Etyma for 'chicken', 'duck', and 'goose' among language phyla in China and Southeast Asia

This paper considers the history of words for domesticated poultry, including ‘chicken’, ‘goose’, and ‘duck’, in China and mainland Southeast Asia to try to relate associated domestication events with specific language groups. Linguistic, archaeological and historical evidence supports Sinitic as one linguistic source, but in other cases, Tai and Austroasiatic form additional centers of lexical forms which were borrowed by neighboring phyla. It is hypothesized that these geographic regions of etyma for domesticated birds may represent instances of bird domestication, or possibly advances in bird husbandry, by speech communities in the region in the Neolithic Era, followed by spread of both words and cultural practices

Orion Revisited - I. The massive cluster in front of the Orion Nebula Cluster

The aim of this work is to characterize the stellar population between Earth and the Orion A molecular cloud where the well known star formation benchmark Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) is embedded. We use the denser regions the Orion A cloud to block optical background light, effectively isolating the stellar population in front of it. We then use a multi-wavelength observational approach to characterize the cloud's foreground stellar population. We find that there is a rich stellar population in front of the Orion A cloud, from B-stars to M-stars, with a distinct 1) spatial distribution, 2) luminosity function, and 3) velocity dispersion from the reddened population inside the Orion A cloud. The spatial distribution of this population peaks strongly around NGC 1980 (iota Ori) and is, in all likelihood, the extended stellar content of this poorly studied cluster. We infer an age of ~4-5 Myr for NGC 1980 and estimate a cluster population of the order of 2000 stars, which makes it one of the most massive clusters in the entire Orion complex. What is currently taken in the literature as the ONC is then a mix of several intrinsically different populations, namely: 1) the youngest population, including the Trapezium cluster and ongoing star formation in the dense gas inside the nebula, 2) the foreground population, dominated by the NGC 1980 cluster, and 3) the poorly constrained population of foreground and background Galactic field stars. Our results support a scenario where the ONC and L1641N are not directly associated with NGC 1980, i.e., they are not the same population emerging from its parental cloud, but are instead distinct overlapping populations. This result calls for a revision of most of the observables in the benchmark ONC region (e.g., ages, age spread, cluster size, mass function, disk frequency, etc.). (abridged)Comment: Version 2 includes comments and clarifications from John Tobin, Nicola Da Rio, and Lynne Hillenbrand (minor clarifying changes were made to Figures 1, 8, and 10). A&A accepted (15 pages, 10 figures). Higher resolution figures available upon reques

Molecular clouds have power-law probability distribution functions

In this Letter we investigate the shape of the probability distribution of column densities (PDF) in molecular clouds. Through the use of low-noise, extinction-calibrated \textit{Herschel}/\textit{Planck} emission data for eight molecular clouds, we demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, the PDFs of molecular clouds are not described well by log-normal functions, but are instead power laws with exponents close to two and with breaks between $A_K \simeq 0.1$ and $0.2\,\mathrm{mag}$, so close to the CO self-shielding limit and not far from the transition between molecular and atomic gas. Additionally, we argue that the intrinsic functional form of the PDF cannot be securely determined below $A_K \simeq 0.1\,\mathrm{mag}$, limiting our ability to investigate more complex models for the shape of the cloud PDF.Comment: Letter to the Editor, to appear in A&

A new method to unveil embedded stellar clusters

In this paper we present a novel method to identify and characterize stellar clusters deeply embedded in a dark molecular cloud. The method is based on measuring stellar surface density in wide-field infrared images using star counting techniques. It takes advantage of the differing $H$-band luminosity functions (HLFs) of field stars and young stellar populations and is able to statistically associate each star in an image as a member of either the background stellar population or a young stellar population projected on or near the cloud. Moreover, the technique corrects for the effects of differential extinction toward each individual star. We have tested this method against simulations as well as observations. In particular, we have applied the method to 2MASS point sources observed in the Orion A and B complexes, and the results obtained compare very well with those obtained from deep Spitzer and Chandra observations where presence of infrared excess or X-ray emission directly determines membership status for every star. Additionally, our method also identifies unobscured clusters and a low resolution version of the Orion stellar surface density map shows clearly the relatively unobscured and diffuse OB 1a and 1b sub-groups and provides useful insights on their spatial distribution.Comment: A&A, in press; 13 pages, multi-layer figures can be displayed with Adobe Acrobat Reade

The Musca cloud: A 6 pc-long velocity-coherent, sonic filament

Filaments play a central role in the molecular clouds' evolution, but their internal dynamical properties remain poorly characterized. To further explore the physical state of these structures, we have investigated the kinematic properties of the Musca cloud. We have sampled the main axis of this filamentary cloud in $^{13}$CO and C$^{18}$O (2--1) lines using APEX observations. The different line profiles in Musca shows that this cloud presents a continuous and quiescent velocity field along its $\sim$6.5 pc of length. With an internal gas kinematics dominated by thermal motions (i.e., $\sigma_{NT}/c_s\lesssim1$) and large-scale velocity gradients, these results reveal Musca as the longest velocity-coherent, sonic-like object identified so far in the ISM. The transonic properties of Musca present a clear departure from the predicted supersonic velocity dispersions expected in the Larson's velocity dispersion-size relationship, and constitute the first observational evidence of a filament fully decoupled from the turbulent regime over multi-parsec scales.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures; Accepted for publication in A&

The mid-infrared extinction law in the darkest cores of the Pipe Nebula

Context. The properties of dust grains, in particular their size distribution, are expected to differ from the interstellar medium to the high-density regions within molecular clouds. Aims. We measure the mid-infrared extinction law produced by dense material in molecular cloud cores. Since the extinction at these wavelengths is caused by dust, the extinction law in cores should depart from that found in low-density environments if the dust grains have different properties. Methods. We use the unbiased LINES method to measure the slope of the reddening vectors in color-color diagrams. We derive the mid-infrared extinction law toward the dense cores B59 and FeSt 1-457 in the Pipe Nebula over a range of visual extinction between 10 and 50 magnitudes, using a combination of Spitzer/IRAC, and ESO NTT/VLT data. Results. The mid-infrared extinction law in both cores departs significantly from a power-law between 3.6 and 8 micron, suggesting that these cores contain dust with a considerable fraction of large dust grains. We find no evidence for a dependence of the extinction law with column density up to 50 magnitudes of visual extinction in these cores, and no evidence for a variation between our result and those for other clouds at lower column densities reported elsewhere in the literature. This suggests that either large grains are present even in low column density regions, or that the existing dust models need to be revised at mid-infrared wavelengths. We find a small but significant difference in the extinction law of the two cores, that we tentatively associate with the onset of star formation in B59.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to A&

Antibody Conjugation and Formulation

In an era where ultra-high antibody concentrations, high viscosities, low volumes, auto-injectors, and long storage requirements are already complex problems with the current unconjugated monoclonal antibodies on the market the formulation demands for antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) are significant. Antibodies have historically been administered at relatively low concentrations through intravenous (IV) infusion due to their large size and the inability to formulate for oral delivery. Due to the high demands associated with IV infusion and the development of novel antibody targets and unique antibody conjugates more accessible routes of administration such as intramuscular (IM), and subcutaneous (SC) are being explored. This review will summarize various site-specific and non-site-specific antibody conjugation techniques in the context of antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and the demands of formulation for high concentration clinical implementation