Anisotropy probe of galactic and extra-galactic Dark Matter annihilations

We study the flux and the angular power spectrum of gamma-rays produced by Dark Matter (DM) annihilations in the Milky Way (MW) and in extra-galactic halos. The annihilation signal receives contributions from: a) the smooth MW halo, b) resolved and unresolved substructures in the MW, c) external DM halos at all redshifts, including d) their substructures. Adopting a self-consistent description of local and extra-galactic substructures, we show that the annihilation flux from substructures in the MW dominates over all the other components for angles larger than O(1) degrees from the Galactic Center, unless an extreme prescription is adopted for the substructures concentration. We also compute the angular power spectrum of gamma-ray anisotropies and find that, for an optimistic choice of the particle physics parameters, an interesting signature of DM annihilations could soon be discovered by the Fermi LAT satellite at low multipoles, l<100, where the dominant contribution comes from MW substructures with mass M>10^4 solar masses. For the substructures models we have adopted, we find that the contribution of extra-galactic annihilations is instead negligible at all scales.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

Diluted one-dimensional spin glasses with power law decaying interactions

We introduce a diluted version of the one dimensional spin-glass model with interactions decaying in probability as an inverse power of the distance. In this model varying the power corresponds to change the dimension in short-range models. The spin-glass phase is studied in and out of the range of validity of the mean-field approximation in order to discriminate between different theories. Since each variable interacts only with a finite number of others the cost for simulating the model is drastically reduced with respect to the fully connected version and larger sizes can be studied. We find both static and dynamic evidence in favor of the so-called replica symmetry breaking theory.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, 2 table

Antimicrobials: a global alliance for optimizing their rational use in intra-abdominal infections (AGORA)

Intra-abdominal infections (IAI) are an important cause of morbidity and are frequently associated with poor prognosis, particularly in high-risk patients. The cornerstones in the management of complicated IAIs are timely effective source control with appropriate antimicrobial therapy. Empiric antimicrobial therapy is important in the management of intra-abdominal infections and must be broad enough to cover all likely organisms because inappropriate initial antimicrobial therapy is associated with poor patient outcomes and the development of bacterial resistance. The overuse of antimicrobials is widely accepted as a major driver of some emerging infections (such as C. difficile), the selection of resistant pathogens in individual patients, and for the continued development of antimicrobial resistance globally. The growing emergence of multi-drug resistant organisms and the limited development of new agents available to counteract them have caused an impending crisis with alarming implications, especially with regards to Gram-negative bacteria. An international task force from 79 different countries has joined this project by sharing a document on the rational use of antimicrobials for patients with IAIs. The project has been termed AGORA (Antimicrobials: A Global Alliance for Optimizing their Rational Use in Intra-Abdominal Infections). The authors hope that AGORA, involving many of the world's leading experts, can actively raise awareness in health workers and can improve prescribing behavior in treating IAIs

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

“Silly girls” and “nice young lads”: vilification and vindication in the perceptions of medico-legal practitioners in rape cases

In this article, we explore perceptions and presumptions in relation to rape, raped women, and rapists, among medico-legal professionals who perform forensic medical examinations in rape cases. We draw upon data from in-depth interviews conducted with forensic medical examiners and forensic nurse practitioners in one area of England. Findings reveal that many of these personnel hold particular views centered broadly on the vilification of victims and the vindication of perpetrators. We conclude that these perceptions and presumptions may hold concerning implications for both victim experiences and evidentiary and judicial outcomes. </jats:p

Non-existence of Ramanujan congruences in modular forms of level four

Ramanujan famously found congruences for the partition function like p(5n+4) = 0 modulo 5. We provide a method to find all simple congruences of this type in the coefficients of the inverse of a modular form on Gamma_{1}(4) which is non-vanishing on the upper half plane. This is applied to answer open questions about the (non)-existence of congruences in the generating functions for overpartitions, crank differences, and 2-colored F-partitions.Comment: 19 page

Using a smartphone app to identify signs of pre-eclampsia and/or worsening blood pressure

