ALBERT

Description: Magnetic flux quantization is one of the defining properties of a superconductor. We report the observation of half-integer magnetic flux quantization in mesoscopic rings of superconducting β-Bi2Pd thin films. The half-quantum fluxoid manifests itself as a π phase shift in the quantum oscillation of the superconducting critical temperature. This result verifies unconventional superconductivity of β-Bi2Pd and is consistent with a spin-triplet pairing symmetry. Our findings may have implications for flux quantum bits in the context of quantum computing.

Description: Evaluating surface fluxes of CH4 using total column data requires models to accurately account for the transport and chemistry of methane in the free-troposphere and stratosphere, thus reducing sensitivity to the underlying fluxes. Vertical profiles of methane have increased sensitivity to surface fluxes because lower tropospheric methane is more sensitive to surface fluxes than a total column. Resolving the free troposphere from the lower-troposphere also helps to evaluate the impact of transport and chemistry uncertainties on estimated surface fluxes. Here we demonstrate the potential for estimating lower tropospheric CH4 concentrations through the combination of free-tropospheric methane measurements from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and XCH4 (dry-mole air fraction of methane) from the Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite Thermal And Near Infrared for Carbon Observations (GOSAT TANSO, herein GOSAT for brevity). The mean precision of these estimates are calculated to be ~ 23 ppb for a monthly average on a 4 × 5 latitude/longitude degree grid making these data suitable for evaluating lower-tropospheric methane concentrations. Smoothing error is approximately 10 ppb or less. The accuracy is primarily determined by knowledge error of XCO2, used to estimate XCH4 from the GOSAT CH4/CO2 "proxy" retrieval. For example, we use different XCO2 fields to quantify XCH4 from the GOSAT CH4/CO2 retrieval, one from Carbontracker and another from the NASA Carbon Monitoring System, and find that differences of up to approximately 60 ppb are possible with a mean value of approximately 35 ppb or less for any given latitude for these lower-tropospheric methane estimates using these two different XCO2 distributions. We show that these lower-tropospheric concentrations are more directly sensitive to the underlying fluxes than a total column using the GEOS-Chem model. In particular, we compare these lower-tropospheric methane estimates with those from the GEOS-Chem model for July 2009 to determine if these data can capture methane enhancements associated with the high-latitude methane fluxes because both TES and GOSAT separately do not show much sensitivity to methane from these sources. We find that the spatial patterns and magnitude of lower tropospheric methane concentrations from GEOS-Chem over Northern European and Siberian wetland fluxes are consistent with these data but modeled concentrations are much larger than measured over Canadian wetland fluxes. Transport of methane significantly affects lower-tropospheric methane concentrations over S.E. Asia as both data and model show methane enhancements that are shifted away from their sources. A possible new finding is that there is no representation of a strong source between the Black and Caspian seas.

Description: Stabilization of the MYC oncoprotein by KRAS signaling critically promotes the growth of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Thus, understanding how MYC protein stability is regulated may lead to effective therapies. Here, we used a previously developed, flow cytometry–based assay that screened a library of 〉800 protein kinase inhibitors and identified compounds that promoted either the stability or degradation of MYC in a KRAS-mutant PDAC cell line. We validated compounds that stabilized or destabilized MYC and then focused on one compound, UNC10112785, that induced the substantial loss of MYC protein in both two-dimensional (2D) and 3D cell cultures. We determined that this compound is a potent CDK9 inhibitor with a previously uncharacterized scaffold, caused MYC loss through both transcriptional and posttranslational mechanisms, and suppresses PDAC anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent growth. We discovered that CDK9 enhanced MYC protein stability through a previously unknown, KRAS-independent mechanism involving direct phosphorylation of MYC at Ser62. Our study thus not only identifies a potential therapeutic target for patients with KRAS-mutant PDAC but also presents the application of a screening strategy that can be more broadly adapted to identify regulators of protein stability.

