2,085 research outputs found
Electromagnetic follow-up of gravitational wave transient signal candidates
Pioneering efforts aiming at the development of multi-messenger gravitational
wave and electromagnetic astronomy have been made. An electromagnetic
observation follow-up program of candidate gravitational wave events has been
performed (Dec 17 2009 to Jan 8 2010 and Sep 4 to Oct 20 2010) during the
recent runs of the LIGO and Virgo gravitational wave detectors. It involved
ground-based and space electromagnetic facilities observing the sky at optical,
X-ray and radio wavelengths. The joint gravitational wave and electromagnetic
observation study requires the development of specific image analysis
procedures able to discriminate the possible electromagnetic counterpart of
gravitational wave triggers from contaminant/background events. The paper
presents an overview of the electromagnetic follow-up program and the image
analysis procedures.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on "Topics in
Astroparticle and Underground Physics" (TAUP 2011), Munich, September 2011
(to appear in IoP Journal of Physics: Conference Series
Migration to the US among rural Puerto Ricans who inject drugs: influential factors, sources of support, and challenges for harm reduction interventions
Background: While PWID of Puerto Rican origin have been migrating to the US for decades, the range of factors influencing their migration to the US and the resources they draw on to do so are not well understood. This is particularly true for rural Puerto Rican PWID, and the present study is the first empirical research to document migration patterns among this population. The specificities of their migration raise important challenges that need to be documented in order to implement more effective harm reduction policies at home (Puerto Rico) and abroad (US).
Methods: This paper draws from data obtained employing a modified NHBS survey which was administered to (N =296) PWID in four rural municipalities of Puerto Rico with participants 18 years or older. The primary dependent variables for this paper are the number of times a person has lived in the continental US, and if they are planning on moving to the continental US in the future.
Results: Findings suggest that 65% of the sample reported ever lived in the US and that 49% are planning on moving in the future. The number of times living in the US is associated with higher education and older age, but not with self-reported positive HIV or HCV statuses. Planning to move to the US is associated with knowing PWID who have moved or plan to move, negatively associated with age, and is not associated with HIV or HCV status. Around one-third of those that lived in the US reported having some sort of support, with the majority receiving support from family sources. No participant received help to enter HIV/HCV treatment.
Conclusions: A multi-region approach to prevention is required to make a dent in curbing HIV/HCV transmission in this population. Understanding PWID migration patterns, risk behaviors, and health care needs in the US is now more important than ever as natural disasters prompted by human-made climate change will only increase in the future, raising demands not only for service providers but also harm reduction policies to cope with an increasing influx of âclimate refugeesâ as PWID move across national borders
In vivo phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity is controlled by CO2 and O2 mole fractions and represents a major flux at high photorespiration rates
Phosphenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC)âcatalysed fixation of bicarbonate to C4 acids is commonly believed to represent a rather small flux in illuminated leaves. In addition, its potential variation with O2 and CO2 is not documented and thus is usually neglected in gasâexchange studies. Here, we used quantitative NMR analysis of sunflower leaves labelled with 13CO2 (99% 13C) under controlled conditions and measured the amount of 13C found in the four Câatom positions in malate, the major product of PEPC activity. We found that amongst malate 13Câisotopomers present after labelling, most molecules were labelled at both Câ1 and Câ4, showing the incorporation of 13C at Câ4 by PEPC fixation and subsequent redistribution to Câ1 by fumarase (malateâfumarate equilibrium). In addition, absolute quantification of 13C content showed that PEPC fixation increased at low CO2 or high O2, and represented up to 1.8 ÎŒmol mâ2 sâ1, that is, 40% of net assimilation measured by gas exchange under high O2/CO2 conditions. Our results show that PEPC fixation represents a quantitatively important CO2âfixing activity that varies with O2 and/or CO2 mole fraction and this challenges the common interpretation of net assimilation in C3 plants, where PEPC activity is often disregarded or considered to be constant at a very low rate.We thank the Australian Research Council for its financial support through a Future Fellowship, under contract FT140100645
Modeling of a new SMA micro-actuator for active endoscopy applications.
