The WiFeS S7 AGN survey: Current status and recent results on NGC 6300

The Siding Spring Southern Seyfert Spectroscopic Snapshot Survey (S7) is a targeted survey probing the narrow-line regions (NLRs) of a representative sample of ~140 nearby (z<0.02) Seyfert galaxies by means of optical integral field spectroscopy. The survey is based on a homogeneous data set observed using the Wide Field Spectrograph WiFeS. The data provide a 25x38 arcsec$^2$ field-of-view around the galaxy centre at typically ~1.5 arcsec spatial resolution and cover a wavelength range between ~3400 - 7100 $\AA$ at spectral resolutions of ~100 km s$^{-1}$ and ~50 km s$^{-1}$ in the blue and red parts, respectively. The survey is primarily designed to study gas excitation and star formation around AGN, with a special focus on the shape of the AGN ionising continuum, the interaction between radio jets and the NLR gas, and the nature of nuclear LINER emission. We provide an overview of the current status of S7-based results and present new results for NGC 6300.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, Refereed Proceeding of the "The Universe of Digital Sky Surveys" conference held at the INAF - Observatory of Capodimonte, Naples, on 25th-28th november 2014, to be published on Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, edited by Longo, Napolitano, Marconi, Paolillo, Iodic

Metabolic syndrome risk factors in overweight, obese, and extremely obese brazilian adolescents

Background: Obesity in infancy and adolescence has acquired epidemic dimensions worldwide and is considered a risk factor for a number of disorders that can manifest at an early age, such as Metabolic Syndrome (MS). in this study, we evaluated overweight, obese, and extremely obese adolescents for the presence of MS, and studied the prevalence of single factors of the syndrome in this population.Methods: A total of 321 adolescents (174 females and 147 males) aged 10 to 16 years, attending the Adolescent Outpatient Clinic of Botucatu School of Medicine, Brazil, between April 2009 and April 2011 were enrolled in this study. Adolescents underwent anthropometric evaluation (weight, height, and abdominal circumference) and Body Mass Index (BMI) was estimated according to age and gender, following Disease Control and Prevention Centers recommendations (CDC, 2000). Blood pressure was measured and individuals with BMI >= 85th percentile were submitted to laboratory evaluation for Total Cholesterol, HDL and LDL Cholesterol, Triglycerides, Fasting Insulinemia, and Fasting Glycemia to identify MS factors, according to the criteria suggested by the International Diabetes Federation. Insulin resistance was calculated by HOMA-IR, Quicki, and Fasting Glycemia/Fasting Insulinemia (FGI).Results and discussion: of the 321 adolescents, 95 (29.6%) were overweight, 129 (40.2%) were obese, and 97 (30.2%) were extremely obese. Around 18% were diagnosed with MS. the most prevalent risk factors were abdominal circumference >= 90th percentile (55%), HDL = 130/85 mm/Hg (21%), Triglycerides >= 150 mg/dL (18.5%), and Fasting Glycemia >= 100 mg/dL (2%). Insulin resistance was observed in 65% of the adolescents.Conclusion: An increased prevalence of overweight and obesity, together with cardiometabolic risk factors such as dyslipidemia and abnormal blood pressure, were observed in adolescents, contributing to the onset of metabolic syndrome at younger ages. Risk factors for MS were more prevalent in females.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)São Paulo State Univ UNESP, Botucatu Sch Med, Dept Pediat, São Paulo, BrazilSão Paulo State Univ UNESP, Botucatu Sch Med, Adolescent Med Course, Post Grad Program Gynecol Obstet & Mastol,Dept Pe, São Paulo, BrazilUniv North Parana, Dept Phys Educ, Curitiba, Parana, BrazilSão Paulo State Univ UNESP, Botucatu Sch Med, Dept Pediat, Clin & Expt Pediat Res Ctr, São Paulo, BrazilSão Paulo State Univ UNESP, Botucatu Sch Med, São Paulo, BrazilSão Paulo State Univ UNESP, Botucatu Sch Med, Dept Stat, São Paulo, BrazilFAPESP: 2011/05991-0Web of Scienc

Effect of the exchange-correlation potential on the transferability of Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi relationships in heterogeneous catalysis

As more and more accurate density functional methods emerge, the transferability of Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relationships obtained with previous models is an open question. In this work, BEP relationships derived from different density functional theory based calculations are analyzed to answer this question. In particular, BEP relationships linking the activation energy of O-H bond breaking reactions taking place on metallic surfaces with the adsorption energy of the reaction products are chosen as a case study. These relationships are obtained with the widely used Perdew-Wang (PW91) generalized gradient approximation (GGA) exchange-correlation functional and with the more accurate meta-GGA Tao-Perdew Staroverov-Scuseria (TPSS) one. We provide compelling evidence that BEP relationships derived from PW91 and TPSS functionals are essentially coincidental. This finding validates previously published BEP relationships and indicates that the reaction activation energy barrier can be obtained by the determination of the energy reaction descriptor value at the less computationally demanding GGA level; an important aspect to consider in future studies aimed at the computational design of catalysts :with improved characteristics

Spectral absorption of biomass burning aerosol determined from retrieved single scattering albedo during ARCTAS

Actinic flux, as well as aerosol chemical and optical properties, were measured aboard the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the ARCTAS (Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites) mission in Spring and Summer 2008. These measurements were used in a radiative transfer code to retrieve spectral (350-550 nm) aerosol single scattering albedo (SSA) for biomass burning plumes encountered on 17 April and 29 June. Retrieved SSA values were subsequently used to calculate the absorption Angstrom exponent (AAE) over the 350-500 nm range. Both plumes exhibited enhanced spectral absorption with AAE values that exceeded 1 (6.78 ± 0.38 for 17 April and 3.34 ± 0.11 for 29 June). This enhanced absorption was primarily due to organic aerosol (OA) which contributed significantly to total absorption at all wavelengths for both 17 April (57.7%) and 29 June (56.2%). OA contributions to absorption were greater at UV wavelengths than at visible wavelengths for both cases. Differences in AAE values between the two cases were attributed to differences in plume age and thus to differences in the ratio of OA and black carbon (BC) concentrations. However, notable differences between AAE values calculated for the OA (AAEOA) for 17 April (11.15 ± 0.59) and 29 June (4.94 ± 0.19) suggested differences in the plume AAE values might also be due to differences in organic aerosol composition. The 17 April OA was much more oxidized than the 29 June OA as denoted by a higher oxidation state value for 17 April (+0.16 vs. -0.32). Differences in the AAEOA, as well as the overall AAE, were thus also possibly due to oxidation of biomass burning primary organic aerosol in the 17 April plume that resulted in the formation of OA with a greater spectral-dependence of absorption. © Author(s) 2012. CC Attribution 3.0 License