Old and new major mergers in the SOSIMPLE galaxy, NGC 7135

The simultaneous advancement of high resolution integral field unit spectroscopy and robust full-spectral fitting codes now make it possible to examine spatially resolved kinematic, chemical composition, and star-formation history from nearby galaxies. We take new MUSE data from the snapshot optical spectroscopic imaging of mergers and pairs for legacy Exploration (SOSIMPLE) survey to examine NGC 7135. With counter-rotation of gas, disrupted kinematics and asymmetric chemical distribution, NGC 7135 is consistent with an ongoing merger. Though well hidden by the current merger, we are able to distinguish stars originating from an older merger, occurring 6–10 Gyr ago. We further find a gradient in ex-situ material with galactocentric radius, with the accreted fraction rising from 0 per cent in the galaxy centre, to ∼7 per cent within 0.6 effective radii

Currículo de la pre secundaria en Timor Oriental y su articulación con la secundaria general

Problemas herdados nas últimas décadas conduziram Timor-Leste a reestruturar os currículos do ensino pré-secundário – EPS – e do secundário geral – ESG.1 Atendendo à importância de uma adequada articulação vertical ao longo dos ciclos de escolaridade e diante do cumprimento de uma primeira edição completa do EPS, importa estudar se tal currículo está alinhado com o do ESG, em particular no que respeita às Ciências e Tecnologia. Este artigo centra-se na análise do currículo do EPS e na avaliação da sua articulação com o do ESG. Não obstante existam décalages entre o currículo prescrito, o implementado e o apropriado, é relevante haver sintonia no nível dos currículos para uma educação e formação de boa qualidade, fundamentais à consecução dos Objetivos de Desenvolvimento do Milénio.Problems inherited from the last decades have led Timor-Leste to restructure its pre-secondary – EPS – and general secondary – ESG – curricula. Considering the importance of an adequate vertical articulation throughout the schooling cycles and before the conclusion of the first complete edition of the EPS, it is necessary to study if such a curriculum is aligned with the one of the ESG, in particular with regard to Science and Technology. This article focuses on the analysis of the EPS curriculum and the evaluation of its articulation with the one of ESG. Notwithstanding the décalages among the prescribed, the implemented and the appropriate curricula, it is relevant to have a fine-tuning at this level to ensure good quality education and training, essential to achieve the millennium development goals.Des problèmes hérités des dernières décennies ont conduit le Timor-Oriental à restructurer ses programmes d’enseignement présecondaire – EPS –, ainsi que ceux de l’enseignement secondaire général – ESG. Compte tenu de l’importance d’une bonne articulation verticale tout au long des cycles scolaires etvu qu’une première édition complète de l’EPS a déjà été mise en place, il est important de vérifier si ce programme s’aligne bien à celui de l’ESG, particulièrement en ce qui concerne les Sciences et la Technologie. Cet article se concentre sur l’analyse du programme de l’EPS et sur l’évaluation de son articulation avec celui de l’ESG. Nonobstant certains décalages entre le programme prescrit, celui qui a été mis en œuvre et celui qui est approprié, il est nécessaire que les programmes soient en phase pour atteindre une éducation et une formation de qualité, fondamentales pour la réalisation des Objectifs du Millénaire pour le Développement.Problemas heredados en las últimas décadas hicieron que Timor Oriental reestructurase los currículos de la educación pre secundaria – EPS – y de la secundaria general – ESG. En función de la importancia de una adecuada articulación vertical a lo largo de los ciclos de escolaridad y frente al cumplimiento de una primera edición completa do EPS, importa estudiar si tal currículo está alineado con el del ESG, en particular en lo que concierne a las Ciencias y Tecnología. Este artículo se centra en el análisis del currículo del EPS y en la evaluación de su articulación con el del ESG. No obstante la existencia de décalages entre el currículo prescrito, el implementado y el apropiado, es relevante que haya sintonía a nivel de los currículos para una educación y formación de calidad, fundamentales para la consecución de los Objetivos de Desarrollo del Milenio

