The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe

The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure

Évolution de la pollution atmosphérique urbaine dans 13 grandes villes françaises entre 2008 et 2015

International audienceBackground: Air pollution is a major public health issue and remains a major concern in France and around the world. Proof of this is that air pollution is one of the first environmental concerns of the French population. The purpose of this study was to establish a system for monitoring the actual concentrations of different atmospheric pollutants observed in major French cities.Method: For 13 major cities in Metropolitan France we collected data from the measurement stations of Air Quality Monitoring agencies for various pollutants: NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5. Using these data, we have produced monthly time series of these pollutants covering the period 2008–2015. We also calculated the slopes of these time series as well as the correlation coefficients.Results: The results do not show trends that are decreasing but rather stagnating, for the air pollutants considered. Our work therefore indicates that monitoring and taking steps to reduce air pollution must be increased.Contexte: La pollution atmosphérique est un enjeu majeur de santé publique et constitue une préoccupation majeure en France et dans le monde. Preuve en est que la pollution de l’air est l’une des 1re préoccupations environnementales des français. Le but de cette étude fut d’établir un suivi des concentrations réelles de différents polluants atmosphériques observées au sein de grandes villes de France.Méthode: Pour 13 grandes villes de France métropolitaine, nous avons récolté les données de stations de mesures auprès des agences de surveillances de la qualité de l’air pour différents polluants : NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5. À l’aide de ces données, nous avons produit des séries temporelles mensuelles de ces polluants en couvrant la période 2008–2015. Nous avons également calculé les pentes de ces séries temporelles de même que les coefficients de corrélation.Résultats: Les résultats ne montrent pas de tendances franches à la diminution mais plutôt à la stagnation pour les polluants considérés. Notre travail démontre donc que la surveillance et la prise de mesures dans le sens de la réduction de la pollution de l’air doivent être accrues

Short-Term Health Impact Assessment of Urban PM10 in Bejaia City (Algeria)

We used Health Impact Assessment (HIA) to analyze the impact on a given population’s health outcomes in terms of all-causes mortality and respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations attributable to short-term exposure to particulate matter less than 10 μm diameter (PM10) in Bejaia city, for which health effects of air pollution have never been investigated. Two scenarios of PM10 reduction were considered: first, a scenario where the PM10 annual mean is decreased by 5 µg/m3, and then a scenario where this PM10 mean is decreased to 20 µg/m3 (World Health Organization annual air quality guideline (WHO-AQG)). Annual mean level of PM10 (81.7 µg/m3) was calculated from objective measurements assessed in situ. Each year, about 4 and 55 deaths could be postponed with the first and the second scenarios successfully. Furthermore, decreasing PM10 annual mean by 5 µg/m3 would avoid 5 and 3 respiratory and cardiac hospitalizations, respectively, and not exceeding the PM10 WHO-AQG (20 µg/m3) would result in a potential gain of 36 and 23 per 100000 respiratory and cardiac hospitalizations, respectively. Lowering in current levels of PM10 has a nonnegligible impact in terms of public health that it is expected to be higher in the case of long-term effects

Pros and cons for the role of air pollution on COVID‐19 development

International audienceAs SARS-CoV-2 has spread across the globe, it has been difficult to ignore patterns suggesting that regions with poor air quality are witnessing disproportionate impacts in terms of the frequency and severity of COVID-19 infection. Consequently, researchers have rightly recognized the importance of considering the role of air pollution in the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we discuss the pros and cons of air pollution as a contributing factor to COVID-19, according to existing research question

Specific IgE sensitization and asthma in French farmers

International audienc

Long-Term Effect of Outdoor Air Pollution on Mortality and Morbidity: A 12-Year Follow-Up Study for Metropolitan France

Background: Short-term effects of air pollution are documented more than long-term effects. Objective: We investigated 12-year impacts of ambient air pollutants on cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity and mortality at the departmental level in metropolitan France. Methods: Daily air pollution data at 2-km resolution, including concentrations of particulate matter of 10 µm or 2.5 µm in diameter or less (PM10 and PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and ozone (O3), were accrued from the CHIMERE database for 1999 and 2000. Simultaneously, morbidity (hospitalizations) and mortality data were collected in 2012 using the ESPS (Enquête Santé et Protection Sociale/Health, Health Care and Insurance Survey) survey data and the CepiDc (Centre d’Épidémiologie sur les Causes Médicales de Décès/French Epidemiology Centre on Medical Causes of Death) database. Based on Poisson regression analyses, the long-term effect was estimated. A higher risk of all-cause mortality was observed using CépiDc database, with a relative risk of 1.024 (95% CI: 1.022, 1.026) and 1.029 (95% CI: 1.027, 1.031) for a 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. Mortality due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases likewise exhibited long-term associations with both PM2.5 and PM10. Using ESPS survey data, a significant risk was observed for both PM2.5 and PM10 in all-cause mortality and all-cause morbidity. Although a risk for higher all-cause mortality and morbidity was also present for NO2, the cause-specific relative risk due to NO2 was found to be lesser, as compared to PM. Nevertheless, cardiovascular and respiratory morbidity were related to NO2, along with PM2.5 and PM10. However, the health effect of O3 was seen to be substantially lower in comparison to the other pollutants. Conclusion: Our study confirmed that PM has a long-term impact on mortality and morbidity. Exposure to NO2 and O3 could also lead to increased health risks