Large Scale Anisotropy of Cosmic Rays and Directional Neutrino Signals from Galactic Sources

We investigate the neutrino - cosmic ray connection for sources in the Galaxy in terms of two observables: the shape of the energy spectrum and the distribution of arrival directions. We also study the associated gamma ray emission from these sources.Comment: Proceedings of the 2nd Cosmic Ray Anisotropy Workshop, 26-28 September 2013, Madison, Wisconsin. To appear in IOP Conference Serie

Assessing need and acceptability of a youth mentoring intervention for adolescents with autism by adults with autism

Background: Adult mentors can positively influence development, yet youth with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have too little access to adult mentors who can provide role modeling, guidance, and support. Furthermore, neurotypical adult mentors (i.e., adult mentors without ASD) may not understand the day-to-day realities that youth with ASD face and the social world they navigate. Therefore, it is possible that adults with ASD may be particularly well-suited as mentors for youth with ASD. Method: Six semi-structured focus groups of four to seven people each explored the need for a mentoring program to bridge the gap between the supports youth with ASD need and what they currently receive. These focus groups included key stakeholders: youth with ASD, adults with ASD, and parents of youth and adults with ASD. Results: Focus groups with key stakeholders demonstrate a significant need for the development of a one-to-one youth mentoring program delivered by adults with ASD. Conclusion: There are significant gaps between the supports (particularly social supports) that adolescents with ASD need and those that are available to them. All of the focus groups concluded that a mentoring program in which adults with ASD are mentors for youth with ASD seems to be an acceptable and much-needed support for adolescents with ASD. Such a program is not currently known to exist

Creation and characterization of vortex clusters in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates

We show that a moving obstacle, in the form of an elongated paddle, can create vortices that are dispersed, or induce clusters of like-signed vortices in 2D Bose-Einstein condensates. We propose new statistical measures of clustering based on Ripley's K-function which are suitable to the small size and small number of vortices in atomic condensates, which lack the huge number of length scales excited in larger classical and quantum turbulent fluid systems. The evolution and decay of clustering is analyzed using these measures. Experimentally it should prove possible to create such an obstacle by a laser beam and a moving optical mask. The theoretical techniques we present are accessible to experimentalists and extend the current methods available to induce 2D quantum turbulence in Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figure

Resistance to non-beta-lactamantibiotics in the clinicalisolates of Streptococcuspneumoniaeof children inLatin America. SIREVA II,2000–2005

Fil: Agudelo, Clara Inés. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: Castañeda, Elizabeth. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: Corso, Alejandra. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: Regueira, Mabel. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: de Cunto Brandileone, María Cristina. Instituto Adolfo Lutz; Brasil.Fil: Pires Brandão, Angela. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; Brasil.Fil: Maldonado, Aurora. Instituto de Salud Pública; Chile.Fil: Hormazabal, Juan Carlos. Instituto de Salud Pública; Chile.Fil: Tamargo, Isis. Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kourí; Cuba.Fil: Echániz-Avilés, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Soto, Araceli. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Viveros, Mónica Guadalupe. Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos; México.Fil: Hernández, Irma. Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos; México.Fil: Chamorro, Gustavo. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública; Paraguay.Fil: Weiler, Natalie. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública; Paraguay.Fil: Sánchez, Jacqueline. Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral; República Dominicana.Fil: Feris, Jesús M. Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral; República Dominicana.Fil: Camou, Teresa. Servicio Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: García, Gabriela. Servicio Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: Spadola, Enza. Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel; Venezuela.Fil: Payares, Daisy. Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel; Venezuela.Fil: Gabastou, Jean-Marc. Organización Panamericana de la Salud; Estados Unidos.Fil: di Fabio, José Luis. Organización Panamericana de la Salud; Estados Unidos.Fil: Grupo SIREVA II; Argentina.Objetivo. Determinar la evolución de la resistencia a la eritromicina, el cloranfenicol, el trimetoprim-sulfametozaxol (SXT) y la vancomicina de aislamientos invasores de Streptococcus pneumoniaeobtenidos de niños de 10 países de América Latina y del Caribe en seis años de vigilancia. Métodos. Se analizaron 8 993 aislamientos de S. pneumoniaerecuperados entre 2000 y 2005 de niños menores de 6 años con infecciones invasoras, procedentes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, México, Paraguay, República Dominicana, Uruguay y Venezuela. La sensibilidad a los antibióticos se determinó mediante los métodos establecidos y estandarizados en el proyecto SIREVA. La resistencia a múltiples antibióticos se definió como la resistencia a tres o más familias de antibióticos, de los no betalactámicos analizados en este estudio o de los betalactámicos evaluados en un estudio previo en el que 37,8% de estos aislamientos presentaron sensibilidad disminuida a la penicilina. Resultados. Se encontró algún grado de resistencia al SXT y la eritromicina (56,4% y 15,4% de los aislamientos estudiados, respectivamente) y 4,6% presentó alta resistencia al cloranfenicol. Todos los aislamientos fueron sensibles a la vancomicina. Se observó la mayor frecuencia de resistencia al SXT en los aislamientos de neumonía y a la eritromicina en los casos de sepsis (61,6% y 25,5%, respectivamente; P< 0,01). La mayor frecuencia de resistencia al SXT se observó en Brasil (71,9%) y a la eritromicina en México (38,2%) y Venezuela (32,9%). Los serotipos 14, 6B, 19F y 23F fueron los que más frecuentemente se asociaron con la resistencia a los antibióticos estudiados. Conclusiones. Se observó una elevada y creciente frecuencia de aislamientos resistentes al SXT y la eritromicina, y una disminución en la proporción de aislamientos resistentes al cloranfenicol. Estas tendencias mostraron diferencias entre los países estudiado

