T-PHOT version 2.0: improved algorithms for background subtraction, local convolution, kernel registration, and new options

We present the new release v2.0 of T-PHOT, a publicly available software package developed to perform PSF-matched, prior-based, multiwavelength deconfusion photometry of extragalactic fields. New features included in the code are presented and discussed: background estimation, fitting using position dependent kernels, flux prioring, diagnostical statistics on the residual image, exclusion of selected sources from the model and residual images, individual registration of fitted objects. These new options improve on the performance of the code, allowing for more accurate results and providing useful aids for diagnostics.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure

Long Term Monitoring of CFA Energy Pile Schemes in the UK

Energy pile schemes involve the use of structural foundations as heat exchangers in a ground source heat pump system. Such schemes are attractive, as they reduce energy consumption compared with traditional building heating and cooling systems. As energy prices increase and governments introduce subsidies they are also proving increasingly economically attractive. Additionally, energy piles can contribute to reducing the carbon dioxide emissions associated with a development. However, this approach to heating and cooling building remains relatively novel and the lack of published long term performance data remains a barrier to further implementation. Two issues remain to be addressed by long term monitoring. First, the need for a database of operational energy piles schemes were the energy performance is proven over many years. Secondly, availability of long term datasets of pile thermal behavior that can be used to validate design approaches and tools and hence encourage less conservative design practices. This paper presents the initial results from a study aimed at tackling these issues through long term instrumentation and monitoring of two energy pile schemes in the United Kingdom

How the vision of a clinician and an educator brought the MA Dental Law and Ethics course to life.

This paper reflects on an educational development that is Dental Law and Ethics course as the course approaches its 5th anniversary. The authors outline their personal journey into developing and delivering this course as well share best practice in relation to teaching and learning dental postgraduate students who may approach the subject in different ways. It also highlights the vision behind this provision and how it is received by dental practitioners. The paper shares the learners’ perception of topics such as ethics in comparison to law, and it highlights the perspective of both authors in teaching and following the students’ journey in this course

Burnout, well-being and defensive medical practice among obstetricians and gynaecologists in the UK: cross-sectional survey study

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of burnout in doctors practising obstetrics and gynaecology, and assess the association with defensive medical practice and self-reported wellbeing. Design: Nationwide online cross-sectional survey study; December 2017-March 2018. Setting: Hospitals in the United Kingdom Participants: 5661 practising Obstetrics and Gynaecology consultants, specialty and associate specialist doctors and trainees registered with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Primary and Secondary Outcome Measures: Prevalence of burnout using the Maslach Burnout Inventory and defensive medical practice (avoiding cases or procedures, overprescribing, over-referral) using a 12-item questionnaire. The odds ratios of burnout with defensive medical practice and self-reported wellbeing. Results: 3102/5661 doctors (55%) completed the survey. 3073/3102 (99%) met the inclusion criteria (1462 consultants, 1357 trainees and 254 specialty and associate specialist doctors). 1116/3073 (36%) doctors met the burnout criteria, with levels highest amongst trainees (580/1357 [43%]). 258/1116 (23%) doctors with burnout reported increased defensive practice compared to 142/1957 (7%) without (adjusted odds ratio 4.35, 95% CI 3.46 to 5.49). Odds ratios of burnout with wellbeing items varied between 1.38 and 6.37, and were highest for anxiety (3.59, 95% CI 3.07 to 4.21), depression (4.05, 95% CI 3.26 to 5.04), and suicidal thoughts (6.37, 95% CI 95% CI 3.95 to 10.7). In multivariable logistic regression, being of younger age, white or ‘other’ ethnicity, and graduating with a medical degree from the UK or Ireland had the strongest associations with burnout. Conclusions: High levels of burnout were observed in obstetricians and gynaecologists and particularly amongst trainees. Burnout was associated with both increased defensive medical practice and worse doctor wellbeing. These findings have implications for the wellbeing and retention of doctors as well as the quality of patient care, and may help to inform the content of future interventions aimed at preventing burnout and improving patient safety

