291 research outputs found
High-resolution Observations of the Shock Wave Behavior for Sunspot Oscillations with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph
We present the first results of sunspot oscillations from observations by the
Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph. The strongly nonlinear oscillation is
identified in both the slit-jaw images and the spectra of several emission
lines formed in the transition region and chromosphere. We first apply a single
Gaussian fit to the profiles of the Mgii 2796.35 {\AA}, Cii 1335.71 {\AA}, and
Si iv 1393.76 {\AA} lines in the sunspot. The intensity change is about 30%.
The Doppler shift oscillation reveals a sawtooth pattern with an amplitude of
about 10 km/s in Si iv. In the umbra the Si iv oscillation lags those of Cii
and Mgii by about 3 and 12 s, respectively. The line width suddenly increases
as the Doppler shift changes from redshift to blueshift. However, we
demonstrate that this increase is caused by the superposition of two emission
components. We then perform detailed analysis of the line profiles at a few
selected locations on the slit. The temporal evolution of the line core is
dominated by the following behavior: a rapid excursion to the blue side,
accompanied by an intensity increase, followed by a linear decrease of the
velocity to the red side. The maximum intensity slightly lags the maximum
blueshift in Si iv, whereas the intensity enhancement slightly precedes the
maximum blueshift in Mgii. We find a positive correlation between the maximum
velocity and deceleration, a result that is consistent with numerical
simulations of upward propagating magnetoacoustic shock waves.Comment: 5 figures, in ApJ. Correction of time lags (correct values are 3 and
12s) made on June 17 201
Prevalence of Small-scale Jets from the Networks of the Solar Transition Region and Chromosphere
As the interface between the Sun's photosphere and corona, the chromosphere
and transition region play a key role in the formation and acceleration of the
solar wind. Observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph reveal
the prevalence of intermittent small-scale jets with speeds of 80-250 km/s from
the narrow bright network lanes of this interface region. These jets have
lifetimes of 20-80 seconds and widths of 300 km or less. They originate from
small-scale bright regions, often preceded by footpoint brightenings and
accompanied by transverse waves with ~20 km/s amplitudes. Many jets reach
temperatures of at least ~100000 K and constitute an important element of the
transition region structures. They are likely an intermittent but persistent
source of mass and energy for the solar wind.Comment: Figs 1-4 & S1-S5; Movies S1-S8; published in Science, including the
main text and supplementary materials. Reference: H. Tian, E. E. DeLuca, S.
R. Cranmer, et al., Science 346, 1255711 (2014
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer spacecraft
provides simultaneous spectra and images of the photosphere, chromosphere,
transition region, and corona with 0.33-0.4 arcsec spatial resolution, 2 s
temporal resolution and 1 km/s velocity resolution over a field-of-view of up
to 175 arcsec x 175 arcsec. IRIS was launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit on
27 June 2013 using a Pegasus-XL rocket and consists of a 19-cm UV telescope
that feeds a slit-based dual-bandpass imaging spectrograph. IRIS obtains
spectra in passbands from 1332-1358, 1389-1407 and 2783-2834 Angstrom including
bright spectral lines formed in the chromosphere (Mg II h 2803 Angstrom and Mg
II k 2796 Angstrom) and transition region (C II 1334/1335 Angstrom and Si IV
1394/1403 Angstrom). Slit-jaw images in four different passbands (C II 1330, Si
IV 1400, Mg II k 2796 and Mg II wing 2830 Angstrom) can be taken simultaneously
with spectral rasters that sample regions up to 130 arcsec x 175 arcsec at a
variety of spatial samplings (from 0.33 arcsec and up). IRIS is sensitive to
emission from plasma at temperatures between 5000 K and 10 MK and will advance
our understanding of the flow of mass and energy through an interface region,
formed by the chromosphere and transition region, between the photosphere and
corona. This highly structured and dynamic region not only acts as the conduit
of all mass and energy feeding into the corona and solar wind, it also requires
an order of magnitude more energy to heat than the corona and solar wind
combined. The IRIS investigation includes a strong numerical modeling component
based on advanced radiative-MHD codes to facilitate interpretation of
observations of this complex region. Approximately eight Gbytes of data (after
compression) are acquired by IRIS each day and made available for unrestricted
use within a few days of the observation.Comment: 53 pages, 15 figure
Hot Explosions in the Cool Atmosphere of the Sun
The solar atmosphere was traditionally represented with a simple
one-dimensional model. Over the past few decades, this paradigm shifted for the
chromosphere and corona that constitute the outer atmosphere, which is now
considered a dynamic structured envelope. Recent observations by IRIS
(Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph) reveal that it is difficult to
determine what is up and down even in the cool 6000-K photosphere just above
the solar surface: this region hosts pockets of hot plasma transiently heated
to almost 100,000 K. The energy to heat and accelerate the plasma requires a
considerable fraction of the energy from flares, the largest solar disruptions.
