The predictive power of the calculated line lists of carbon monoxide

Small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and somewhat larger cyano derivatives were detected in the cold dark cloud TMC-1 recently. Their formation from smaller hydrocarbons is not well understood, in part because abundances of many species are not known. Methylallene, CH 3 CHCCH 2 , may be one of the building blocks, but its rotational spectrum was characterised only to a very limited extent. We recorded rotational transitions in the 36–501 GHz region to extend the existing line list of methylallene and thus enable searches for the molecule in space. Quantum-chemical calculations were carried out to evaluate initial spectroscopic parameters. We obtained transition frequencies with J ≤ 61 and K a ≤ 21 and resolved the internal rotation splitting of the CH 3 group at least partially. As a result, a full set of distortion parameters up to sixth order along with two octic ones were determined, as well as parameters describing the internal rotation of the methyl group. The spectroscopic parameters are accurate enough to identify methylallene up to 720 GHz, sufficient for searches even in the warm interstellar medium.

Although significant progress has been made in reducing malaria transmission in Zimbabwe, the path to elimination remains challenging. The disease remains a persistent threat, particularly in resource-constrained areas such as Mberengwa, necessitating an urgent need to understand the demographic, behavioural, socioeconomic, and structural factors influencing long-lasting insecticide-treated net use and case severity. This study investigated these factors using individual malaria case data to inform the development of locally tailored strategies for malaria elimination. Individual malaria case data from 2019 to 2024 were collected from the District Health Information System Tracker-2 database for this study. Data were triangulated with line list and health facility register data to verify records and complete the missing data. The resulting 662 cases were analysed using stratified descriptive analysis, multivariate logistic regression, and Random Forest classification models. There is an overall gradual decline in the annual Test Positivity Rate, despite seasonal peaks. A critical finding was the disparity between long-lasting insecticide-treated net ownership (95%) and use (7.7%), suggesting that ownership does not translate to protective use. In the multivariate logistic regression, none of the tested variables were significant determinants of Long-Lasting Insecticide Net use. However, random forest modelling identified age, time to seek care, religious group, distance to health facilities, and education level as the top 5 influential factors. For malaria case severity, greater distance to a health facility (P < .001) and increasing age (P = .002) were consistently identified as significant factors associated with severity. The Random Forest model demonstrated enhanced performance in discriminating case severity compared to Logistic Regression. The findings of this study highlight that effective malaria elimination requires a combined focus on behavioural change, structural improvements in healthcare access, and data-driven programming supported by advanced analytics. Tailored malaria elimination strategies must address the long-lasting insecticide-treated net use gap and structural barriers.

In our call for papers for this special issue, we solicited submissions of/about all modes of life writing that consider experiences, relationality, and intersubjectivity beyond the human. We posed the following questions to our potential collaborators: • How do we write the abundance of more-than-human and nonhuman life in which we situate our own? • What forms emerge when lives aren’t coded via anthropocentric timelines? • How might anthropogenic climate change prompt urgent new forms of life writing that exceed and entangle human subjectivities? As the essays and creative works within this special issue attest, such questions were only a partial list of possible lines of enquiry when it comes to life writing beyond the human. But all of these lines of enquiry are underpinned by a desire to undo the myth of human superiority. In this special issue of Text, we are thrilled to include contributions by postgraduate students, early career researchers, and established writers and scholars. Each contributor brings their unique orientation to the theme and its provocations, writing into and through the human as an always ambiguous and permeable category, whose boundaries shimmer and smudge in connection with vibrant material, technologies, animals, environments, illness, and finitude. As in any curated anthology, the specific enquiries of individual researchers here attain further complexity in conversation with one another.

An outbreak of acute gastrointestinal illness occurred among personnel in an army camp in West Sikkim, India, between 27 June and 4 July 2023. The investigation aimed to determine the extent of the outbreak, identify the causative organism and source of infection, and implement effective control measures. A case was defined as any individual residing or working in the camp who, during the outbreak period, experienced ≥3 loose stools within 24 h, accompanied by abdominal pain or vomiting. Clinical samples including stool and rectal swabs, along with food and water samples, were collected and tested using conventional bacteriological culture methods and by multiplex PCR. Data were organized in Microsoft Excel to prepare a line list and epidemic curve was plotted by date and time of onset acute gastroenteritis (AGE) along with calculation of age specific attack rates. A total of 30 army personnel living in an army camp suffered from AGE with an attack rate of 13.5%. The mean age of case patients was 35.7 years (standard deviation ±6.85). Culture results revealed the presence of multiple bacteria including Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp. The presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) was confirmed by multiplex PCR in rectal swab samples. The findings suggest that the most probable cause of the outbreak was contamination of the in-camp water supply network due to inadequate maintenance and possible sewage infiltration. Timely clinical intervention and public health response effectively curtailed the outbreak and prevented further transmission.

