Ozone Formation in Ternary Collisions: Theory and Experiment Reconciled

The present Letter shows that the formation of ozone in ternary collisions O + O2 + M—the primary mechanism of ozone formation in the stratosphere—at temperatures below 200 K (for M=Ar) proceeds through a formation of a temporary complex MO2, while at temperatures above ∼700  K, the reaction proceeds mainly through a formation of long-lived vibrational resonances of O*3. At intermediate temperatures 200–700 K, the process cannot be viewed as a two-step mechanism, often used to simplify and approximate collisions of three atoms or molecules. The developed theoretical approach is applied to the reaction O + O2 + Ar because of extensive experimental data available. The rate coefficients for the formation of O3 in ternary collisions O + O2 + Ar without using two-step approximations were computed for the first time as a function of collision energy. Thermally averaged coefficients were derived for temperatures 5–900 K. It is found that the majority of O3 molecules formed initially are weakly bound. Accounting for the process of vibrational quenching of the nascent population, a good agreement with available experimental data for temperatures 100–900 K is obtained

Evidence of suppression of onchocerciasis transmission in the Venezuelan Amazonian focus.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization (WHO) has set goals for onchocerciasis elimination in Latin America by 2015. Most of the six previously endemic countries are attaining this goal by implementing twice a year (and in some foci, quarterly) mass ivermectin (Mectizan®) distribution. Elimination of transmission has been verified in Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico. Challenges remain in the Amazonian focus straddling Venezuela and Brazil, where the disease affects the hard-to-reach Yanomami indigenous population. We provide evidence of suppression of Onchocerca volvulus transmission by Simulium guianense s.l. in 16 previously hyperendemic Yanomami communities in southern Venezuela after 15 years of 6-monthly and 5 years of 3-monthly mass ivermectin treatment. METHODS: Baseline and monitoring and evaluation parasitological, ophthalmological, entomological and serological surveys were conducted in selected sentinel and extra-sentinel communities of the focus throughout the implementation of the programme. RESULTS: From 2010 to 2012–2015, clinico-parasitological surveys indicate a substantial decrease in skin microfilarial prevalence and intensity of infection; accompanied by no evidence (or very low prevalence and intensity) of ocular microfilariae in the examined population. Of a total of 51,341 S. guianense flies tested by PCR none had L3 infection (heads only). Prevalence of infective flies and seasonal transmission potentials in 2012–2013 were, respectively, under 1 % and 20 L3/person/transmission season. Serology in children aged 1–10 years demonstrated that although 26 out of 396 (7 %) individuals still had Ov-16 antibodies, only 4/218 (2 %) seropositives were aged 1–5 years. CONCLUSIONS: We report evidence of recent transmission and morbidity suppression in some communities of the focus representing 75 % of the Yanomami population and 70 % of all known communities. We conclude that onchocerciasis transmission could be feasibly interrupted in the Venezuelan Amazonian focus. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13071-016-1313-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Methodological approach for mineralogical characterization of tailings from a Cu(Au,Ag) skarn type deposit using QEMSCAN (Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy)

Skarn type deposits are important potential resources for Cu, Au, and Ag as well as other strategic metals, which require accurate characterization of the mineralogy, texture and grade for successful processing and environmental management. The mineralogy of these deposits and of the resulting tailings has traditionally been examined using transmitted light microscopy, cathodoluminescence, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and electron probe microanalysis. In the present study, the Quantitative Evaluation of Minerals by Scanning Electron Microscopy (QEMSCAN (R)) technology was applied to rapidly acquire spatially resolved mineralogical data from tailings associated with a Cu(Au,Ag) skarn type deposit. The resulting modal and textural data provided relevant additional information on the distribution of the ore minerals, including detail on the trace minerals, grain size distributions, and mineral associations. The following benefits of detailed mineralogical knowledge from this study can be pointed out it improves the lithotyping of these complex deposit types and will benefit their ore processing strategies; it allows inferences to be made about the environmental behavior of the tailings, namely the acid mine drainage potential; it provides data about deportment of penalty and toxic elements, which are specifically As, Te, and Sb. Thus, particular applications of QEMSCAN include assessments of the acid consumption of the mineral assemblages (mainly assured due to calcite and dolomite) and of the abundance, distribution and mobility of potentially toxic elements, such as As

Life and death of a cold BaRb⁺ molecule inside an ultracold cloud of Rb atoms

We study the evolution of a cold single BaRb+ molecule while it continuously collides with ultracold Rb atoms. The initially weakly bound molecule can undergo a sequence of elastic, inelastic, reactive, and radiative processes. We investigate these processes by developing methods for discriminating between different ion species, electronic states, and kinetic ion energy ranges. By analyzing the experimental data while taking into account theoretical insights, we obtain a consistent description of the typical trajectory through the manifold of available atomic and molecular states. Monte Carlo simulations describe the measured dynamics well. As a further result, we determine rates for collisional and radiative relaxation as well as photodissociation, spin-flip collisions, and chemical reactions

