activity of PGE, which sharply reduced both fungal and bacterial populations. Because PGE was obtained from a natural matrix using safe chemicals and did not have any apparent phytotoxic effect on treated olive fruit, it may be regarded as a safe and effective natural antifungal preparation to control olive anthracnose and improve olive productions
Scalable Synthesis of 5,11-diethynylated Indeno[1,2-\u3cem\u3eb\u3c/em\u3e]fluorene-6,12-diones and Exploration of Their Solid State Packing
We report a new synthetic route to 5,11-disubstituted indeno[1,2-b]fluorene-6,12-diones that is amenable to larger scale reactions, allowing for the preparation of gram amounts of material. With this new methodology, we explored the effects on crystal packing morphology for the indeno[1,2-b]fluorene-6,12-diones by varying the substituents on the silylethynyl groups
Density-dependence of functional development in spiking cortical networks grown in vitro
During development, the mammalian brain differentiates into specialized
regions with distinct functional abilities. While many factors contribute to
functional specialization, we explore the effect of neuronal density on the
development of neuronal interactions in vitro. Two types of cortical networks,
dense and sparse, with 50,000 and 12,000 total cells respectively, are studied.
Activation graphs that represent pairwise neuronal interactions are constructed
using a competitive first response model. These graphs reveal that, during
development in vitro, dense networks form activation connections earlier than
sparse networks. Link entropy analysis of dense net- work activation graphs
suggests that the majority of connections between electrodes are reciprocal in
nature. Information theoretic measures reveal that early functional information
interactions (among 3 cells) are synergetic in both dense and sparse networks.
However, during later stages of development, previously synergetic
relationships become primarily redundant in dense, but not in sparse networks.
Large link entropy values in the activation graph are related to the domination
of redundant ensembles in late stages of development in dense networks. Results
demonstrate differences between dense and sparse networks in terms of
informational groups, pairwise relationships, and activation graphs. These
differences suggest that variations in cell density may result in different
functional specialization of nervous system tissue in vivo.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
The magnetic field in the Flame nebula
Star formation is essential in galaxy evolution and the cycling of matter.
The support of interstellar clouds against gravitational collapse by magnetic
(B-) fields has been proposed to explain the low observed star formation
efficiency in galaxies and the Milky Way. Despite the Planck satellite
providing a 5-15' all-sky map of the B-field geometry in the diffuse
interstellar medium, higher spatial resolution observations are required to
understand the transition from diffuse gas to gravitationally unstable
filaments. NGC 2024, the Flame Nebula, in the nearby Orion B molecular cloud,
contains a young, expanding HII region and a dense filament that harbors
embedded protostellar objects. Therefore, NGC 2024 is an excellent opportunity
to study the role of B-fields in the formation, evolution, and collapse of
filaments, as well as the dynamics and effects of young HII regions on the
surrounding molecular gas. We combine new 154 and 216 micron dust polarization
measurements carried out using the HAWC+ instrument aboard SOFIA with molecular
line observations of 12CN(1-0) and HCO+(1-0) from the IRAM 30-meter telescope
to determine the B-field geometry and to estimate the plane of the sky magnetic
field strength across the NGC 2024. The HAWC+ observations show an ordered
B-field geometry in NGC 2024 that follows the morphology of the expanding HII
region and the direction of the main filament. The derived plane of the sky
B-field strength is moderate, ranging from 30 to 80 micro G. The strongest
B-field is found at the northern-west edge of the HII region, characterized by
the highest gas densities and molecular line widths. In contrast, the weakest
field is found toward the filament in NGC 2024. The B-field has a
non-negligible influence on the gas stability at the edges of the expanding HII
shell (gas impacted by the stellar feedback) and the filament (site of the
current star formation).Comment: 36 pages, 26 figures Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Epidemiology of Concomitant Infection Due to Loa loa and Mansonella perstans in Gabon
Loa loa and Mansonella perstans are blood filarial parasites, endemic in the central and western African forest block, and transmitted by chrysops and culicoides flies, respectively. Loa loa is pathogenic and represents a major obstacle to the control of co-endemic filariae. Treatment of individuals with >8000 Loa loa microfilariae/ml can result in severe adverse reactions. M. perstans is prevalent in the tropics, with undefined clinical symptoms. We screened 4392 individuals for these infections in 212 Gabonese villages. The overall prevalence rates were 22.4% for Loa loa microfilariae, 10.2% for M. perstans, and 3.2% for mixed infection. These rates varied across the different ecosystems: forest, savannah, Lakeland, river (Ogouée), and equator. A correlation was found between the prevalence and intensity of microfilariae, while a negative relationship was found between clinical symptoms (pruritis, Calabar swelling) and the prevalence of Loa loa microfilaremia. This study confirms the spatial uniformity of the relationship between parasitological indices, and provides a map and baseline data for implementation of mass chemotherapy for these infections
Neural network-based emulation of interstellar medium models
The interpretation of observations of atomic and molecular tracers in the
galactic and extragalactic interstellar medium (ISM) requires comparisons with
state-of-the-art astrophysical models to infer some physical conditions.
Usually, ISM models are too time-consuming for such inference procedures, as
they call for numerous model evaluations. As a result, they are often replaced
by an interpolation of a grid of precomputed models.
We propose a new general method to derive faster, lighter, and more accurate
approximations of the model from a grid of precomputed models.
These emulators are defined with artificial neural networks (ANNs) designed
and trained to address the specificities inherent in ISM models. Indeed, such
models often predict many observables (e.g., line intensities) from just a few
input physical parameters and can yield outliers due to numerical instabilities
or physical bistabilities. We propose applying five strategies to address these
characteristics: 1) an outlier removal procedure; 2) a clustering method that
yields homogeneous subsets of lines that are simpler to predict with different
ANNs; 3) a dimension reduction technique that enables to adequately size the
network architecture; 4) the physical inputs are augmented with a polynomial
transform to ease the learning of nonlinearities; and 5) a dense architecture
to ease the learning of simple relations.
We compare the proposed ANNs with standard classes of interpolation methods
to emulate the Meudon PDR code, a representative ISM numerical model.
Combinations of the proposed strategies outperform all interpolation methods by
a factor of 2 on the average error, reaching 4.5% on the Meudon PDR code. These
networks are also 1000 times faster than accurate interpolation methods and
require ten to forty times less memory.
This work will enable efficient inferences on wide-field multiline
observations of the ISM
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