Benchmarking a new atomic line list for high-resolution spectroscopy of B-type stars: chemical characterization of single and binary stellar systems

Abstract Data-driven stellar classification has a long and important history in astronomy, dating as far back as Annie Jump Cannon’s “by-eye” classifications of stars into spectral types, still used today. In recent years, data-driven spectroscopy has proven to be an effective means of deriving stellar properties for large samples of stars, sidestepping issues with computational efficiency, incomplete line lists, and radiative transfer calculations associated with physical stellar models. A logical application of these algorithms is the detection of unresolved stellar binaries, which requires accurate spectroscopic models to resolve flux contributions from a fainter secondary star in the spectrum. Here, we use The Cannon to train a data-driven model on spectra from the Keck High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer. We show that our model is competitive with existing data-driven models in its ability to predict stellar properties T eff , R ⋆ , [Fe/H], and v sin i , as well as the instrumental point-spread function, particularly when we apply a novel wavelet-based processing step to spectra before training. We find that even with accurate estimates of star properties, our model’s ability to detect unresolved binaries is limited by its ∼3% accuracy in per-pixel flux predictions, illuminating possible limitations of data-driven model applications.

OH radical can be found in comets, stellar atmospheres, planetary atmospheres, interstellar clouds, exoplanets, the solar photosphere, and sunspots, making it a significant astrophysical molecule. Its detection relies on its emission properties, intrinsic to the molecules’ rovibrational levels. This work presents high-level calculations of the electronic structure of OH radical using complete active space self consistent field/multiReference configuration interaction calculations, including Davidson correction methods with large basis sets and extensive treatment of the electron correlation. The adiabatic potential energy curves of the low-lying doublet and quartet electronic states of the hydroxyl, in the representation 2 S + 1 Λ ( + / − ) , are investigated. Additionally, a systematic investigation of the transition dipole moment function (TDMF) for the B Σ + 2 − X Π 2 and D Σ − 2 − X Π 2 transitions has been done along with the Franck-Condon factors of these systems. The computed TDMF and potential energy function are used in Le Roy's LEVEL and Western's PGOPHER programs, in combination with experimental literature line positions, to calculate rovibronic B Σ + 2 − X Π 2 and D Σ − 2 − X Π 2 transitions. The corresponding “first principles”-based line lists include line intensities, line positions with the relevant quantum numbers of the upper and lower states, e/f parity, and Einstein A coefficients. The results show good agreement with previously published experimental and theoretical data, including a corresponding updated MARVEL (measured active rotational-vibrational energy levels) analysis of the lowest excited states of the OH molecule.

Abstract We present atmospheric retrievals of the benchmark brown dwarf binary Luhman 16AB using high-resolution VLT/CRIRES spectra and the differentiable framework ExoJAX. We derive elemental abundances and temperature–pressure ( T – P ) profiles while explicitly testing the robustness of the results against major sources of systematic uncertainty. We first perform retrievals with a power-law T – P profile and assess the sensitivity of inferred molecular abundances and C/O ratios to different CO line lists (ExoMol, HITEMP with air- and H2-broadening). We then introduce a flexible Gaussian process-based T – P profile, allowing a nonparametric characterization of the thermal structure and a more conservative treatment of uncertainties. For both components, we infer C/O ratios of about 0.67, slightly above solar, with line list systematics at the 7% level emerging as the dominant source of uncertainty, whereas assumptions about T – P parameterization or photometric variability play a lesser role. The retrieved T – P profiles and molecular abundances are broadly consistent with atmospheric models and equilibrium chemistry. Our results establish Luhman 16AB as a key anchor for substellar C/O measurements, demonstrate the utility of flexible T – P modeling in high-resolution retrievals, and highlight the importance of systematic tests—particularly line list uncertainties—for robust comparisons between brown dwarfs and giant exoplanets.

