A long-standing paradigm in astrophysics is that collisions- or mergers-of two neutron stars form highly relativistic and collimated outflows (jets) that power Y-ray bursts of short (less than two ...seconds) duration. The observational support for this model, however, is only indirect. A hitherto outstanding prediction is that gravitational-wave events from such mergers should be associated with Y-ray bursts, and that a majority of these bursts should be seen off-axis, that is, they should point away from Earth. Here we report the discovery observations of the X-ray counterpart associated with the gravitational-wave event GW170817. Although the electromagnetic counterpart at optical and infrared frequencies is dominated by the radioactive glow (known as a 'kilonova') from freshly synthesized rapid neutron capture (r-process) material in the merger ejecta, observations at X-ray and, later, radio frequencies are consistent with a short Y-ray burst viewed off-axis. Our detection of X-ray emission at a location coincident with the kilonova transient provides the missing observational link between short Y-ray bursts and gravitational waves from neutron-star mergers, and gives independent confirmation of the collimated nature of the Y-ray-burst emission.
Production of the industrial chemical propylene oxide is energy-intensive and environmentally unfriendly. Catalysts based on bulk silver surfaces with direct propylene epoxidation by molecular oxygen ...have not resolved these problems because of substantial formation of carbon dioxide. We found that unpromoted, size-selected Ag₃ clusters and approximately 3.5-nanometer Ag nanoparticles on alumina supports can catalyze this reaction with only a negligible amount of carbon dioxide formation and with high activity at low temperatures. Density functional calculations show that, relative to extended silver surfaces, oxidized silver trimers are more active and selective for epoxidation because of the open-shell nature of their electronic structure. The results suggest that new architectures based on ultrasmall silver particles may provide highly efficient catalysts for propylene epoxidation.
Cyclic di-guanosine monophosphate (di-GMP) is a circular RNA dinucleotide that functions as a second messenger in diverse species of bacteria to trigger wide-ranging physiological changes, including ...cell differentiation, conversion between motile and biofilm lifestyles, and virulence gene expression. However, the mechanisms by which cyclic di-GMP regulates gene expression have remained a mystery. We found that cyclic di-GMP in many bacterial species is sensed by a riboswitch class in messenger RNA that controls the expression of genes involved in numerous fundamental cellular processes. A variety of cyclic di-GMP regulons are revealed, including some riboswitches associated with virulence gene expression, pilus formation, and flagellum biosynthesis. In addition, sequences matching the consensus for cyclic di-GMP riboswitches are present in the genome of a bacteriophage.
Obesity is a major risk factor underlying the development of metabolic disease and a growing public health concern globally. Strategies to promote skeletal muscle metabolism can be effective to limit ...the progression of metabolic disease. Here, we demonstrate that the levels of the Hippo pathway transcriptional co-activator YAP are decreased in muscle biopsies from obese, insulin-resistant humans and mice. Targeted disruption of Yap in adult skeletal muscle resulted in incomplete oxidation of fatty acids and lipotoxicity. Integrated 'omics analysis from isolated adult muscle nuclei revealed that Yap regulates a transcriptional profile associated with metabolic substrate utilisation. In line with these findings, increasing Yap abundance in the striated muscle of obese (db/db) mice enhanced energy expenditure and attenuated adiposity. Our results demonstrate a vital role for Yap as a mediator of skeletal muscle metabolism. Strategies to enhance Yap activity in skeletal muscle warrant consideration as part of comprehensive approaches to treat metabolic disease.
Pressure-driven shock waves in solid materials can cause extreme damage and deformation. Understanding this deformation and the associated defects that are created in the material is crucial in the ...study of a wide range of phenomena, including planetary formation and asteroid impact sites, the formation of interstellar dust clouds, ballistic penetrators, spacecraft shielding and ductility in high-performance ceramics. At the lattice level, the basic mechanisms of plastic deformation are twinning (whereby crystallites with a mirror-image lattice form) and slip (whereby lattice dislocations are generated and move), but determining which of these mechanisms is active during deformation is challenging. Experiments that characterized lattice defects have typically examined the microstructure of samples after deformation, and so are complicated by post-shock annealing and reverberations. In addition, measurements have been limited to relatively modest pressures (less than 100 gigapascals). In situ X-ray diffraction experiments can provide insights into the dynamic behaviour of materials, but have only recently been applied to plasticity during shock compression and have yet to provide detailed insight into competing deformation mechanisms. Here we present X-ray diffraction experiments with femtosecond resolution that capture in situ, lattice-level information on the microstructural processes that drive shock-wave-driven deformation. To demonstrate this method we shock-compress the body-centred-cubic material tantalum-an important material for high-energy-density physics owing to its high shock impedance and high X-ray opacity. Tantalum is also a material for which previous shock compression simulations and experiments have provided conflicting information about the dominant deformation mechanism. Our experiments reveal twinning and related lattice rotation occurring on the timescale of tens of picoseconds. In addition, despite the common association between twinning and strong shocks, we find a transition from twinning to dislocation-slip-dominated plasticity at high pressure (more than 150 gigapascals), a regime that recovery experiments cannot accurately access. The techniques demonstrated here will be useful for studying shock waves and other high-strain-rate phenomena, as well as a broad range of processes induced by plasticity.
Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves play important roles in particle loss processes in the magnetosphere. Determining the evolution of EMIC waves as they propagate and how this evolution ...affects wave‐particle interactions requires accurate knowledge of the wave vector, k. We present a technique using the curl of the wave magnetic field to determine k observationally, enabled by the unique configuration and instrumentation of the Magnetospheric MultiScale (MMS) spacecraft. The wave curl analysis is demonstrated for synthetic arbitrary electromagnetic waves with varying properties typical of observed EMIC waves. The method is also applied to an EMIC wave interval observed by MMS on October 28, 2015. The derived wave properties and k from the wave curl analysis for the observed EMIC wave are compared with the Waves in Homogenous, Anisotropic, Multi‐component Plasma (WHAMP) wave dispersion solution and with results from other single‐ and multi‐spacecraft techniques. We find good agreement between k from the wave curl analysis, k determined from other observational techniques, and k determined from WHAMP. Additionally, the variation of k due to the time and frequency intervals used in the wave curl analysis is explored. This exploration demonstrates that the method is robust when applied to a wave containing at least 3–4 wave periods and over a rather wide frequency range encompassing the peak wave emission. These results provide confidence that we are able to directly determine the wave vector properties using this multi‐spacecraft method implementation, enabling systematic studies of EMIC wave k properties with MMS.
Plain Language Summary
Waves generated within space plasmas play important roles in accelerating, heating, and depleting charged particles in Earth’s magnetosphere. The wave vector, k, mathematically relates the wavelength, direction of wave motion, and wave type to the conditions that produced it. This also tells us if a wave can interact with electrons and ions in ways that will affect the radiation belts. A key problem in understanding waves in space is that k is very difficult to determine observationally. We present a method for calculating k using Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission data. The “wave curl analysis” uses magnetic field measurements from all four MMS spacecraft to determine the electric current of the magnetic field fluctuations, which allows for direct calculation of k. We test the method on mathematically generated waveforms with properties that mimic electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves previously observed by MMS. We then applied this method to EMIC wave observations and compared the results to theoretical predictions and other methods for estimating k from spacecraft measurements. The wave curl analysis opens up a new way to use MMS to understand how EMIC waves are generated, how they travel and evolve, and how they affect plasma in the near‐Earth space environment.
Key Points
The wave curl analysis is a new implementation of determining k using observed wave magnetic field and associated current density
The wave curl analysis reliably determines k for both synthetic waves and Magnetospheric MultiScale observations of electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves
The calculated k is robust relative to time and frequency ranges used in the analysis, and agrees well with linear dispersion theory
Abstract
Davis Strait is a primary gateway for freshwater exchange between the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans including freshwater contributions from west Greenland and Canadian Arctic Archipelago ...glacial melt. Data from six years (2004–10) of continuous measurements collected by a full-strait moored array and concurrent high-resolution Seaglider surveys are used to estimate volume and liquid freshwater transports through Davis Strait, with respective annual averages of −1.6 ± 0.5 Sverdrups (Sv; 1 Sv ≡ 106 m3 s−1) and −93 ± 6 mSv (negative sign indicates southward transport). Sea ice export contributes an additional −10 ± 1 mSv of freshwater transport, estimated using satellite ice area transport and moored upward-looking sonar ice thickness measurements. Interannual and annual variability of the net transports are large, with average annual volume and liquid freshwater transport standard deviations of 0.7 Sv and 17 mSv and with interannual standard deviations of 0.3 Sv and 15 mSv. Moreover, there are no clear trends in the net transports over the 6-yr period. However, salinity in the upper 250 m between Baffin Island and midstrait decreases starting in September 2009 and remains below average through August 2010, but appears to return to normal by the end of 2010. This freshening event, likely caused by changes in arctic freshwater storage, is not apparent in the liquid freshwater transport time series due to a reduction in southward volume transport in 2009–10. Reanalysis of Davis Strait mooring data from the period 1987–90, compared to the 2004–10 measurements, reveals less arctic outflow and warmer, more saline North Atlantic inflow during the most recent period.
Schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) are highly heritable psychiatric disorders with overlapping susceptibility loci and symptomatology. We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) ...of these disorders in a large Swedish sample. We report a new and independent case-control analysis of 1507 SCZ cases, 836 BD cases and 2093 controls. No single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) achieved significance in these new samples; however, combining new and previously reported SCZ samples (2111 SCZ and 2535 controls) revealed a genome-wide significant association in the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) region (rs886424, P=4.54 × 10(-8)). Imputation using multiple reference panels and meta-analysis with the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium SCZ results underscored the broad, significant association in the MHC region in the full SCZ sample. We evaluated the role of copy number variants (CNVs) in these subjects. As in prior reports, deletions were enriched in SCZ, but not BD cases compared with controls. Singleton deletions were more frequent in both case groups compared with controls (SCZ: P=0.003, BD: P=0.013), whereas the largest CNVs (>500 kb) were significantly enriched only in SCZ cases (P=0.0035). Two CNVs with previously reported SCZ associations were also overrepresented in this SCZ sample: 16p11.2 duplications (P=0.0035) and 22q11 deletions (P=0.03). These results reinforce prior reports of significant MHC and CNV associations in SCZ, but not BD.
Measurements of HONO were carried out at an urban background site near central London as part of the Clean air for London (ClearfLo) project in summer 2012. Data were collected from 22 July to ...18 August 2014, with peak values of up to 1.8 ppbV at night and non-zero values of between 0.2 and 0.6 ppbV seen during the day. A wide range of other gas phase, aerosol, radiation, and meteorological measurements were made concurrently at the same site, allowing a detailed analysis of the chemistry to be carried out. The peak HONO/NOx ratio of 0.04 is seen at ∼ 02:00 UTC, with the presence of a second, daytime, peak in HONO/NOx of similar magnitude to the night-time peak, suggesting a significant secondary daytime HONO source. A photostationary state calculation of HONO involving formation from the reaction of OH and NO and loss from photolysis, reaction with OH, and dry deposition shows a significant underestimation during the day, with calculated values being close to 0, compared to the measurement average of 0.4 ppbV at midday. The addition of further HONO sources from the literature, including dark conversion of NO2 on surfaces, direct emission, photolysis of ortho-substituted nitrophenols, the postulated formation from the reaction of HO2 × H2O with NO2, photolysis of adsorbed HNO3 on ground and aerosols, and HONO produced by photosensitized conversion of NO2 on the surface increases the daytime modelled HONO to 0.1 ppbV, still leaving a significant missing daytime source. The missing HONO is plotted against a series of parameters including NO2 and OH reactivity (used as a proxy for organic material), with little correlation seen. Much better correlation is observed with the product of these species with j(NO2), in particular NO2 and the product of NO2 with OH reactivity. This suggests the missing HONO source is in some way related to NO2 and also requires sunlight. Increasing the photosensitized surface conversion rate of NO2 by a factor of 10 to a mean daytime first-order loss of ∼ 6 × 10−5 s−1 (but which varies as a function of j(NO2)) closes the daytime HONO budget at all times (apart from the late afternoon), suggesting that urban surfaces may enhance this photosensitized source. The effect of the missing HONO to OH radical production is also investigated and it is shown that the model needs to be constrained to measured HONO in order to accurately reproduce the OH radical measurements.
Systems vaccinology has defined molecular signatures and mechanisms of immunity to vaccination. However, comparative analysis of immunity to different vaccines is lacking. We integrated ...transcriptional data of over 3,000 samples, from 820 adults across 28 studies of 13 vaccines and analyzed vaccination-induced signatures of antibody responses. Most vaccines induced signatures of innate immunity and plasmablasts at days 1 and 7, respectively, after vaccination. However, the yellow fever vaccine induced an early transient signature of T and B cell activation at day 1, followed by delayed antiviral/interferon and plasmablast signatures that peaked at days 7 and 14-21, respectively. Thus, there was no evidence for a 'universal signature' that predicted antibody response to all vaccines. However, accounting for the asynchronous nature of responses, we defined a time-adjusted signature that predicted antibody responses across vaccines. These results provide a transcriptional atlas of immunity to vaccination and define a common, time-adjusted signature of antibody responses.
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