These IRIS observations not only confirm that the photosphere is more complex
than conventionally thought, but also provide insight into the energy
conversion in the process of magnetic reconnection.Comment: published in Science 346, 1255726 (2014), 30 pages, 13 figures; for
associated movie, see
http://www2.mps.mpg.de/data/outgoing/peter/papers/2014-iris-eb/fig1-movie.mo
How victim age affects the context and timing of child sexual abuse: applying the routine activities approach to the first sexual abuse incident
The aim of this study was to examine from the routine activities approach how victim age might help to explain the timing, context and nature of offenders’ first known contact sexual abuse incident. One-hundred adult male child sexual abusers (M = 45.8 years, SD = 12.2; range = 20–84) were surveyed about the first time they had sexual contact with a child. Afternoon and early evening (between 3 pm and 9 pm) was the most common time in which sexual contact first occurred. Most incidents occurred in a home. Two-thirds of incidents occurred when another person was in close proximity, usually elsewhere in the home. Older victims were more likely to be sexually abused by someone outside their families and in the later hours of the day compared to younger victims. Proximity of another person (adult and/or child) appeared to have little effect on offenders’ decisions to abuse, although it had some impact on the level of intrusion and duration of these incidents. Overall, the findings lend support to the application of the routine activities approach for considering how contextual risk factors (i.e., the timing and relationship context) change as children age, and raise questions about how to best conceptualize guardianship in the context of child sexual abuse. These factors should be key considerations when devising and implementing sexual abuse prevention strategies and for informing theory development
HIV-1 Disease Progression Is Associated with Bile-Salt Stimulated Lipase (BSSL) Gene Polymorphism
Background: DC-SIGN expressed by dendritic cells captures HIV-1 resulting in trans-infection of CD4+ T-lymphocytes. However, BSSL (bile-salt stimulated lipase) binding to DC-SIGN interferes with HIV-1 capture. DC-SIGN binding properties of BSSL associate with the polymorphic repeated motif of BSSL exon 11. Furthermore, BSSL binds to HIV-1 co-receptor CXCR4. We hypothesized that BSSL modulates HIV-1 disease progression and emergence of CXCR4 using HIV-1 (X4) variants. Results: The relation between BSSL genotype and HIV-1 disease progression and emergence of X4 variants was studied using Kaplan Meier and multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis in a cohort of HIV-1 infected men having sex with men (n = 334, with n = 130 seroconverters). We analyzed the association of BSSL genotype with set-point viral load and CD4 cell count, both pre-infection and post-infection at viral set-point. The number of repeats in BSSL exon 11 were highly variable ranging from 10 to 18 in seropositive individuals and from 5-17 in HRSN with 16 repeats being dominant (>80% carry at least one allele with 16 repeats). We defined 16 to 18 repeats as high (H) and less than 16 repeats as low (L) repeat numbers. Homozygosity for the high (H) repeat number BSSL genotype (HH) correlated with high CD4 cell numbers prior to infection (p = 0.007). In HIV-1 patients, delayed disease progression was linked to the HH BSSL genotype (RH = 0.462 CI = 0.282-0.757, p = 0.002) as was delayed emergence of X4 variants (RH = 0.525, 95% CI = 0.290-0.953, p = 0.034). The LH BSSL genotype, previously found to be associated with enhanced DC-SIGN binding of human milk, was identified to correlate with accelerated disease progression in our cohort of HIV-1 infected MSM (RH = 0.517, 95% CI = 0.328-0.818, p = 0.005). Conclusion: We identify BSSL as a marker for HIV-1 disease progression and emergence of X4 variants. Additionally, we identified a relation between BSSL genotype and CD4 cell counts prior to infectio