Abstract In order to test the robustness and reliability of the new generation spectral-line identifier PyEMILI, as initially introduced in Paper I, in line identification and establish a reference/benchmark dataset for future spectroscopic studies, we run the code on the line lists of a selected sample of emission-line nebulae, including planetary nebulae (PNe), H ii regions, and Herbig–Haro objects with deep high-dispersion spectroscopic observations published over the past two decades. The automated line identifications by PyEMILI demonstrate significant improvements in both completeness and accuracy compared to the previous manual identifications in the literature. Since our last report of PyEMILI, the atomic transition database used by the code has been further expanded by crossmatching the Kurucz line lists. Moreover, to aid the PyEMILI identification of numerous faint optical recombination lines (ORLs) of C ii , N ii , O ii , and Ne ii , we compiled a new dataset of effective recombination coefficients for these nebular lines, and created a new subroutine in the code to generate theoretical spectra of heavy-element ORLs at various electron temperature and density cases; these theoretical spectra can be used to fit the observed recombination spectrum of a PN to obtain the electron temperature, density, and ionic abundances using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. We present MCMC-derived parameters for a sample of PNe. This work establishes PyEMILI as a robust and versatile tool for both line identification and plasma diagnostics in deep spectroscopy of gaseous nebulae.

Cholera remains a persistent public health threat in fragile and conflict affected settings where inadequate water, sanitation, and hygiene infrastructure, population displacement, and climate shocks contribute to recurrent outbreaks. Somalia has experienced cyclical cholera epidemics for decades, yet recent national level analyses of mortality predictors remain limited. A retrospective analysis of national cholera surveillance data was conducted using line lists from cholera treatment centers across Somalia for the period January to December 2024. Suspected and confirmed cases were defined according to national guidelines. Demographic, clinical, nutritional, environmental, and laboratory variables were analyzed. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with mortality. A total of 21,945 suspected cholera cases and 138 deaths were reported, corresponding to a case fatality rate of 0.6%. Children under five years accounted for 42% of cases. In the adjusted analysis, use of river water compared with piped water had an adjusted odds ratio of 2.34 (95% CI: 1.12-4.87). Severe dehydration had an adjusted odds ratio of 5.67 (95% CI: 3.21-10.01), and malnutrition had an adjusted odds ratio of 2.12 (95% CI: 1.17-3.83). Residence in Jubaland compared with Banadir had an adjusted odds ratio of 1.91 (95% CI: 1.05-3.47). Children aged 5-14 years and individuals aged 15-44 years had lower adjusted odds of death compared with children under five years. Laboratory confirmation was limited. The 2024 cholera outbreak in Somalia was characterized by substantial pediatric burden and marked differences in mortality by water source, nutritional status, dehydration severity, and region. Strengthening water safety, expanding access to timely case management, integrating nutrition services, improving surveillance capacity, and implementing targeted oral cholera vaccination in high-risk areas are critical to reducing cholera mortality and advancing long term control efforts in Somalia.

Accurate simulation of the CN emission spectra in laser-induced plasma: a joint impact of robust line list, non-LTE conditions and self-absorption effect

The molecular line list of NO2+ is of great atmospheric significance, especially for related spectral characterization and radiative transfer calculation. Using robust first-principles methods, we presented the first comprehensive line list of ground-state NO2+. Analytical potential energy surface and dipole moment surface were constructed based on 8991 ab initio points from coupled-cluster calculations, in which the core-valence electron correlation and scalar relativistic effects were considered in the calculations of potential energy. The variational nuclear motion program TROVE was used to obtain the ro-vibrational energy levels, wave function, and Einstein A coefficients. The line list contains almost 25.1 million transitions between 736 thousand energy levels with rotational excitation up to 200, which covers the wavenumber range of 0-9000 cm-1 and is suitable for temperatures up to 3000 K.

