Magnetic inflation and stellar mass. V. Intensification and saturation of M-dwarf absorption lines with Rossby number

In young Sun-like stars and field M-dwarf stars, chromospheric and coronal magnetic activity indicators such as Hα, X-ray, and radio emission are known to saturate with low Rossby number (Ro lesssim 0.1), defined as the ratio of rotation period to convective turnover time. The mechanism for the saturation is unclear. In this paper, we use photospheric Ti i and Ca i absorption lines in the Y band to investigate magnetic field strength in M dwarfs for Rossby numbers between 0.01 and 1.0. The equivalent widths of the lines are magnetically enhanced by photospheric spots, a global field, or a combination of the two. The equivalent widths behave qualitatively similar to the chromospheric and coronal indicators: we see increasing equivalent widths (increasing absorption) with decreasing Ro and saturation of the equivalent widths for Ro lesssim 0.1. The majority of M dwarfs in this study are fully convective. The results add to mounting evidence that the magnetic saturation mechanism occurs at or beneath the stellar photosphere.Published versio

Production of oriented nitrogen-vacancy color centers in synthetic diamond

The negatively charged nitrogen-vacancy (NV-) center in diamond is an attractive candidate for applications that range from magnetometry to quantum information processing. Here we show that only a fraction of the nitrogen (typically < 0.5 %) incorporated during homoepitaxial diamond growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) is in the form of undecorated NV- centers. Furthermore, studies on CVD diamond grown on (110) oriented substrates show a near 100% preferential orientation of NV- centers along only the [111] and [-1-11] directions, rather than the four possible orientations. The results indicate that NV centers grow in as units, as the diamond is deposited, rather than by migration and association of their components. The NV unit of the NVH- is similarly preferentially oriented, but it is not possible to determine whether this defect was formed by H capture at a preferentially aligned NV center or as a complete unit. Reducing the number of NV orientations from 4 orientations to 2 orientations should lead to increased optically-detected magnetic resonance contrast and thus improved magnetic sensitivity in ensemble-based magnetometry.Comment: 13 Pages (inlcuding suplementary information), 4 figure

Healthy universities: an example of a whole-system health-promoting setting

The health-promoting settings approach is well established in health promotion, with organisational settings being understood as complex systems able to support human wellbeing and flourishing. Despite the reach and evident importance of higher education as a sector, ‘healthy universities’ has not received high-level international leadership comparable to many other settings programmes. This study explores how the concept of a healthy university is operationalised in two case study universities. Data collection methods included documentary analysis, observation field notes and semi-structured interviews with staff and students. Staff and students understood the characteristics of a healthy university to pertain to management processes relating to communication and to a respectful organisational ethos. Enhancers of health and wellbeing were feeling valued, being listened to, having skilled and supportive line managers and having a positive physical environment. Inhibitors of health and wellbeing were having a sense of powerlessness and a lack of care and concern. The concept of the healthy university has been slow to be adopted in contrast to initiatives such as healthy schools. In addition to challenges relating to lack of theorisation, paucity of evidence and difficulties in capturing the added value of whole-system working, this study suggests that this may be due to both their complex organisational structure and the diverse goals of higher education, which do not automatically privilege health and wellbeing. It also points to the need for a wholeuniversity approach that pays attention to the complex interactions and interconnections between component parts and highlights how the organisation can function effectively as a social system

Identification of antiviral roles for the exon-junction complex and nonsense-mediated decay in flaviviral infection.

West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging mosquito-borne flavivirus, related to dengue virus and Zika virus. To gain insight into host pathways involved in WNV infection, we performed a systematic affinity-tag purification mass spectrometry (APMS) study to identify 259 WNV-interacting human proteins. RNA interference screening revealed 26 genes that both interact with WNV proteins and influence WNV infection. We found that WNV, dengue and Zika virus capsids interact with a conserved subset of proteins that impact infection. These include the exon-junction complex (EJC) recycling factor PYM1, which is antiviral against all three viruses. The EJC has roles in nonsense-mediated decay (NMD), and we found that both the EJC and NMD are antiviral and the EJC protein RBM8A directly binds WNV RNA. To counteract this, flavivirus infection inhibits NMD and the capsid-PYM1 interaction interferes with EJC protein function and localization. Depletion of PYM1 attenuates RBM8A binding to viral RNA, suggesting that WNV sequesters PYM1 to protect viral RNA from decay. Together, these data suggest a complex interplay between the virus and host in regulating NMD and the EJC

Common perinatal mental disorders and post-infancy child development in rural Ethiopia:a population-based cohort study