Description: The spatiotemporal variations of surface air pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10) with four land-use types: residence (R), commerce (C), industry (I) and greenbelt (G) have been investigated at 283 stations in South Korea during 2002–2013, using routinely observed data. The VOCs data at 9 photochemical pollutant monitoring stations available since 2007 were utilized in order to examine their effect on the ozone chemistry. The land-use types, set by the Korean government, were generally consistent with the satellite-derived land covers and with the previous result showing anti-correlation between O3 and NO2 in diverse urban areas. The relationship between the two pollutants in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) residence land-use areas was substantially different from that outside of the SMA, probably due to the local differences in vehicle emissions. The highest concentrations of air pollutants in the diurnal, weekly, and annual cycles were found in industry for SO2 and PM10, in commerce for NO2 and CO, and in greenbelt for O3, respectively. The concentrations of air pollutants, except for O3, were generally higher in big cities during weekdays while O3 showed its peak in suburban areas or small cities during weekends. The weekly cycle and trends of O3 were significantly out of phase with those of NO2, particularly in the residential and commercial areas, suggesting that vehicle emission was a major source in those areas. The ratios of VOCs to NO2 for each of the land-use types were in the order of I (10.2) 〉 C (8.7) 〉 G (3.9) 〉 R (3.6), suggesting that most areas in South Korea were likely to be VOCs-limited for ozone chemistry. The pollutants (NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10) except for O3 have decreased most likely due to the effective government control. The total oxidant values (OX = O3 + NO2) with the land-use types were analyzed for the local and regional (or background) contributions of O3, respectively, and the order of OX (ppb) was C (57.4) 〉 R (53.6) 〉 I (50.7) 〉 G (45.4), indicating the greenbelt observation was close to the background.

Description: Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS), a research tower (~ 40 m a.s.l.) for atmospheric and oceanographic observations, is located in the East China Sea (32.07° N, 125.10° E). The IORS is almost equidistant from South Korea, China, and Japan and, therefore, it is an ideal place to observe Asian outflows without local emission effects. The average ozone concentrations were 51.8 ± 15.9 ppbv during June 2003–December 2010. The seasonal variation of ozone was distinct, with a summer minimum (37.8 ppbv) and a spring maximum (61.1 ppbv), and was largely affected by seasonal wind pattern over East Asia. The fractional contribution of ozone at IORS could be attributed to six well distinguished air masses that were classified by the cluster analysis of backward trajectories. Marine air from the Pacific Ocean represents a relatively clean background air with a lowest ozone level of 32.2 ppbv in summer. In spring and winter the influence of Chinese outflows was dominant with higher ozone concentrations of 61.6 and 49.3 ppbv, respectively. This study confirms that the influence of Chinese outflows was the main factor determining O3 levels at IORS, of which extent was apt to be changed by meteorological state, particularly at a long-term scale.

Description: The change of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) has been predicted to be highly uncertain in the future atmosphere in Asia. To better quantify the SOA change, we study a sub-decadal (2001–2008) trend of major surrogate compounds (C2-C10 diacids) of SOA in atmospheric aerosols from Gosan site in Jeju Island, South Korea. Gosan site is influenced by the pollution-outflows from East Asia. The molecular distribution of diacids was characterized by the predominance of oxalic (C2) acid followed by malonic (C3) and succinic (C4) acids in each year. The seasonal variations of diacids in each year were characterized by the highest concentrations of saturated diacids in spring and unsaturated diacids in winter. The consistent molecular distribution and seasonal variations are indicative of similar pollution sources for diacids in East Asia over a sub-decadal scale. However, the intensity of the pollution sources has increased as evidenced by the increases of major diacids at the rate of 3.9–47.4 % year−1 particularly in April. The temporal variations of atmospheric tracer compounds (CO, levoglucosan, 2-methyltetrols, pinic acid, glyoxylic acid, glyoxal and methylglyoxal) suggest that the increases of diacids are due to an enhanced precursor emissions associated with more anthropogenic than biogenic activities followed by their chemical processing in the atmosphere. The trends of diacids are opposite to the reported decreases of sulfate, nitrate and ammonium in the recent years in East Asia. This study demonstrates that recent pollution control strategies in East Asia could not decrease organic acidic species in the atmosphere. If the current rates of increases continue, the organic acid- and water-soluble fractions of SOA could increase significantly in the future atmosphere in East Asia.