Abstract We present the ExoAtom database, www.exomol.com/exoatom, an extension of the ExoMol database to provide atomic line lists in the ExoMol format. ExoAtom is designed for detailed astrophysical, planetary, and laboratory applications. ExoAtom currently includes atomic data for 80 neutral atoms and 74 singly charged ions. These data are extracted from both the nist and Kurucz databases, with 79/71 atoms/ions sourced from nist and 38/37 atoms/ions sourced from Kurucz. ExoAtom uses the file types .all, .def, .states, .trans and .pf as fundamental components for structuring atomic data in a consistent hierarchy. The .states file contains quantum numbers, uncertainties, lifetimes, etc. The .trans file specifies Einstein A coefficients and their associated wavenumbers. The .pf file provides partition functions over a wide grid of temperatures. Post-processing of the ExoAtom data is provided by the program PyExoCross. Future development of ExoAtom will include additional ionization stages.

The HARPS-N solar telescope has been observing the Sun every possible day since the summer of 2015. We have recently released 10 years of these data, which are available online. The goal of this paper is to present the different optimisations made to the ESPRESSO data reduction software used to extract the published HARPS-N solar spectra, describe the data curation, and perform some analyses that demonstrate the extreme radial velocity (RV) precision of those data. By analysing all of the HARPS-N wavelength solutions over 13 years, we brought to light instrumental systematics at the 1 level. We mitigated those systematics by curating the thorium line list used to derive the wavelength solution and applying a correction to the drift of thorium lines induced by the aging of thorium-argon hollow cathode lamps. After optimisation, we demonstrated a peak-to-peak precision on the HARPS-N wavelength solution better than 0.75 or well-understood instrumental systematics. Finally, we corrected the curated data for spurious sub-meter-per-second RV effects caused by erroneous instrumental drift measurements and by changes in the spectral blaze function over time. over 13 years. We then carefully curated the decade of HARPS-N re-reduced solar observations by rejecting 30% of the data affected either by clouds, bad atmospheric conditions After curation and correction, a total of 109,466 HARPS-N solar spectra and respective RVs over a decade were made available. The median photon-noise precision of the RV data is 0.28 and on daily timescales, the median RV rms is 0.49 which is similar to the level imposed by stellar granulation signals. On 10 year timescales, the large RV rms of 2.95 results from the RV signature of the Sun's magnetic cycle. Through modelling of this long-term effect using the Bremen composite magnesium II activity index, we demonstrate a long-term RV precision of 0.41 We also analysed contemporaneous HARPS-N and NEID solar RVs and found the data from both instruments to be of similar quality and precision. However, an analysis of the RV difference between these two RV datasets over the three available years gave a surprisingly large RV rms of 1.3 This variation is dominated by an unexplained trend that could be caused by a different sensitivity to stellar activity of the two datasets. Once this trend was modelled, the overall RV rms for three years reached 0.79 and the RV rms during the low-activity phase decreased to 0.6 compatible with what is expected from supergranulation. This decade of high-cadence HARPS-N solar observations with short- and long-term precision below one represents a crucial dataset in the pursuit of further understanding the stellar activity signals in solar-type stars and advancing other science cases requiring such extreme precision.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic placed pressure on health systems, exposing workforce shortages and prompting innovative strategies to manage patients with mild to moderate symptoms. Home-based care emerged as a practical approach to reduce facility burden while maintaining quality care.AimTo assess the implementation and acceptability of the COVID-19 home management model in Zambia.SettingThe study was conducted in 11 purposively selected districts with high levels of home-based management.MethodsA comparative cross-sectional study was conducted. Data were collected in June 2023 and September 2023 from 566 individuals with confirmed COVID-19 eligible for home management, sampled systematically from health facility line lists. Descriptive statistics summarised participant characteristics, and multivariable logistic regression identified factors associated with accepting home-based care.ResultsSixty per cent participants were female, with a median age of 28 years. Awareness of the home management model (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 5.11; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.61–10.0), income between 600 and 1000 kwacha (AOR = 2.64; 95% CI: 1.10–6.85), and perceiving the model as effective (AOR = 7.88; 95% CI: 3.56–18.3) increased odds of acceptance, while formal employment reduced it (AOR = 0.38; 95% CI: 0.18–0.78).ConclusionHome-based care is a strategy for easing health system pressure. Strengthening awareness and addressing socio-economic barriers could increase uptake in Zambia.ContributionThis study contributes new evidence on the determinants of home-based care uptake within a low-resource context. The study provides actionable insights for policymakers and programme implementers seeking to strengthen community-based models of care.