A population of luminous accreting black holes with hidden mergers

Major galaxy mergers are thought to play an important part in fuelling the growth of supermassive black holes. However, observational support for this hypothesis is mixed, with some studies showing a correlation between merging galaxies and luminous quasars and others showing no such association. Recent observations have shown that a black hole is likely to become heavily obscured behind merger-driven gas and dust, even in the early stages of the merger, when the galaxies are well separated (5 to 40 kiloparsecs). Merger simulations further suggest that such obscuration and black-hole accretion peaks in the final merger stage, when the two galactic nuclei are closely separated (less than 3 kiloparsecs). Resolving this final stage requires a combination of high-spatial-resolution infrared imaging and high-sensitivity hard-X-ray observations to detect highly obscured sources. However, large numbers of obscured luminous accreting supermassive black holes have been recently detected nearby (distances below 250 megaparsecs) in X-ray observations. Here we report high-resolution infrared observations of hard-X-ray-selected black holes and the discovery of obscured nuclear mergers, the parent populations of supermassive-black-hole mergers. We find that obscured luminous black holes (bolometric luminosity higher than 2x10^44 ergs per second) show a significant (P<0.001) excess of late-stage nuclear mergers (17.6 per cent) compared to a sample of inactive galaxies with matching stellar masses and star formation rates (1.1 per cent), in agreement with theoretical predictions. Using hydrodynamic simulations, we confirm that the excess of nuclear mergers is indeed strongest for gas-rich major-merger hosts of obscured luminous black holes in this final stage.Comment: To appear in the 8 November 2018 issue of Nature. This is the authors' version of the wor

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. III. Constraints on Dark Energy from the Third Data Release Quasar Lens Catalog

We present cosmological results from the statistics of lensed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search. By taking proper account of the selection function, we compute the expected number of quasars lensed by early-type galaxies and their image separation distribution assuming a flat universe, which is then compared with 7 lenses found in the SDSS Data Release 3 to derive constraints on dark energy under strictly controlled criteria. For a cosmological constant model (w=-1) we obtain \Omega_\Lambda=0.74^{+0.11}_{-0.15}(stat.)^{+0.13}_{-0.06}(syst.). Allowing w to be a free parameter we find \Omega_M=0.26^{+0.07}_{-0.06}(stat.)^{+0.03}_{-0.05}(syst.) and w=-1.1\pm0.6(stat.)^{+0.3}_{-0.5}(syst.) when combined with the constraint from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the SDSS luminous red galaxy sample. Our results are in good agreement with earlier lensing constraints obtained using radio lenses, and provide additional confirmation of the presence of dark energy consistent with a cosmological constant, derived independently of type Ia supernovae.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A

Inventory and review of the Mio–Pleistocene São Jorge flora (Madeira Island, Portugal): palaeoecological and biogeographical implications

The occurrence of plant fossils on Madeira Island has been known since the mid-nineteenth century. Charles Lyell and George Hartung discovered a leaf bed rich in Lauraceae and fern fossils at S~ao Jorge in 1854. The determinations were controversial but a full review was never performed. Here we propose possible geological settings for the fossiliferous outcrop, and present an inventory and a systematic review of the surviving specimens of the S~ao Jorge macroflora. The S~ao Jorge leaf bed no longer outcrops due to a landslide in 1865. It was possible to establish the two alternative volcano stratigraphical settings in the sedimentary intercalations from the Middle Volcanic Complex, ranging in age from 7 to 1.8 Ma. The descriptions of Heer (1857), Bunbury (1859) and Hartung & Mayer (1864) are reviewed based on 82 surviving specimens. From the initial 37 taxa, we recognize only 20: Osmunda sp., Pteridium aquilinum, Asplenium cf. onopteris, aff. Asplenium, cf. Polystichum, cf. Davallia, Woodwardia radicans, Filicopsida gen. et sp. indet. 1 and 2, Ocotea foetens, Salix sp., Erica arborea, cf. Vaccinium, Rubus sp, cf. Myrtus, Magnoliopsida gen. et sp. indet. 1 to 3, Liliopsida gen. et sp. indet. 1. Magnoliopsida gen. et sp. indet. 4 is based on one previously undescribed flower or fruit. The floristic composition of the S~ao Jorge fossils resembles the current floristic association of temperate stink laurel (Ocotea foetens) forest, suggesting a warm and humid palaeoclimate and indicating that laurel forests were present in Macaronesia at least since the Gelasian, a time when the palaeotropical geofloral elements were almost extinct in Europe.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evolutionary winners are ecological losers among oceanic island plants

