Intermolecular interactions, stereodynamics, and coupled potential energy surfaces (PESs) all play a significant role in determining the outcomes of molecular collisions. A detailed knowledge of such processes is often essential for a proper interpretation of spectroscopic observations. For example, nitric oxide (NO), an important radical in combustion and atmospheric chemistry, is commonly quantified using laser-induced fluorescence on the A 2 Σ + ← X 2 Π transition band. However, the electronic quenching of NO (A 2 Σ + ) with other molecular species provides alternative nonradiative pathways that compete with fluorescence. While the cross sections and rate constants of NO (A 2 Σ + ) electronic quenching have been experimentally measured for a number of important molecular collision partners, the underlying photochemical mechanisms responsible for the electronic quenching are not well understood. In this paper, we describe the development of high-quality PESs that provide new physical insights into the intermolecular interactions and conical intersections that facilitate the branching between the electronic quenching and scattering of NO (A 2 Σ + ) with H 2 , N 2 , and CO. The PESs are calculated at the EOM-EA-CCSD/d-aug-cc-pVTZ//EOM-EA-CCSD/aug-cc-pVDZ level of theory, an approach that ensures a balanced treatment of the valence and Rydberg electronic states and an accurate description of the open-shell character of NO. Our PESs show that H 2 is incapable of electronically quenching NO (A 2 Σ + ) at low collision energies; instead, the two molecules will likely undergo scattering. The PESs of NO (A 2 Σ + ) with N 2 and CO are highly anisotropic and demonstrate evidence of electron transfer from NO (A 2 Σ + ) into the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital of the collision partner, that is, the harpoon mechanism. In the case of ON + CO, the PES becomes strongly attractive at longer intermolecular distances and funnels population to a conical intersection between NO (A 2 Σ + ) + CO and NO (X 2 Π) + CO. In contrast, for ON + N 2 , the conical intersection is preceded by an ∼0.40 eV barrier. Overall, our work shines new light into the impact of coupled PESs on the nonadiabatic dynamics of open-shell systems.

BackgroundInstagram is increasingly becoming a platform on which visual communication of cancer takes place, but few studies have investigated the content and effects. In particular, a paucity of research has evaluated the effects of visual communication of cancer on participative engagement outcomes.ObjectiveThe objective of our study was to investigate cancer-related beliefs and emotions shared on Instagram and to examine their effects on participative engagement outcomes including likes, comments, and social support.MethodsThis study analyzed the content of 441 posts of #melanomasucks on Instagram and assessed the effects of the content characteristics on outcomes, including the number of likes and comments and types of social support using group least absolute shrinkage and selection operator logistic regression.ResultsPosts about controlling melanoma were most frequent (271/441, 61.5%), followed by 240 (54.4%) posts about outcomes of having melanoma. Ninety posts (20.4%) were about the causes of melanoma. A greater number of posts expressed positive (159/441, 36.1%) than negative emotions (100/441, 22.7%). Eighty posts (18.1%) expressed hope, making it the most frequently expressed emotion; 49 posts expressed fear (11.1%), 46 were humorous (10.4%), and 46 showed sadness (10.4%). Posts about self behavior as a cause of melanoma decreased likes (P<.001) and social support comments (P=.048). Posts about physical consequences of melanoma decreased likes (P=.02) but increased comments (P<.001) and emotional social support (P<.001); posts about melanoma treatment experience increased comments (P=.03) and emotional social support (P<.001). None of the expressions of positive emotions increased likes, comments, or social support. Expression of anger increased the number of likes (P<.001) but those about fear (P<.001) and joy (P=.006) decreased the number of likes. Posts about fear (P=.003) and sadness (P=.003) increased emotional social support. Posts showing images of melanoma or its treatment on the face or body parts made up 21.8% (96/441) of total posts. Inclusion of images increased the number of comments (P=.001).ConclusionsTo our knowledge, this is the first investigation of the content and effects of user-generated visual cancer communication on social media. The findings show where the self-expressive and social engagement functions of #melanomasucks converge and diverge, providing implications for extending research on the commonsense model of illness and for developing conceptual frameworks explaining participative engagement on social media.

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Motivated reasoning in response to disconfirming science information presents a challenging barrier to science communication. This article presents a novel approach to emphasis framing, in which functionally equivalent information is framed using ideologically consistent values and tailored to the audiences. In contrast to traditional framing approaches, science information is held constant across frames and only interpretations of the information are varied. Results from an experiment provide initial support for this ideology-based framing approach. Persuasive effects are stronger for an ideologically congruent frame than for an incongruent frame, and no boomerang effects were observed. We discuss implications and directions for future research.

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