The Milky Way nuclear star cluster (MWNSC) is located in the Galactic centre, together with the Milky Way nuclear stellar disc (MWNSD), and they dominate the gravitational potential within the inner 300,pc. However, the formation and evolution of the two systems and their possible connections are still under debate. We reanalysed the low-resolution KMOS spectra in the MWNSC with the aim of improving the stellar parameters (̊m T_ eff , ̊m łog,g, and ̊m M/H ) for the MWNSC. We used an improved line list, especially dedicated for cool M giants, that allowed us to improve the stellar parameters and to obtain in addition global ̊m α-elements. A comparison with high-resolution IR spectra (from IGRINS) gives very satisfactory results and constrains the uncertainties to ̊m T_ eff ≃ 150,K, ̊m log,g ≃ 0.4,dex, and ̊m M/H ≃ 0.2,dex. Our ̊m α-elements agree within 0.1,dex compared to the IGRINS spectra. We obtained a high-quality sample of 1140 M giant stars where we see an important contribution of a metal-poor population (̊m ∼ 20,%) centred at ̊m M/H ≃ -0.7,dex, while the most dominant part comes from the metal-rich population with ̊m M/H ≃ 0.26,dex. We constructed a metallicity map and find a metallicity gradient of ̊m ∼ -0.1 ± 0.02 ,dex/pc favouring the inside-out formation scenario for the MWNSC.

Abstract Extensive rovibrational line lists are constructed for 12 isotopologues of carbon dioxide: 12C16O2, 13C16O2, 12C17O2, 13C17O2, 12C18O2, 13C18O2, 16O12C17O, 16O12C18O, 16O13C17O, 16O13C18O, 17O12C18O, and 17O13C18O. The variational program trove was employed together with an exact kinetic energy operator, accurate empirical potential energy surface (Ames-2) and the ab initio dipole moment surface Ames-2021-40K. Empirical energy levels from the most recent MARVEL analyses, as well as from the HITRAN and CDSD databases, are used to replace calculated values where available. The line lists are further supplemented by assigning AFGL quantum numbers using machine-learning based estimators. The resulting data were employed to generate opacities with four radiative transfer codes, TauREx, Arcis, NEMESIS, and petitRADTRANS, both for individual isotopologues and for CO2 at terrestrial isotopic natural abundance. All line lists and associated data are available at www.exomol.com.

BackgroundIn June 2019, the Uganda Ministry of Health, through routine surveillance data analysis, was notified of an increase in malaria cases in Mbale District, which exceeded the outbreak action thresholds. This investigation was conducted to assess the magnitude of the outbreak, identify transmission risk factors, and recommend evidence-based control measures.MethodsA confirmed case was defined as a positive malaria result using a malaria rapid diagnostic test or microscopy from 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2019 in a resident or visitor of Bumbobi or Nyondo Sub-County, Mbale District. Medical records were reviewed to develop a line list for descriptive epidemiology. Using a case–control study, exposures were compared between 150 case-persons and 150 asymptomatic controls matched by age and village. Environmental and entomological assessments on vector dynamics were further conducted.ResultsEight thousand eight hundred twenty-seven case-patients (attack rate [AR] = 33%) were identified. Females (AR = 36%) were more affected than males (AR = 27%). The 5–18-year age group (AR = 2.6%) was most affected. The epidemic curve showed a steady increase in malaria cases in March, peaking 4 weeks after the last peak of rainfall. In the matched pair case–control analysis, 95% (143/150) of case-patients and 49% (73/150) of controls had soil erosion control pits that held stagnant water near their homes for several days following rainfall (OR = 18, 95% CI 7.0–50); 31% (47/150) of case-patients and 72% (108/150) of controls wore long-sleeve clothes during evening hours (OR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.08–0.3); 69% (104/150) of case-patients and 92% (138/150) of controls slept under a bed net (OR = 0.17, 95% CI 0.07–0.38). Active breeding sites were found near and within homesteads with Anopheles gambiae as the predominant vector.ConclusionIncreased vector breeding sites due to erosion control pits as a soil conservation practice sustained by the intermittent rainfall, likely caused this outbreak. Draining pits immediately after the rains and increasing coverage for bed nets were recommended.

Empirical energy levels and line lists of D217O, and D218O from the analysis of far infrared absorption spectra (50–720 cm-1)