Universality of Performance Indicators based on Citation and Reference Counts

We find evidence for the universality of two relative bibliometric indicators of the quality of individual scientific publications taken from different data sets. One of these is a new index that considers both citation and reference counts. We demonstrate this universality for relatively well cited publications from a single institute, grouped by year of publication and by faculty or by department. We show similar behaviour in publications submitted to the arXiv e-print archive, grouped by year of submission and by sub-archive. We also find that for reasonably well cited papers this distribution is well fitted by a lognormal with a variance of around 1.3 which is consistent with the results of Radicchi, Fortunato, and Castellano (2008). Our work demonstrates that comparisons can be made between publications from different disciplines and publication dates, regardless of their citation count and without expensive access to the whole world-wide citation graph. Further, it shows that averages of the logarithm of such relative bibliometric indices deal with the issue of long tails and avoid the need for statistics based on lengthy ranking procedures.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 11 pages of supplementary material. Submitted to Scientometric

The fate of the interstellar medium in early-type galaxies I. First direct measurement of the timescale of dust removal

An important aspect of quenching star formation is the removal of the cold interstellar medium (ISM; non-ionised gas and dust) from a galaxy. In addition, dust grains can be destroyed in a hot or turbulent medium. The adopted timescale of dust removal usually relies on uncertain theoretical estimates. It is tricky to track the dust removal, because usually dust is constantly replenished by consecutive generations of stars. Our objective is to measure observationally the timescale of dust removal. We here explore an approach to select galaxies which do have detectable amounts of dust and cold ISM but exhibit a low current dust production rate. Any decrease of the dust and gas content as a function of the age of such galaxies therefore must be attributed to processes governing the ISM removal. We used a sample of galaxies detected by Herschel in the far-infrared with visually assigned early-type morphology or spirals with red colours. We also obtained JCMT/SCUBA-2 observations for five of them. We discovered an exponential decline of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio with age, which we interpret as an evolutionary trend of dust removal from these galaxies. For the first time we directly measure the dust removal timescale in such galaxies to be tau=(2.5+-0.4) Gyr (the corresponding half-life time is (1.75+-0.25) Gyr). This quantity may be used in models in which it must be assumed a priori and cannot be derived. Any process which removes dust in these galaxies, such as dust grain destruction, cannot happen on shorter timescales. The timescale is comparable to the quenching timescales found in simulations for galaxies with similar stellar masses. The dust is likely of internal, not external origin. It was either formed in the past directly by supernovae, or from seeds produced by SNe and with grain growth in the ISM contributing substantially to the dust mass accumulation.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted; 13 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

T-PHOT: A new code for PSF-matched, prior-based, multiwavelength extragalactic deconfusion photometry

We present T-PHOT, a publicly available software aimed at extracting accurate photometry from low-resolution images of deep extragalactic fields, where the blending of sources can be a serious problem for the accurate and unbiased measurement of fluxes and colours. T-PHOT has been developed within the ASTRODEEP project and it can be considered as the next generation to TFIT, providing significant improvements above it and other similar codes. T-PHOT gathers data from a high-resolution image of a region of the sky, and uses it to obtain priors for the photometric analysis of a lower resolution image of the same field. It can handle different types of datasets as input priors: i) a list of objects that will be used to obtain cutouts from the real high-resolution image; ii) a set of analytical models; iii) a list of unresolved, point-like sources, useful e.g. for far-infrared wavelength domains. We show that T-PHOT yields accurate estimations of fluxes within the intrinsic uncertainties of the method, when systematic errors are taken into account (which can be done thanks to a flagging code given in the output). T-PHOT is many times faster than similar codes like TFIT and CONVPHOT (up to hundreds, depending on the problem and the method adopted), whilst at the same time being more robust and more versatile. This makes it an optimal choice for the analysis of large datasets. In addition we show how the use of different settings and methods significantly enhances the performance. Given its versatility and robustness, T-PHOT can be considered the preferred choice for combined photometric analysis of current and forthcoming extragalactic optical to far-infrared imaging surveys. [abridged]Comment: 23 pages, 20 figures, 2 table