Objective: To investigate whether maternal common mental disorders (CMD) in the postnatal period are prospectively associated with child development at 2.5 and 3.5 years in a rural low-income African setting. Methods: This study was nested within the C-MaMiE (Child outcomes in relation to Maternal Mental health in Ethiopia) population-based cohort in Butajira, Ethiopia, and conducted from 2005 to 2006. The sample comprised of 496 women who had recently given birth to living, singleton babies with recorded birth weight measurements, who were 15 to 44 years of age, and residing in six rural sub-districts. Postnatal CMD measurements were ascertained 2 months after delivery. Language, cognitive, and motor development were obtained from the child 2.5 and 3.5 years after birth using a locally adapted version of the Bayley Scales of Infant Development (3rd Ed). Maternal CMD symptoms were measured using a locally validated WHO Self-Reporting Questionnaire. A linear mixed-effects regression model was used to analyze the relationship between postnatal CMD and child development. Results: After adjusting for confounders, there was no evidence for an association between postnatal CMD and overall child development or the cognitive sub-domain in the preschool period. There was no evidence of effect modification by levels of social support, socioeconomic status, stunting, or sex of the child. Conclusions: Previous studies from predominantly urban and peri-urban settings in middle-income countries have established a relationship between maternal CMD and child development, which contrasts with the findings from this study. The risk and protective factors for child development may differ in areas characterized by high social adversity and food insecurity. More studies are needed to investigate maternal CMD’s impact on child development in low-resource and rural areas

When who and how matter: explaining the success of referendums in Europe

This article aims to identify the institutional factors that make a referendum successful. This comparative analysis seeks to explain the success of top-down referendums organized in Europe between 2001 and 2013. It argues and tests for the main effect of three institutional factors (popularity of the initiator, size of parliamentary majority, and political cues during referendum campaigns) and controls for the type of referendum and voter turnout. The analysis uses data collected from referendums and electoral databases, public opinion surveys, and newspaper articles. Results show that referendums proposed by a large parliamentary majority or with clear messages from political parties during campaign are likely to be successful

Validation of Twelve Small Kepler Transiting Planets in the Habitable Zone

We present an investigation of twelve candidate transiting planets from Kepler with orbital periods ranging from 34 to 207 days, selected from initial indications that they are small and potentially in the habitable zone (HZ) of their parent stars. Few of these objects are known. The expected Doppler signals are too small to confirm them by demonstrating that their masses are in the planetary regime. Here we verify their planetary nature by validating them statistically using the BLENDER technique, which simulates large numbers of false positives and compares the resulting light curves with the Kepler photometry. This analysis was supplemented with new follow-up observations (high-resolution optical and near-infrared spectroscopy, adaptive optics imaging, and speckle interferometry), as well as an analysis of the flux centroids. For eleven of them (KOI-0571.05, 1422.04, 1422.05, 2529.02, 3255.01, 3284.01, 4005.01, 4087.01, 4622.01, 4742.01, and 4745.01) we show that the likelihood they are true planets is far greater than that of a false positive, to a confidence level of 99.73% (3 sigma) or higher. For KOI-4427.01 the confidence level is about 99.2% (2.6 sigma). With our accurate characterization of the GKM host stars, the derived planetary radii range from 1.1 to 2.7 R_Earth. All twelve objects are confirmed to be in the HZ, and nine are small enough to be rocky. Excluding three of them that have been previously validated by others, our study doubles the number of known rocky planets in the HZ. KOI-3284.01 (Kepler-438b) and KOI-4742.01 (Kepler-442b) are the planets most similar to the Earth discovered to date when considering their size and incident flux jointly.Comment: 27 pages in emulateapj format, including tables and figures. To appear in The Astrophysical Journa

In vivo parasitological measures of artemisinin susceptibility

Parasite clearance data from 18,699 patients with falciparum malaria treated with an artemisinin derivative in areas of low (n=14,539), moderate (n=2077), and high (n=2083) levels of malaria transmission across the world were analyzed to determine the factors that affect clearance rates and identify a simple in vivo screening measure for artemisinin resistance. The main factor affecting parasite clearance time was parasite density on admission. Clearance rates were faster in high-transmission settings and with more effective partner drugs in artemisinin-based combination treatments (ACTs). The result of the malaria blood smear on day 3 (72 h) was a good predictor of subsequent treatment failure and provides a simple screening measure for artemisinin resistance. Artemisinin resistance is highly unlikely if the proportion of patients with parasite densities of <100,000 parasites/microL given the currently recommended 3-day ACT who have a positive smear result on day 3 is <3%; that is, for n patients the observed number with a positive smear result on day 3 does not exceed (n + 60)/24