379 research outputs found
Influence of aerosols, clouds, and sunglint on polarization spectra of Earthshine
Ground-based observations of the Earthshine, i.e., the light scattered by
Earth to the Moon, and then reflected back to Earth, simulate space
observations of our planet and represent a powerful benchmark for the studies
of Earth-like planets. Earthshine spectra are strongly linearly polarized,
owing to scattering by molecules and small particles in the atmosphere of the
Earth and surface reflection, and may allow us to measure global atmospheric
and surface properties of planet Earth. Aims. We aim to interpret already
published spectropolarimetric observations of the Earthshine by comparing them
with new radiative transfer model simulations including a fully realistic
three-dimensional (3D) surface-atmosphere model for planet Earth. We used the
highly advanced Monte Carlo radiative transfer model MYSTIC to simulate
polarized radiative transfer in the atmosphere of the Earth without
approximations regarding the geometry, taking into account the polarization
from surface reflection and multiple scattering by molecules, aerosol
particles, cloud droplets, and ice crystals. We have shown that Earth
spectropolarimetry is highly sensitive to all these input parameters, and we
have presented simulations of a fully realistic Earth atmosphere-surface model
including 3D cloud fields and two-dimensional (2D) surface property maps. Our
modeling results show that scattering in high ice water clouds and reflection
from the ocean surface are crucial to explain the continuum polarization at
longer wavelengths as has been reported in Earthshine observations taken at the
Very Large Telescope in 2011 (3.8 % and 6.6 % at 800 nm, depending on which
part of Earth was visible from the Moon at the time of the observations). We
found that the relatively high degree of polarization of 6.6 % can be
attributed to light reflected by the ocean surface in the sunglint region
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Literacy as a pathway between schooling and health-related communication skills: a study of Venezuelan mothers
This article addresses the mechanisms by which women’s schooling might affect the survival and health of their children. A theoretical model is proposed in which academic literacy skills serve as a pathway between formal schooling
and maternal health-related behaviors. The model is tested through multivariate analyses of interview and literacy data from 161 mothers in a poor, urban community in Venezuela. Results show that the academic literacy skills women learned in school and retained into adulthood, predict their health-related communication skills above and beyond the amount of schooling they received. The importance of female schooling in developing countries is discussed
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Maternal literacy and health behavior: a Nepalese case study
This article addresses the question of whether literacy could be mediating the relationships of schooling to maternal
health behavior in populations undergoing demographic transition. Recent studies in which literacy was directly
assessed suggest a literacy pathway to demographic change. The literacy skills of 167 urban and rural mothers of
school-aged children in Lalitpur District of the Kathmandu Valley of Nepal were assessed by tests of reading
comprehension, academic language proficiency, health media skills and health narrative skill, as part of studies in the
urban and rural communitiesthat included a maternal interview and ethnographic fieldwork on the contexts of family
life, health care and female schooling. Regression analysis of the data indicates the retention of literacy skills in
adulthood and their influence on health behavior; ethnographic evidence shows that selective bias in school attainment
does not account for the results. Further direct assessment studies are recommended
Orientational Disorder in Sodium Cadmium Trifluoride Trihydrate, NaCdF3·3H2O
Attempts to synthesize the hypothetical anhydrous fluoroperovskite NaCdF3, which has been predicted to be stable, resulted instead in a hydrated fluoride of nominal composition NaCdF3·3H2O. It decomposes to sodium fluoride, cadmium fluoride, and water at 60 °C. Its structure has been determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Na0.92(2)Cd1.08F3.08·2.92H2O crystallizes in the cubic space group with a = 8.2369(4) Å and Z = 4. The structure is based on the NaSbF6-type (an ordered variant of the ReO3-type) and features tilted sodium- and cadmium-centred octahedra that are linked by shared vertices to form a three-dimensional network. Substitutional disorder occurs on the nonmetal site, which is occupied by both F and O atoms, and on one of the metal sites, which is occupied by 92% Na and 8% Cd. A four-fold orientational disorder of the tilted octahedra is manifested as partial occupancy (25%) of the nonmetal site. A scheme to synthesize the anhydrous fluoride is presented
Tetrahydrodipicolinate N-Succinyltransferase and Dihydrodipicolinate Synthase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Structure Analysis and Gene Deletion
The diaminopimelic acid pathway of lysine biosynthesis has been suggested to provide attractive targets for the development of novel antibacterial drugs. Here we report the characterization of two enzymes from this pathway in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, utilizing structural biology, biochemistry and genetics. We show that tetrahydrodipicolinate N-succinyltransferase (DapD) from P. aeruginosa is specific for the L-stereoisomer of the amino substrate L-2-aminopimelate, and its D-enantiomer acts as a weak inhibitor. The crystal structures of this enzyme with L-2-aminopimelate and D-2-aminopimelate, respectively, reveal that both compounds bind at the same site of the enzyme. Comparison of the binding interactions of these ligands in the enzyme active site suggests misalignment of the amino group of D-2-aminopimelate for nucleophilic attack on the succinate moiety of the co-substrate succinyl-CoA as the structural basis of specificity and inhibition. P. aeruginosa mutants where the dapA gene had been deleted were viable and able to grow in a mouse lung infection model, suggesting that DapA is not an optimal target for drug development against this organism. Structure-based sequence alignments, based on the DapA crystal structure determined to 1.6 Å resolution revealed the presence of two homologues, PA0223 and PA4188, in P. aeruginosa that could substitute for DapA in the P. aeruginosa PAO1ΔdapA mutant. In vitro experiments using recombinant PA0223 protein could however not detect any DapA activity
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