Instrument calibration of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) mission
This work is supported by NASA contract NNG09FA40C (IRIS).The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) is a NASA small explorer mission that provides high-resolution spectra and images of the Sun in the 133 – 141 nm and 278 – 283 nm wavelength bands. The IRIS data are archived in calibrated form and made available to the public within seven days of observing. The calibrations applied to the data include dark correction, scattered light and background correction, flat fielding, geometric distortion correction, and wavelength calibration. In addition, the IRIS team has calibrated the IRIS absolute throughput as a function of wavelength and has been tracking throughput changes over the course of the mission. As a resource for the IRIS data user, this article describes the details of these calibrations as they have evolved over the first few years of the mission. References to online documentation provide access to additional information and future updates.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Oxidation of benzoin catalyzed by oxovanadium (IV) schiff base complexes
BACKGROUND: The oxidative transformation of benzoin to benzil has been accomplished by the use of a wide
variety of reagents or catalysts and different reaction procedures. The conventional oxidizing agents yielded mainly
benzaldehyde or/and benzoic acid and only a trace amount of benzil. The limits of practical utilization of these
reagents involves the use of stoichiometric amounts of corrosive acids or toxic metallic reagents, which in turn
produce undesirable waste materials and required high reaction temperatures.
In recent years, vanadium complexes have attracted much attention for their potential utility as catalysts for various
types of reactions.
RESULTS: Active and selective catalytic systems of new unsymmetrical oxovanadium(IV) Schiff base complexes for
the oxidation of benzoin is reported. The Schiff base ligands are derived between 2-aminoethanol and 2-hydroxy-1-
naphthaldehyde (H2L1) or 3-ethoxy salicylaldehyde (H2L3); and 2-aminophenol and 3-ethoxysalicylaldehyde (H2L2) or
2-hydroxy-1-naphthaldehyde (H2L4). The unsymmetrical Schiff bases behave as tridentate dibasic ONO donor
ligands. Reaction of these Schiff base ligands with oxovanadyl sulphate afforded the mononuclear oxovanadium(IV)
complexes (VIVOLx.H2O), which are characterized by various physico-chemical techniques.
The catalytic oxidation activities of these complexes for benzoin were evaluated using H2O2 as an oxidant. The best
reaction conditions are obtained by considering the effect of solvent, reaction time and temperature. Under the
optimized reaction conditions, VOL4 catalyst showed high conversion (>99%) with excellent selectivity to benzil
(~100%) in a shorter reaction time compared to the other catalysts considered.
CONCLUSION: Four tridentate ONO type Schiff base ligands were synthesized. Complexation of these ligands with
vanadyl(IV) sulphate leads to the formation of new oxovanadium(IV) complexes of type VIVOL.H2O.
Elemental analyses and spectral data of the free ligands and their oxovanadium(IV) complexes were found to be in
good agreement with their structures, indicating high purity of all the compounds.
Oxovanadium complexes were screened for the oxidation of benzoin to benzil using H2O2 as oxidant. The effect of
time, solvent and temperature were optimized to obtain maximum yield. The catalytic activity results demonstrate
that these catalytic systems are both highly active and selective for the oxidation of benzoin under mild reaction
conditions.Web of Scienc
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