Aim Adaptive radiation, in which successful lineages proliferate by exploiting untapped niche space, provides a popular but potentially misleading characterization of evolution on oceanic islands. Here we analyse the respective roles of members of in situ diversified vs. non-diversified lineages in shaping the main ecosystems of an archipelago to explore the relationship between evolutionary and ecological ‘success’. Location Canary Islands. Taxon Vascular plants. Methods We quantified the abundance/rarity of the native flora according to the geographical range (number of islands where present and geographical extent of the range), habitat breadth (climatic niche) and local abundance (cover) using species distribution data based on 500 × 500 m grid cells and 2000 vegetation inventories located all over the archipelago. Results Species of diversified lineages have significantly smaller geographic ranges, narrower climatic niches and lower local abundances than those of non-diversified lineages. Species rarity increased with the degree of diversification. The diversified Canarian flora is mainly comprised by shrubs. At both archipelagic and island level, the four core ecosystems (Euphorbia scrub, thermophilous woodlands, laurel forest and pine forest) were dominated by non-diversified lineages species, with diversified lineages species providing <25% cover. Species of diversified lineages, although constituting 54% of the archipelagic native flora, were only abundant in two rare ecosystems: high mountain scrub and rock communities. Main conclusions Radiated species, endemic products of in situ speciation, are mostly rare in all three rarity axes and typically do not play an important role in structuring plant communities on the Canaries. The vegetation of the major ecosystem types is dominated by plants representing non-diversified lineages (species that derive from immigration and accumulation), while species of evolutionarily successful lineages are abundant only in marginal habitats and could, therefore, be considered ecological losers. Within this particular oceanic archipelago, and we posit within at least some others, evolutionary success in plants is accomplished predominantly at the margins.publishedVersio

Sea warming affects bream (Sparus aurata) tissues and stress proteins (HSP70)

The aim of the present study is to assess the stress response of a marine fish, sea bream (Sparus aurata) exposed to increasing water temperature and different water acidity (alone or in combination). Here we present preliminary data on temperature effects on S. aurata at a cellular and molecular level. In addition, tissue samples from muscle, livers, gills and intestine are examined to evaluate any alterations caused by altering this physical parameter

Cometary dust analogues for physics experiments

The CoPhyLab (Cometary Physics Laboratory) project is designed to study the physics of comets through a series of earth-based experiments. For these experiments, a dust analogue was created with physical properties comparable to those of the non-volatile dust found on comets. This "CoPhyLab dust" is planned to be mixed with water and CO$_2$ ice and placed under cometary conditions in vacuum chambers to study the physical processes taking place on the nuclei of comets. In order to develop this dust analogue, we mixed two components representative for the non-volatile materials present in cometary nuclei. We chose silica dust as representative for the mineral phase and charcoal for the organic phase, which also acts as a darkening agent. In this paper, we provide an overview of known cometary analogues before presenting measurements of eight physical properties of different mixtures of the two materials and a comparison of these measurements with known cometary values. The physical properties of interest are: particle size, density, gas permeability, spectrophotometry, mechanical, thermal and electrical properties. We found that the analogue dust that matches the highest number of physical properties of cometary materials consists of a mixture of either 60\%/40\% or 70\%/30\% of silica dust/charcoal by mass. These best-fit dust analogue will be used in future CoPhyLab experiments

Crowdsourced Mapping in Crisis Zones: Collaboration, Organisation and Impact

Crowdsourced mapping has become an integral part of humanitarian response, with high profile deployments of platforms following the Haiti and Nepal earthquakes, and the multiple projects initiated during the Ebola outbreak in North West Africa in 2014, being prominent examples. There have also been hundreds of deployments of crowdsourced mapping projects across the globe, that did not have a high profile. This paper, through an analysis of 51 mapping deployments between 2010–2016, complimented with expert interviews, seeks to explore the organisational structures that create the conditions for effective mapping actions, and the relationship between the commissioning body, often a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) and the volunteers who regularly make up the team charged with producing the map. The research suggests that there are three distinct areas that need to be improved in-order to provide appropriate assistance through mapping in humanitarian crisis; regionalise; prepare; and research. The paper concludes, based on the case studies, how each of these areas can be handled more effectively, concluding that failure to implement one area sufficiently can lead to overall project failure