Resistance to non-beta-lactamantibiotics in the clinicalisolates of Streptococcuspneumoniaeof children inLatin America. SIREVA II,2000–2005

Fil: Agudelo, Clara Inés. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: Castañeda, Elizabeth. Instituto Nacional de Salud; Colombia.Fil: Corso, Alejandra. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: Regueira, Mabel. ANLIS Dr.C.G.Malbrán. Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas; Argentina.Fil: de Cunto Brandileone, María Cristina. Instituto Adolfo Lutz; Brasil.Fil: Pires Brandão, Angela. Fundação Oswaldo Cruz; Brasil.Fil: Maldonado, Aurora. Instituto de Salud Pública; Chile.Fil: Hormazabal, Juan Carlos. Instituto de Salud Pública; Chile.Fil: Tamargo, Isis. Instituto de Medicina Tropical Pedro Kourí; Cuba.Fil: Echániz-Avilés, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Soto, Araceli. Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública; México.Fil: Viveros, Mónica Guadalupe. Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos; México.Fil: Hernández, Irma. Instituto de Diagnóstico y Referencia Epidemiológicos; México.Fil: Chamorro, Gustavo. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública; Paraguay.Fil: Weiler, Natalie. Laboratorio Central de Salud Pública; Paraguay.Fil: Sánchez, Jacqueline. Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral; República Dominicana.Fil: Feris, Jesús M. Hospital Infantil Dr. Robert Reid Cabral; República Dominicana.Fil: Camou, Teresa. Servicio Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: García, Gabriela. Servicio Nacional de Laboratorios de Salud Pública; Uruguay.Fil: Spadola, Enza. Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel; Venezuela.Fil: Payares, Daisy. Instituto Nacional de Higiene Rafael Rangel; Venezuela.Fil: Gabastou, Jean-Marc. Organización Panamericana de la Salud; Estados Unidos.Fil: di Fabio, José Luis. Organización Panamericana de la Salud; Estados Unidos.Fil: Grupo SIREVA II; Argentina.Objetivo. Determinar la evolución de la resistencia a la eritromicina, el cloranfenicol, el trimetoprim-sulfametozaxol (SXT) y la vancomicina de aislamientos invasores de Streptococcus pneumoniaeobtenidos de niños de 10 países de América Latina y del Caribe en seis años de vigilancia. Métodos. Se analizaron 8 993 aislamientos de S. pneumoniaerecuperados entre 2000 y 2005 de niños menores de 6 años con infecciones invasoras, procedentes de Argentina, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, México, Paraguay, República Dominicana, Uruguay y Venezuela. La sensibilidad a los antibióticos se determinó mediante los métodos establecidos y estandarizados en el proyecto SIREVA. La resistencia a múltiples antibióticos se definió como la resistencia a tres o más familias de antibióticos, de los no betalactámicos analizados en este estudio o de los betalactámicos evaluados en un estudio previo en el que 37,8% de estos aislamientos presentaron sensibilidad disminuida a la penicilina. Resultados. Se encontró algún grado de resistencia al SXT y la eritromicina (56,4% y 15,4% de los aislamientos estudiados, respectivamente) y 4,6% presentó alta resistencia al cloranfenicol. Todos los aislamientos fueron sensibles a la vancomicina. Se observó la mayor frecuencia de resistencia al SXT en los aislamientos de neumonía y a la eritromicina en los casos de sepsis (61,6% y 25,5%, respectivamente; P< 0,01). La mayor frecuencia de resistencia al SXT se observó en Brasil (71,9%) y a la eritromicina en México (38,2%) y Venezuela (32,9%). Los serotipos 14, 6B, 19F y 23F fueron los que más frecuentemente se asociaron con la resistencia a los antibióticos estudiados. Conclusiones. Se observó una elevada y creciente frecuencia de aislamientos resistentes al SXT y la eritromicina, y una disminución en la proporción de aislamientos resistentes al cloranfenicol. Estas tendencias mostraron diferencias entre los países estudiado