Parents’ concepts of the successful school child in seven Western cultures

Although children’s school success is a parental goal in most cultures, there is wide cultural variation in the qualities that parents most wish their children to develop for that purpose. A questionnaire contained forty-one child qualities was administered to 757 parents in seven cultural communities in Australia, Italy, theNetherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, and theUnited States. Exploratory factor analysis was conducted separately within each sample and results revealed both similarities and differences across the seven samples. The factor structures showed considerable similarity: four domains of characteristics (Cognitive Qualities, Social Qualities, Negative temperament, and Good Characters) were identified in each sample as strongly influencing children’s success in school. However, parents differed across the seven cultural communities in the importance they attributed to these factors. The results also reveal some culturally unique patterns in parents’ concepts of the successful schoolchild; the seven samples were differentiated by distinctive associations of individual qualities around the four common domains. These results offer new insights for incorporating perspectives from other cultures into our own concepts of what qualities are most important for children’s success in school, and how educators can be cognizant of differing cultural perspectives represented by the families whose children are their students

INDUCCIÓN DE LA EMBRIOGÉNESIS SOMÁTICA A PARTIR DE CORMOS DE Crinum x powellii “album” (Amaryllidaceae)

Se indujo la producción de embriones somáticos (ESs) a partir de callos friablesformados de los cormos internos de la parte basal de los bulbos de Crinum xpowellii “album” cultivados en el medio Murashige y Skoog, suplementado conel ácido 2,4-diclorofenoxiacético (1 mg/L) y kinetina (1.0 a 1.5 mg/L). Lainducción de los ESs se optimizó al utilizar 0.4 mg/L de 2,4-D y 0.375 mg/Lde kinetina; los ESs proliferaron en el medio MS libre de hormonas y despuésde su desecación, se transfirieron al medio MS con ácido giberélico para sumaduración; a pesar de las variaciones físicas, de las condiciones y de los fitoreguladores,los ESs no evolucionaron a plántulas

Estudio del proceso de rehidratación de las rocas metamórficas de la Formación Silgará a partir del análisis composicional de la Clorita, región suroccidental del Macizo de Santander

Chlorites in metamorphic rocks of the Silgará Formation that crop out in the southwestern region of the Santander Massif (Chicamocha Canyon) registre formation temperatures between 180 and 355°C. The maximun temperatures of formation of this hydrated mineral phase (up to 355°C) correspond to the highergrade metamorphic zone (staurolite-distene), while in the biotite and garnet (upper part) zones, these temperatures vary in average between 180 and 270°C. These values of temperature suggest a rehydration of the greater depth rocks rather than those from higher structural levels of the metamorphic pile. This process appears to be explained in an extensive deformation context, which has generated a major amount of anysotropy planes in depth, by which hydrothermal fluids circulated. Besides, the generation of these channels should be related to the incompetent behavior of these lithologies in a great part of the exhumation history of the this Formation.Las cloritas en las rocas metamórficas de la Formación Silgará que afloran en la región suroccidental del Macizo de Santander (Cañón del Chicamocha) registran temperaturas de formación entre 180 y 355°C. Las máximas temperaturas de formación de esta fase mineral hidratada (hasta 355°C) corresponden a la zona de mayor grado de metamorfismo (estaurolita-distena), mientras que en las zonas de la biotita y el granate (parte superior), estas temperaturas varían en promedio entre 180 y 270°C. Estos valores sugieren una rehidratación de las rocas más profundas antes que aquellas localizadas en niveles estructurales más altos de la pila metamórfica. Este proceso parece explicarse en un contexto de deformación extensiva, generador de una mayor cantidad de planos de anisotropía en profundidad, a través de los cuales circularon fluidos hidrotermales. Así mismo, la generación de estos canales debe relacionarse con el comportamiento incompetente de estas litologías en gran parte de la historia de exhumación de esta Formación

AUTO-TUNE: selecting the distance threshold for inferring HIV transmission clusters

Molecular surveillance of viral pathogens and inference of transmission networks from genomic data play an increasingly important role in public health efforts, especially for HIV-1. For many methods, the genetic distance threshold used to connect sequences in the transmission network is a key parameter informing the properties of inferred networks. Using a distance threshold that is too high can result in a network with many spurious links, making it difficult to interpret. Conversely, a distance threshold that is too low can result in a network with too few links, which may not capture key insights into clusters of public health concern. Published research using the HIV-TRACE software package frequently uses the default threshold of 0.015 substitutions/site for HIV pol gene sequences, but in many cases, investigators heuristically select other threshold parameters to better capture the underlying dynamics of the epidemic they are studying. Here, we present a general heuristic scoring approach for tuning a distance threshold adaptively, which seeks to prevent the formation of giant clusters. We prioritize the ratio of the sizes of the largest and the second largest cluster, maximizing the number of clusters present in the network. We apply our scoring heuristic to outbreaks with different characteristics, such as regional or temporal variability, and demonstrate the utility of using the scoring mechanism's suggested distance threshold to identify clusters exhibiting risk factors that would have otherwise been more difficult to identify. For example, while we found that a 0.015 substitutions/site distance threshold is typical for US-like epidemics, recent outbreaks like the CRF07_BC subtype among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China have been found to have a lower optimal threshold of 0.005 to better capture the transition from injected drug use (IDU) to MSM as the primary risk factor. Alternatively, in communities surrounding Lake Victoria in Uganda, where there has been sustained heterosexual transmission for many years, we found that a larger distance threshold is necessary to capture a more risk factor-diverse population with sparse sampling over a longer period of time. Such identification may allow for more informed intervention action by respective public health officials