Background Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy complicate 10% of pregnancies and can have serious consequences. Aims To explore the experiences of pregnant women with a history of hypertension using an innovative home blood pressure monitoring device. Methods A qualitative study using a grounded theory approach was undertaken. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Women were given a blood pressure machine to monitor their blood pressure daily. They inserted their blood pressure results on a smartphone app and answered questions for signs of pre-eclampsia. Participants were followed up every 2 weeks. Findings The results suggested that women wanted a holistic care pathway for the management of hypertension in pregnancy. Three subcategories (‘empowerment’, ‘comparison of care pathways’ and ‘continuity of care’) were also identified. Conclusions The traditional management of hypertension in pregnancy is not holistic. The home blood pressure service was accepted by women and incorporated elements of holistic care but more is required to meet the standard of care that women need

The gamma-ray burst monitor for Lobster-ISS

Lobster-ISS is an X-ray all-sky monitor experiment selected by ESA two years ago for a Phase A study (now almost completed) for a future flight (2009) aboard the Columbus Exposed Payload Facility of the International Space Station. The main instrument, based on MCP optics with Lobster-eye geometry, has an energy passband from 0.1 to 3.5 keV, an unprecedented daily sensitivity of 2x10^{-12} erg cm^{-2}s$^{-1}, and it is capable to scan, during each orbit, the entire sky with an angular resolution of 4--6 arcmin. This X-ray telescope is flanked by a Gamma Ray Burst Monitor, with the minimum requirement of recognizing true GRBs from other transient events. In this paper we describe the GRBM. In addition to the minimum requirement, the instrument proposed is capable to roughly localize GRBs which occur in the Lobster FOV (162x22.5 degrees) and to significantly extend the scientific capabilities of the main instrument for the study of GRBs and X-ray transients. The combination of the two instruments will allow an unprecedented spectral coverage (from 0.1 up to 300/700 keV) for a sensitive study of the GRB prompt emission in the passband where GRBs and X-Ray Flashes emit most of their energy. The low-energy spectral band (0.1-10 keV) is of key importance for the study of the GRB environment and the search of transient absorption and emission features from GRBs, both goals being crucial for unveiling the GRB phenomenon. The entire energy band of Lobster-ISS is not covered by either the Swift satellite or other GRB missions foreseen in the next decade.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Paper presented at the COSPAR 2004 General Assembly (Paris), accepted for publication in Advances in Space Research in June 2005 and available on-line at the Journal site (http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/02731177), section "Articles in press

'dis ɔhord' : one woman’s experience of confronting and understanding the lived experience of birth.

This paper is a collaborative piece written by a midwifery academic and an artist. It presents and interprets a number of mixed media art works created by Caroline Calonder in response to the traumatic birth of her son, and utilises findings derived from Lesley Kay’s doctoral study about birth and birth stories as a means of contextualising, understanding and interpreting the work (Kay et al 2017). In sharing elements of Caroline’s experience, the psychological harm it caused her, and the means she used (and continues to use) to understand, and come to terms with the experience, the paper highlights some of the distressing and harmful sequelae which can arise when a woman’s disembodied experience of birth is accepted as normal and mainstream. Furthermore, it emphasises the need for health care professionals to actively work towards safeguarding women’s emotional health, and the value of art as a means of confronting and recovering from birth trauma

Processes endure, whereas events occur

In this essay, we aim to help clarify the nature of so-called 'occurrences' by attributing distinct modes of existence and persistence to processes and events. In doing so, we break with the perdurantism claimed by DOLCE’s authors and we distance ourselves from mereological analyzes like those recently conducted by Guarino to distinguish between 'processes' and 'episodes'. In line with the works of Stout and Galton, we first bring closer (physical) processes and objects in their way of enduring by proposing for processes a notion of dynamic presence (contrasting with a static presence for objects). Then, on the events side, we attribute to them the status of abstract entities by identifying them with objects of thought (by individual and collective subjects), and this allows us to distinguish for themselves between existence and occurrence. We therefore identify them with psychological (or even social) endurants, which may contingently occur