Emissions from village cookstoves in Haryana, India, and their potential impacts on air quality

Air quality in rural India is impacted by residential cooking and heating with biomass fuels. In this study, emissions of CO, CO2, and 76 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were quantified to better understand the relationship between cook fire emissions and ambient ozone and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. Cooking was carried out by a local cook, and traditional dishes were prepared on locally built chulha or angithi cookstoves using brushwood or dung fuels. Cook fire emissions were collected throughout the cooking event in a Kynar bag (VOCs) and on polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) filters (PM2.5). Gas samples were transferred from a Kynar bag to previously evacuated stainless-steel canisters and analyzed using gas chromatography coupled to flame ionization, electron capture, and mass spectrometry detectors. VOC emission factors were calculated from the measured mixing ratios using the carbon-balance method, which assumes that all carbon in the fuel is converted to CO2, CO, VOCs, and PM2.5 when the fuel is burned. Filter samples were weighed to calculate PM2.5 emission factors. Dung fuels and angithi cookstoves resulted in significantly higher emissions of most VOCs (p < 0.05). Utilizing dung-angithi cook fires resulted in twice as much of the measured VOCs compared to dung-chulha and 4 times as much as brushwood-chulha, with 84.0, 43.2, and 17.2g measured VOCkgg fuel carbon, respectively. This matches expectations, as the use of dung fuels and angithi cookstoves results in lower modified combustion efficiencies compared to brushwood fuels and chulha cookstoves. Alkynes and benzene were exceptions and had significantly higher emissions when cooking using a chulha as opposed to an angithi with dung fuel (for example, benzene emission factors were 3.18gkgg fuel carbon for dung-chulha and 2.38gkgg fuel carbon for dung-angithi). This study estimated that 3 times as much SOA and ozone in the maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) regime may be produced from dung-chulha as opposed to brushwood-chulha cook fires. Aromatic compounds dominated as SOA precursors from all types of cook fires, but benzene was responsible for the majority of SOA formation potential from all chulha cook fire VOCs, while substituted aromatics were more important for dung-angithi. Future studies should investigate benzene exposures from different stove and fuel combinations and model SOA formation from cook fire VOCs to verify public health and air quality impacts from cook fires

Colony size predicts division of labour in Attine ants

Division of labour is central to the ecological success of eusocial insects, yet the evolutionary factors driving increases in complexity in division of labour are little known. The size–complexity hypothesis proposes that, as larger colonies evolve, both non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour become more complex as workers and queens act to maximize inclusive fitness. Using a statistically robust phylogenetic comparative analysis of social and environmental traits of species within the ant tribe Attini, we show that colony size is positively related to both non-reproductive (worker size variation) and reproductive (queen–worker dimorphism) division of labour. The results also suggested that colony size acts on non-reproductive and reproductive division of labour in different ways. Environmental factors, including measures of variation in temperature and precipitation, had no significant effects on any division of labour measure or colony size. Overall, these results support the size–complexity hypothesis for the evolution of social complexity and division of labour in eusocial insects. Determining the evolutionary drivers of colony size may help contribute to our understanding of the evolution of social complexity

Investigation of Non-Stable Processes in Close Binary Ry Scuti

We present results of reanalysis of old electrophotometric data of early type close binary system RY Scuti obtained at the Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Georgia, during 1972-1990 years and at the Maidanak Observatory, Uzbekistan, during 1979-1991 years. It is revealed non-stable processes in RY Sct from period to period, from month to month and from year to year. This variation consists from the hundredths up to the tenths of a magnitude. Furthermore, periodical changes in the system's light are displayed near the first maximum on timescales of a few years. That is of great interest with regard to some similar variations seen in luminous blue variable (LBV) stars. This also could be closely related to the question of why RY Sct ejected its nebula.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Profiling of Glycan Receptors for Minute Virus of Mice in Permissive Cell Lines Towards Understanding the Mechanism of Cell Recognition

