The astrometric data reduction software (ADRS) and error budget for PRIMA

The Astrometric Data-Reduction Software (ADRS) processes fringe, delay, environmental, and calibration data for PRIMA narrow-angle astrometry. It is automated software designed to provide fully-calibrated differential delays and separation angles. The ADRS is divided into on-line and off-line processing. The former deals with calibration and data compression, while the latter applies corrections and calculates science quantities. PRIMA is the first VLTI instrument that may require removal of long-term environmental trends. The trend identification and fitting routines are not part of the distributed on-line and off-line processing software. Instead, files containing fit parameters will be updated regularly. Coding is presently underway. The PRIMA error budget summarizes the principal sources of error in PRIMA astrometric observation

Role of tyrosine M210 in the initial charge separation of reaction centers of Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Femtosecond spectroscopy was used in combination with site-directed mutagenesis to study the influence of tyrosine M210 (YM210) on the primary electron transfer in the reaction center of Rhodobacter sphaeroides. The exchange of YM210 to phenylalanine caused the time constant of primary electron transfer to increase from 3.5 f 0.4 ps to 16 f 6 ps while the exchange to leucine increased the time constant even more to 22 f 8 ps. The results suggest that tyrosine M210 is important for the fast rate of the primary electron transfer

Civic Nationalism and Language-in-Education Policies in the United Arab Emirates

A founding principle of the United Arab Emirates is the belief that tolerance promotes peace, while isolation encourages division and conflict. With more than 200 nationalities residing in the UAE, Emiratis constitute only 10% of the population, making them a minority in their own country. Despite the government promoting diversity and tolerance as the norm, such demographic imbalance come with a cost to the Arabic language, the national identity and culture, and the education system. This chapter addresses those concerns through a series of recent government initiatives. The author classifies neo-nationalist movements into different types, arguing that the one in the UAE largely fits within the civic type with its non-hostile, overall welcoming attitude toward foreigners. At the end of the chapter, she discusses the impact of neo-nationalism on education and calls for clearer policies that take into account language(s) as a right and as a resource

Analysis of the Websites of Public Secondary Schools of Cantabria (Spain)

Resumen: Con la profunda transformación social que ha provocado la integración de las TIC en nuestro día a día, los modos de comunicación en el mundo educativo han evolucionado hacia internet y hacia un universo en red. Este hecho ha convertido a las páginas web de los centros educativos, entre otros elementos, en herramientas catalizadoras del panorama escolar. Con la finalidad de conocer la presentación de los contenidos de dichas páginas ante sus diferentes públicos se ha llevado a cabo en el presente trabajo una investigación para analizar las sedes web de los cuarenta y ocho centros públicos de Educación Secundaria de la Comunidad Autónoma de Cantabria. El análisis se ha llevado a cabo en relación a su contenido, organización, navegación, apariencia, diferenciación, velocidad, utilidad y accesibilidad. Los resultados obtenidos revelan cifras realmente alentadoras, como que sólo un 27?08% y 14?58% muestran deficiencias en su organización y claridad. Cabe destacar por otro lado, que la nota media de los sitios web en utilidad para las partes interesadas es de un 8?19 de valoración en su conjunto. Nos encontramos en líneas generales ante sitios webs con un claro carácter progresivo, activo e interactivo, aunque es posible concluir sugiriendo algunas mejoras como facilitar una difusión más rica de recursos útiles, así como suministrar una mayor exposición de los planes y proyectos más importantes del centro en algún apartado de las páginas web de los centros educativos.Abstract: With the profound social transformation that has led to the integration of ICT in our day to day, modes of communication in the educational world have evolved towards the Internet and towards a networked universe. This fact has turned the web pages of educational centers, among other elements, into catalytic tools for the school panorama. In order to know the presentation of the contents of these pages to their different audiences a research has been carried out in the present work to analyze the web sites of the forty-eight public secondary education centers of the Autonomous Community of Cantabria. The analysis has been carried out in relation to its content, organization, navigation, appearance, differentiation, speed, utility and accessibility. The results obtained reveal really encouraging figures, such as that only 27'08% and 14'58% show deficiencies in their organization and clarity. It should be noted on the other hand, that the average score of the websites in utility for the interested parties is of an 8'19 valuation as a whole. We are generally in front of websites with a clear progressive, active and interactive character, although it is possible to conclude by suggesting some improvements such as facilitating a richer dissemination of useful resources, as well as providing a greater exposure of the most important plans and projects of the center in some section of the web pages of educational centers

What a Plant Sounds Like: The Statistics of Vegetation Echoes as Received by Echolocating Bats

A critical step on the way to understanding a sensory system is the analysis of the input it receives. In this work we examine the statistics of natural complex echoes, focusing on vegetation echoes. Vegetation echoes constitute a major part of the sensory world of more than 800 species of echolocating bats and play an important role in several of their daily tasks. Our statistical analysis is based on a large collection of plant echoes acquired by a biomimetic sonar system. We explore the relation between the physical world (the structure of the plant) and the characteristics of its echo. Finally, we complete the story by analyzing the effect of the sensory processing of both the echolocation and the auditory systems on the echoes and interpret them in the light of information maximization. The echoes of all different plant species we examined share a surprisingly robust pattern that was also reproduced by a simple Poisson model of the spatial reflector arrangement. The fine differences observed between the echoes of different plant species can be explained by the spatial characteristics of the plants. The bat's emitted signal enhances the most informative spatial frequency range where the species-specific information is large. The auditory system filtering affects the echoes in a similar way, thus enhancing the most informative spatial frequency range even more. These findings suggest how the bat's sensory system could have evolved to deal with complex natural echoes

4MOST Scientific Operations

The 4MOST instrument is a multi-object spectrograph that will address Galactic and extragalactic science cases simultaneously by observing targets from a large number of different surveys within each science exposure. This parallel mode of operation and the survey nature of 4MOST require some distinct 4MOST-specific operational features within the overall operations model of ESO. The main feature is that the 4MOST Consortium will deliver, not only the instrument, but also contractual services to the user community, which is why 4MOST is also described as a facility. This white paper concentrates on information particularly useful to answering the forthcoming Call for Letters of Intent.Comment: Part of the 4MOST issue of The Messenger, published in preparation of 4MOST Community Workshop, see http://www.eso.org/sci/meetings/2019/4MOST.htm