Astrophysical Origins of Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays

In the first part of this review we discuss the basic observational features at the end of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. We also present there the main characteristics of each of the experiments involved in the detection of these particles. We then briefly discuss the status of the chemical composition and the distribution of arrival directions of cosmic rays. After that, we examine the energy losses during propagation, introducing the Greisen-Zaptsepin-Kuzmin (GZK) cutoff, and discuss the level of confidence with which each experiment have detected particles beyond the GZK energy limit. In the second part of the review, we discuss astrophysical environments able to accelerate particles up to such high energies, including active galactic nuclei, large scale galactic wind termination shocks, relativistic jets and hot-spots of Fanaroff-Riley radiogalaxies, pulsars, magnetars, quasar remnants, starbursts, colliding galaxies, and gamma ray burst fireballs. In the third part of the review we provide a brief summary of scenarios which try to explain the super-GZK events with the help of new physics beyond the standard model. In the last section, we give an overview on neutrino telescopes and existing limits on the energy spectrum and discuss some of the prospects for a new (multi-particle) astronomy. Finally, we outline how extraterrestrial neutrino fluxes can be used to probe new physics beyond the electroweak scale.Comment: Higher resolution version of Fig. 7 is available at http://www.angelfire.com/id/dtorres/down3.html. Solicited review article prepared for Reports on Progress in Physics, final versio

The impact of immediate breast reconstruction on the time to delivery of adjuvant therapy: the iBRA-2 study

Background: Immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) is routinely offered to improve quality-of-life for women requiring mastectomy, but there are concerns that more complex surgery may delay adjuvant oncological treatments and compromise long-term outcomes. High-quality evidence is lacking. The iBRA-2 study aimed to investigate the impact of IBR on time to adjuvant therapy. Methods: Consecutive women undergoing mastectomy ± IBR for breast cancer July–December, 2016 were included. Patient demographics, operative, oncological and complication data were collected. Time from last definitive cancer surgery to first adjuvant treatment for patients undergoing mastectomy ± IBR were compared and risk factors associated with delays explored. Results: A total of 2540 patients were recruited from 76 centres; 1008 (39.7%) underwent IBR (implant-only [n = 675, 26.6%]; pedicled flaps [n = 105,4.1%] and free-flaps [n = 228, 8.9%]). Complications requiring re-admission or re-operation were significantly more common in patients undergoing IBR than those receiving mastectomy. Adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy was required by 1235 (48.6%) patients. No clinically significant differences were seen in time to adjuvant therapy between patient groups but major complications irrespective of surgery received were significantly associated with treatment delays. Conclusions: IBR does not result in clinically significant delays to adjuvant therapy, but post-operative complications are associated with treatment delays. Strategies to minimise complications, including careful patient selection, are required to improve outcomes for patients