International audienceShape memory alloys (SMA) are good candidates to actuate endoscope heads but the cooling problem must be solved particularly in confined situations. For these reasons, a new SMA micro-actuator specially designed for active endoscopy applications has been developed in our laboratory. This work is a new step in the approach of using integrated thermoelectric cooling with SMA actuators. In fact, the Peltier effect is very attractive in such a case because this reversible phenomenon reduces the overheating of the external environment and provides forced cooling that decreases the response time. In this paper the actuator design and its working principle are presented. A fine modeling of the coupled mechanical and thermal behaviors gives a better understanding of the physical phenomenon involved in the actuator. Finally an experimental prototype has been developed and tested in order to verify the model predictions
Enhancing gravitational wave astronomy with galaxy catalogues
Joint gravitational wave (GW) and electromagnetic (EM) observations, as a key
research direction in multi-messenger astronomy, will provide deep insight into
the astrophysics of a vast range of astronomical phenomena. Uncertainties in
the source sky location estimate from gravitational wave observations mean
follow-up observatories must scan large portions of the sky for a potential
companion signal. A general frame of joint GW-EM observations is presented by a
multi-messenger observational triangle. Using a Bayesian approach to
multi-messenger astronomy, we investigate the use of galaxy catalogue and host
galaxy information to reduce the sky region over which follow-up observatories
must scan, as well as study its use for improving the inclination angle
estimates for coalescing binary compact objects. We demonstrate our method
using a simulated neutron stars inspiral signal injected into simulated
Advanced detectors noise and estimate the injected signal sky location and
inclination angle using the Gravitational Wave Galaxy Catalogue. In this case
study, the top three candidates in rank have , and posterior
probability of being the host galaxy, receptively. The standard deviation of
cosine inclination angle (0.001) of the neutron stars binary using
gravitational wave-galaxy information is much smaller than that (0.02) using
only gravitational wave posterior samples.Comment: Proceedings of the Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics. 2014 Session on
'Gravitational Wave Astrophysics
Localizing gravitational wave sources with optical telescopes and combining electromagnetic and gravitational wave data
Neutron star binaries, which are among the most promising sources for the
direct detection of gravitational waves (GW) by ground based detectors, are
also potential electromagnetic (EM) emitters. Gravitational waves will provide
a new window to observe these events and hopefully give us glimpses of new
astrophysics. In this paper, we discuss how EM information of these events can
considerably improve GW parameter estimation both in terms of accuracy and
computational power requirement. And then in return how GW sky localization can
help EM astronomers in follow-up studies of sources which did not yield any
prompt emission. We discuss how both EM source information and GW source
localization can be used in a framework of multi-messenger astronomy. We
illustrate how the large error regions in GW sky localizations can be handled
in conducting optical astronomy in the advance detector era. We show some
preliminary results in the context of an array of optical telescopes called
BlackGEM, dedicated for optical follow-up of GW triggers, that is being
constructed in La Silla, Chile and is expected to operate concurrent to the
advanced GW detectors.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, Proceeding for Sant Cugat Forum for Astrophysic
Migration to the US among rural Puerto Ricans who inject drugs: influential factors, sources of support, and challenges for harm reduction interventions
Background: While PWID of Puerto Rican origin have been migrating to the US for decades, the range of factors influencing their migration to the US and the resources they draw on to do so are not well understood. This is particularly true for rural Puerto Rican PWID, and the present study is the first empirical research to document migration patterns among this population. The specificities of their migration raise important challenges that need to be documented in order to implement more effective harm reduction policies at home (Puerto Rico) and abroad (US).
Methods: This paper draws from data obtained employing a modified NHBS survey which was administered to (N =296) PWID in four rural municipalities of Puerto Rico with participants 18 years or older. The primary dependent variables for this paper are the number of times a person has lived in the continental US, and if they are planning on moving to the continental US in the future.
Results: Findings suggest that 65% of the sample reported ever lived in the US and that 49% are planning on moving in the future. The number of times living in the US is associated with higher education and older age, but not with self-reported positive HIV or HCV statuses. Planning to move to the US is associated with knowing PWID who have moved or plan to move, negatively associated with age, and is not associated with HIV or HCV status. Around one-third of those that lived in the US reported having some sort of support, with the majority receiving support from family sources. No participant received help to enter HIV/HCV treatment.
Conclusions: A multi-region approach to prevention is required to make a dent in curbing HIV/HCV transmission in this population. Understanding PWID migration patterns, risk behaviors, and health care needs in the US is now more important than ever as natural disasters prompted by human-made climate change will only increase in the future, raising demands not only for service providers but also harm reduction policies to cope with an increasing influx of âclimate refugeesâ as PWID move across national borders
Experimental Measurement of Human Oocyte Mechanical Properties on a Micro and Nanoforce Sensing Platform Based on Magnetic Springs.
International audienceThis article presents a new micro and nanoforce sensor used to perform a mechanical characterisation of human oocytes. This device is based on the use of low-sti_ness magnetic springs. The oocytes to be characterised are placed on a force-sensitive platform. A manipulator equipped with a standard micropipette is used to mechanically compress the oocyte. Some complete \force-compression length" curves associated with mechanical load-unload cycles are given. These curves show the linear, the non-linear and also the plastic mechanical behaviour of the oocytes. These characterisations must be considered as a preliminary result which illustrates that the mechanical variability and the mechanical evolution of human oocytes during their maturation process can be observed with a force sensor based on magnetic springs
Seed quality and carbon primary metabolism
Improving seed quality is amongst the most important challenges of contemporary agriculture. In fact, using plant varieties with better germination rates that are more tolerant to stress during seedling establishment may improve crop yield considerably. Therefore, intense efforts are currently being devoted to improve seed quality in many species, mostly using genomics tools. However, despite its considerable importance during seed imbibition and germination processes, primary carbon metabolism in seeds is less studied. Our knowledge of the physiology of seed respiration and energy generation and the impact of these processes on seed performance have made limited progress over the past three decades. In particular, (isotopeâassisted) metabolomics of seeds has only been assessed occasionally, and there is limited information on possible quantitative relationships between metabolic fluxes and seed quality. Here, we review the recent literature and provide an overview of potential links between metabolic efficiency, metabolic biomarkers, and seed quality and discuss implications for future research, including a climate change context
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