Description: Evaluating surface fluxes of CH4 using total column data requires models to accurately account for the transport and chemistry of methane in the free troposphere and stratosphere, thus reducing sensitivity to the underlying fluxes. Vertical profiles of methane have increased sensitivity to surface fluxes because lower tropospheric methane is more sensitive to surface fluxes than a total column, and quantifying free-tropospheric CH4 concentrations helps to evaluate the impact of transport and chemistry uncertainties on estimated surface fluxes. Here we demonstrate the potential for estimating lower tropospheric CH4 concentrations through the combination of free-tropospheric methane measurements from the Aura Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) and XCH4 (dry-mole air fraction of methane) from the Greenhouse gases Observing SATellite – Thermal And Near-infrared for carbon Observation (GOSAT TANSO, herein GOSAT for brevity). The calculated precision of these estimates ranges from 10 to 30 ppb for a monthly average on a 4° × 5° latitude/longitude grid making these data suitable for evaluating lower-tropospheric methane concentrations. Smoothing error is approximately 10 ppb or less. Comparisons between these data and the GEOS-Chem model demonstrate that these lower-tropospheric CH4 estimates can resolve enhanced concentrations over flux regions that are challenging to resolve with total column measurements. We also use the GEOS-Chem model and surface measurements in background regions across a range of latitudes to determine that these lower-tropospheric estimates are biased low by approximately 65 ppb, with an accuracy of approximately 6 ppb (after removal of the bias) and an actual precision of approximately 30 ppb. This 6 ppb accuracy is consistent with the accuracy of TES and GOSAT methane retrievals.

Description: Ieodo Ocean Research Station (IORS), a research tower (~ 40 m a.s.l.) for atmospheric and oceanographic observations, is located in the East China Sea (32.07° N, 125.10° E). The IORS is almost equidistant from South Korea, China, and Japan and, therefore, it is an ideal place to observe Asian outflows without local emission effects. The seasonal variation of ozone was distinct, with a minimum in August (37 ppbv) and two peaks in April and October (62 ppbv), and was largely affected by the seasonal wind pattern over east Asia. At IORS, six types of air masses were distinguished with different levels of O3 concentrations by the cluster analysis of backward trajectories. Marine air masses from the Pacific Ocean represent a relatively clean background air with a lowest ozone level of 32 ppbv, which was most frequently observed in summer (July–August). In spring (March–April) and winter (December–February), the influence of Chinese outflows was dominant with higher ozone concentrations of 62 and 49 ppbv, respectively. This study confirms that the influence of Chinese outflows was the main factor determining O3 levels at IORS and its extent was dependent on meteorological state, particularly at a long-term scale.

Description: The spatiotemporal variations of surface air pollutants (O3, NO2, SO2, CO, and PM10) with four land-use types, residence (R), commerce (C), industry (I) and greenbelt (G), have been investigated at 283 stations in South Korea during 2002–2013, using routinely observed data. The volatile organic compound (VOC) data at nine photochemical pollutant monitoring stations available since 2007 were utilized in order to examine their effect on the ozone chemistry. The land-use types, set by the Korean government, were generally consistent with the satellite-derived land covers and with the previous result showing anti-correlation between O3 and NO2 in diverse urban areas. The relationship between the two pollutants in the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) residence land-use areas was substantially different from that outside of the SMA, probably due to the local differences in vehicle emissions. The highest concentrations of air pollutants in the diurnal, weekly, and annual cycles were found in industry for SO2 and PMPM10, in commerce for NO2 and CO, and in greenbelt for O3. The concentrations of air pollutants, except for O3, were generally higher in big cities during weekdays, while O3 showed its peak in suburban areas or small cities during weekends. The weekly cycle and trends of O3 were significantly out of phase with those of NO2, particularly in the residential and commercial areas, suggesting that vehicle emission was a major source in those areas. The ratios of VOCs to NO2 for each of the land-use types were in the order of I (10.2) 〉 C (8.7) 〉 G (3.9) 〉 R (3.6), suggesting that most areas in South Korea were likely to be VOC-limited for ozone chemistry. The pollutants (NO2, SO2, CO, and PMPM10 except for O3 have decreased, most likely due to the effective government control. The total oxidant values (OX = O3 + NO2) with the land-use types were analyzed for the local and regional (or background) contributions of O3, respectively, and the order of OX (ppb) was C (57.4) 〉 R (53.6) 〉 I (50.7) 〉 G (45.4), indicating the greenbelt observation was close to the background.