Contributions from the DISC to accomplish the Aeolus mission objectives

The Aeolus Data Innovation and Science Cluster (DISC) supports the Aeolus mission with a wide range of activities from instrument and product quality monitoring over retrieval algorithm improvements to numerical weather prediction (NWP) impact assessments for wind and aerosols. The Aeolus DISC provides support to ESA, Cal/Val teams, numerical weather prediction (NWP) centers, and scientific users for instrument special operations and calibration, for the re-processing of Aeolus products from the past and through the provision of bi-annual updates of the L1A, L1B, L2A and L2B operational processors. The Aeolus DISC is coordinated by DLR with partners from ECMWF, KNMI, Météo-France, TROPOS, DoRIT, ABB, s&t, serco, OLA, Physics Solutions, IB Reissig and Les Myriades involving more than 40 scientists and engineers. The presentation will highlight the Aeolus DISC activities with a focus for the year 2021 and early 2022 since the last Aeolus workshop in November 2020. This covers the evolution of the instrument performance including investigations of the cause of the on-going signal loss and the achieved improvement via dedicated laser tests in 2021. In addition, refinements of algorithms and correction of the wind bias will be discussed - including a known remaining seasonal bias in October and March as encountered during the re-processing campaigns. Finally, the strategy for the on-going and future re-processing campaigns will be addressed to inform the scientific community about the availability and quality of the re-processed data products. The Aeolus mission has fully achieved its mission objectives including the unprecedented demonstration of direct-detection Doppler wind lidar technology and high-power laser operation in space in the ultraviolet spectral region over its planned full mission lifetime of 3 years and 3 months. Aeolus wind products have clearly demonstrated positive impact on forecasts using several NWP models. Since early 2020, and thus only 1.5 years after launch, the Aeolus wind products are used in operation at various NWP centers worldwide. This was achieved even despite the larger than expected wind random errors due to lower initial atmospheric signal levels and the observed signal losses during the operation of the first and second laser. In addition to this incredible success, first scientific studies demonstrated the use of Aeolus for atmospheric dynamics research in the stratosphere and for the analysis of aerosol transport. These achievements of the Aeolus mission and its success were only possible with the essential and critical contributions from the Aeolus DISC. This demonstrates the need and potential for setting up such scientific consortia covering a wide range of expertise from instrument, processors, and scientific use of products for Earth Explorer type missions. The invaluable experience gained by the Aeolus DISC during the more then 3 years of Aeolus mission in orbit (preceded by a period of 20 years before launch by a similar study team) is a pre-requisite for a successful preparation of an operational follow-on Aeolus-2 mission

Gaia Early Data Release 3: Structure and properties of the Magellanic Clouds

We compare the Gaia DR2 and Gaia EDR3 performances in the study of the Magellanic Clouds and show the clear improvements in precision and accuracy in the new release. We also show that the systematics still present in the data make the determination of the 3D geometry of the LMC a difficult endeavour; this is at the very limit of the usefulness of the Gaia EDR3 astrometry, but it may become feasible with the use of additional external data. We derive radial and tangential velocity maps and global profiles for the LMC for the several subsamples we defined. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the two planar components of the ordered and random motions are derived for multiple stellar evolutionary phases in a galactic disc outside the Milky Way, showing the differences between younger and older phases. We also analyse the spatial structure and motions in the central region, the bar, and the disc, providing new insights into features and kinematics. Finally, we show that the Gaia EDR3 data allows clearly resolving the Magellanic Bridge, and we trace the density and velocity flow of the stars from the SMC towards the LMC not only globally, but also separately for young and evolved populations. This allows us to confirm an evolved population in the Bridge that is slightly shift from the younger population. Additionally, we were able to study the outskirts of both Magellanic Clouds, in which we detected some well-known features and indications of new ones

The Gaia mission

Gaia is a cornerstone mission in the science programme of the EuropeanSpace Agency (ESA). The spacecraft construction was approved in 2006, following a study in which the original interferometric concept was changed to a direct-imaging approach. Both the spacecraft and the payload were built by European industry. The involvement of the scientific community focusses on data processing for which the international Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) was selected in 2007. Gaia was launched on 19 December 2013 and arrived at its operating point, the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, a few weeks later. The commissioning of the spacecraft and payload was completed on 19 July 2014. The nominal five-year mission started with four weeks of special, ecliptic-pole scanning and subsequently transferred into full-sky scanning mode. We recall the scientific goals of Gaia and give a description of the as-built spacecraft that is currently (mid-2016) being operated to achieve these goals. We pay special attention to the payload module, the performance of which is closely related to the scientific performance of the mission. We provide a summary of the commissioning activities and findings, followed by a description of the routine operational mode. We summarise scientific performance estimates on the basis of in-orbit operations. Several intermediate Gaia data releases are planned and the data can be retrieved from the Gaia Archive, which is available through the Gaia home page. http://www.cosmos.esa.int/gai