The recognition of sialic acids by two strains of minute virus of mice (MVM), MVMp (prototype) and MVMi (immunosuppressive), is an essential requirement for successful infection. To understand the potential for recognition of different modifications of sialic acid by MVM, three types of capsids, virus-like particles, wild type empty (no DNA) capsids, and DNA packaged virions, were screened on a sialylated glycan microarray (SGM). Both viruses demonstrated a preference for binding to 9-O-methylated sialic acid derivatives, while MVMp showed additional binding to 9-O-acetylated and 9-O-lactoylated sialic acid derivatives, indicating recognition differences. The glycans recognized contained a type-2 Galβ1-4GlcNAc motif (Neu5Acα2-3Galβ1-4GlcNAc or 3′SIA-LN) and were biantennary complex-type N-glycans with the exception of one. To correlate the recognition of the 3′SIA-LN glycan motif as well as the biantennary structures to their natural expression in cell lines permissive for MVMp, MVMi, or both strains, the N- and O-glycans, and polar glycolipids present in three cell lines used for in vitro studies, A9 fibroblasts, EL4 T lymphocytes, and the SV40 transformed NB324K cells, were analyzed by MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometry. The cells showed an abundance of the sialylated glycan motifs recognized by the viruses in the SGM and previous glycan microarrays supporting their role in cellular recognition by MVM. Significantly, the NB324K showed fucosylation at the non-reducing end of their biantennary glycans, suggesting that recognition of these cells is possibly mediated by the Lewis X motif as in 3′SIA-LeX identified in a previous glycan microarray screen

Interacting Supernovae: Types IIn and Ibn

Supernovae (SNe) that show evidence of strong shock interaction between their ejecta and pre-existing, slower circumstellar material (CSM) constitute an interesting, diverse, and still poorly understood category of explosive transients. The chief reason that they are extremely interesting is because they tell us that in a subset of stellar deaths, the progenitor star may become wildly unstable in the years, decades, or centuries before explosion. This is something that has not been included in standard stellar evolution models, but may significantly change the end product and yield of that evolution, and complicates our attempts to map SNe to their progenitors. Another reason they are interesting is because CSM interaction is an efficient engine for making bright transients, allowing super-luminous transients to arise from normal SN explosion energies, and allowing transients of normal SN luminosities to arise from sub-energetic explosions or low radioactivity yield. CSM interaction shrouds the fast ejecta in bright shock emission, obscuring our normal view of the underlying explosion, and the radiation hydrodynamics of the interaction is challenging to model. The CSM interaction may also be highly non-spherical, perhaps linked to binary interaction in the progenitor system. In some cases, these complications make it difficult to definitively tell the difference between a core-collapse or thermonuclear explosion, or to discern between a non-terminal eruption, failed SN, or weak SN. Efforts to uncover the physical parameters of individual events and connections to possible progenitor stars make this a rapidly evolving topic that continues to challenge paradigms of stellar evolution.Comment: Final draft of a chapter in the "SN Handbook". Accepted. 25 pages, 3 fig

Exploring the Use of Cost-Benefit Analysis to Compare Pharmaceutical Treatments for Menorrhagia

Background: The extra-welfarist theoretical framework tends to focus on health-related quality of life, whilst the welfarist framework captures a wider notion of well-being. EQ-5D and SF-6D are commonly used to value outcomes in chronic conditions with episodic symptoms, such as heavy menstrual bleeding (clinically termed menorrhagia). Because of their narrow-health focus and the condition’s periodic nature these measures may be unsuitable. A viable alternative measure is willingness to pay (WTP) from the welfarist framework. Objective: We explore the use of WTP in a preliminary cost-benefit analysis comparing pharmaceutical treatments for menorrhagia. Methods: A cost-benefit analysis was carried out based on an outcome of WTP. The analysis is based in the UK primary care setting over a 24-month time period, with a partial societal perspective. Ninety-nine women completed a WTP exercise from the ex-ante (pre-treatment/condition) perspective. Maximum average WTP values were elicited for two pharmaceutical treatments, levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) and oral treatment. Cost data were offset against WTP and the net present value derived for treatment. Qualitative information explaining the WTP values was also collected. Results: Oral treatment was indicated to be the most cost-beneficial intervention costing £107 less than LNG-IUS and generating £7 more benefits. The mean incremental net present value for oral treatment compared with LNG-IUS was £113. The use of the WTP approach was acceptable as very few protests and non-responses were observed. Conclusion: The preliminary cost-benefit analysis results recommend oral treatment as the first-line treatment for menorrhagia. The WTP approach is a feasible alternative to the conventional EQ-5D/SF-6D approaches and offers advantages by capturing benefits beyond health, which is particularly relevant in menorrhagia