Modeling the impact of global warming on vector-borne infections

Global warming will certainly affect the abundance and distribution of disease vectors. The effect of global warming, however, depends on the complex interaction between the human host population and the causative infectious agent. In this work we review some mathematical models that were proposed to study the impact of the increase in ambient temperature on the spread and gravity of some insect-transmitted diseases.     

Transitional zones of meaning and semantics in music and language: Reply to comments on “Towards a neural basis of processing musical semantics”

Processing of meaning is critical for language perception, and therefore the majority of research on meaning processing has focused on the semantic, lexical, conceptual, and propositional processing of language. However, music is another a means of communication, and meaning also emerges from the interpretation of musical information. This article provides a framework for the investigation of the processing of musical meaning, and reviews neuroscience studies investigating this issue. These studies reveal two neural correlates of meaning processing, the N400 and the N5 (which are both components of the event-related electric brain potential). Here I argue that the N400 can be elicited by musical stimuli due to the processing of extra-musical meaning, whereas the N5 can be elicited due to the processing of intra-musical meaning. Notably, whereas the N400 can be elicited by both linguistic and musical stimuli, the N5 has so far only been observed for the processing of meaning in music. Thus, knowledge about both the N400 and the N5 can advance our understanding of how the human brain processes meaning information.     

FTIR spectroscopy and estimation of the global warming potential of CF3Br and C2F4

High-resolution (0.03 cm⁻¹) absolute infrared photoabsorption cross sections of bromotrifluoromethane (CF₃Br) and tetrafluoroethylene (C₂F₄) have been measured using Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy at temperatures between 213 and 296 K. The measured cross sections were subsequently used to estimate the radiative forcings and the global warming potentials of these two species.     

Modeling of chemical tracer transport in the atmospheric environment and its impact on the global climate

Continental regions are experiencing rapid environmental changes due to expansion of industrial activities and land uses in different types of agricultural productions, burning of fossil fuels, etc., which lead to the emanation of huge amount of smog aerosol particulates and chemicals in the atmosphere. Information about these chemical tracers has been found from Indian Ocean Experiment (INDOEX), Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) assessment reports as well as from other sources. The results of these computations may be interpreted by the chemical tracer transport model. In this paper, we have used a global atmospheric model in which the optical properties and the concentrations of the chemical tracers and aerosols have been incorporated. The aerosols and chemicals are transported in the atmospheric environment by the model cumulus convection and through the model semi-Lagrangian advection process . Thus, they are globally distributed along with the wind flow. The model has been used in studying the impact of the tropospheric chemical perturbations on the global environment.     

Fourier transform spectroscopy of CO2 and OCO in the 3800-8500 cm region and the global modeling of the absorption spectrum of CO2

The absorption spectrum of the ¹⁸O enriched carbon dioxide has been recorded at Doppler limited resolution with a Fourier transform spectrometer in the spectral range 3800-8500 cm⁻¹. Seventeen cold bands (14Σ-Σ and 3Σ-Π) and nine hot bands (9Π-Π) of ¹²C¹⁸O₂, nineteen cold bands (18Σ-Σ and 1Σ-Π) and eighteen hot bands (6Σ-Σ, 9Π-Π and 3Δ-Δ) of ¹⁶O¹²C¹⁸O have been observed. Among them, 14 ¹²C¹⁸O₂ bands and 12 ¹⁶O¹²C¹⁸O bands are observed for the first time. The spectroscopic parameters G_v, B_v, and centrifugal distortion constants, have been determined for all observed bands. Effective Hamiltonian parameters for the ¹²C¹⁸O₂ isotopic species are retrieved from the global fitting of the observed line positions presented in this paper and collected from the literature. As the result, 65 obtained effective Hamiltonian parameters reproduce 5443 observed line positions of 73 ¹²C¹⁸O₂ bands with RMS = 0.00145 cm⁻¹.     

High sensitivity of magnetism of the “114” ferrimagnet CaBaCo4O7 to stoichiometry deviation

The effect of oxygen/cobalt off-stoichiometry upon magnetism in CaBaCo₄O₇ has been investigated. It is shown that the oxides CaBaCo₄O_7+δ and CaBaCo_4−xO_7−δ (0≤x≤0.20) synthesized below 1100 °C in air exhibit phase separation, where ferrimagnetic regions with T_C~56 K to 64 K coexist with regions of magnetic clusters. The latter are detected from ac-susceptibility measurements, which show various frequency dependent peaks at ~14–20 K, 37 K, and 45 K, depending on the stoichiometry. The origin of this phenomenon is attributed to the great sensitivity of the material to oxidation as the synthesis of temperature is lowered, leading to the introduction of additional Co³⁺ cations, with respect to the ideal formula CaBaCo₂²⁺Co₂³⁺O_7. This excess Co³⁺ tends to destroy the ferromagnetic zig-zag chains of the ferrimagnetic structure and creates various cobalt spin clusters, leading to the inherent phase separation in the samples.     

Radiative forcing of aerosols and gases over tropical ocean and its impact on the global atmospheric environment: GCM investigations during INDOEX campaigns

Radiative forcings due to aerosols and the pollutant gases accumulated as haze which are transported from nearby continent to the tropical ocean are essentially important elements of the world climate system. Vertical transport of aerosols and gaseous species takes place within the deep convective cloud clusters of the inter-tropical convergence zone and subsequently these are distributed by the upper atmospheric zonal wind flow, thereby have impact on the global atmospheric environment. The comprehensive global atmospheric models have shown capability of simulating the climate of the atmosphere with proper forcing. We have deduced the radiative forcing, optical depth and the global energy balance components by a global atmospheric model. The results are validated well with INDOEX and other available observational findings.     

Reply to the comment on: ‘Magnetoresistance in La1−xCaxMnO3(0≤x<0.4)’

The author of the comment objects to the characterization and the interpretation of magnetoresistance (MR) effects observed by us in La_1−xCa_xMnO₃ (0≤x<0.4) samples. In this reply, arguments are used to show that the samples' characterization and explanation of the MR by considering the role of the short-charge ordering (CO) regions and magnetic domains are reasonable and acceptable.     

Global analysis of CH3Cl and CH3Cl: simultaneous fit of the lower five polyads (0–2600 cm)

The global analysis of the infrared spectrum of chloromethane involving the ground state and the 13 vibrational states lying up to 2600 cm⁻¹ is reported. This work incorporates and extends to the fifth polyad, the preliminary study of the lower four polyads published by [J. Mol. Spectrosc. 221 (2003) 199]. More than 20 000 transitions (including numerous hot bands) for each isotopomer ¹²CH₃³⁵Cl and ¹²CH₃³⁷Cl have been assigned and fitted with a standard deviation of about 3 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹ close to the experimental precision. A common set of 288 (resp. 303) effective parameters was determined for each isotopomer. Our global model allowed us to reproduce simultaneously and accurately the resonances already encountered in Polyad 3 and the new ones involved in Polyad 5.