Anti-truncated stellar light profiles in the outer regions of STAGES spiral galaxies: bulge or disc related?

We present a comparison of azimuthally averaged radial surface brightness mu(r) profiles and analytical bulge-disc decompositions (de Vaucouleurs, r^(1/4) bulge plus exponential disc) for spiral galaxies using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys V-band imaging from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey (STAGES). In the established classification scheme, antitruncated mu(r) profiles (Type III) have a broken exponential disc with a shallower region beyond the break radius r_brk. The excess light at large radii (r > r_brk) can either be caused by an outer exponential disc (Type III-d) or an extended spheroidal component (Type III-s). Using our comparisons, we determine the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk for a large sample of 78 (barred/unbarred, Sa-Sd) spiral galaxies with outer disc antitruncations (mu_brk > 24 mag arcsec^-2). In the majority of cases (~85 per cent), evidence indicates that excess light at r > r_brk is related to an outer shallow disc (Type III-d). Here, the contribution of bulge light at r > r_brk is either negligible (~70 per cent) or too little to explain the antitruncation (~15 per cent). However in the latter cases, bulge light can affect the measured disc properties (e.g. mu_brk, outer scalelength). In the remaining cases (~15 per cent), light at r > r_brk is dominated by the bulge (Type III-s). Here, for most cases the bulge profile dominates at all radii and only occasionally (3 galaxies, ~5 per cent) extends beyond that of a dominant disc and explains the excess light at r > r_brk. We thus conclude that in the vast majority of cases antitruncated outer discs cannot be explained by bulge light and thus remain a pure disc phenomenon.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

Apps for learning Mathematics in early Childhood Education

Las Tecnologías del Aprendizaje y el Conocimiento (TAC) tienen una influencia cada vez mayor en la manera de mediar el aprendizaje de los más jóvenes. El incremento del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje mediado por las TAC en el ámbito de la educación y en el ámbito doméstico, induce a la creación de nuevas herramientas efectivas, avaladas por la ciencia y diseñadas para mejorar el aprendizaje de nuestros alumnos. El desafío al que se enfrenta la psicología de la educación consiste en fomentar éstas tecnologías y ponerlas al servicio de la comunidad educativa y sin perder de vista el hecho de generar productos atractivos para los usuarios y que puedan generar rendimiento comercial para las empresas. Pretendiendo generar además de una transferencia efectiva de la labor científica, el aumento en la visibilidad de la investigación. En este trabajo, presentamos 9 aplicaciones (APPs) diseñadas para “Tablet” y “Smartphone”, adaptadas a los diferentes sistemas operativos actuales, destinadas a trabajar sobre las bases cognitivas asociadas con el aprendizaje de la matemática temprana. Con el objeto de crear una herramienta atractiva para el alumnado de 4 a 7 años, se ha contado con la colaboración de la empresa de entretenimiento y divulgación infantil “Babyradio”, colaborando en el desarrollo gráfico y en la transferencia de los resultados de la investigación. Una vez demostrada la validez empírica de estas APPs, los maestros, el sistema educativo y las empresas de software dispondrían de un material de apoyo didáctico contrastado. El objetivo principal del trabajo es contribuir en el desarrollo de las habilidades matemáticas de los niños de 4 a 7 años para que estos puedan afrontar con éxito los requerimientos de la escuela y para que puedan resolver situaciones en sus vidas diarias, promoviendo por otro lado, el cambio actitudinal del alumnado con respecto a las matemáticas.Learning and Knowledge Technologies (LKT) have an increasing influence on how to learn the learning of the youngest. The growth of the teaching and learning process. Learning in the field of education and learning, the creation of new effective tools, the help of science and training to improve the learning of our students. The challenge facing the psychology of education is based on the development of educational education. The increase in the visibility of the investigation. In this work, we present 9 applications (Apps) for tablet and smartphone, adapted to the different current operating systems, tools to work on the cognitive bases and the learning of early mathematics. In order to create an attractive tool for students from 4 to 7 years old, we have had the collaboration of the Babyradio entertainment and children’s Information Company, collaborating in graphic development and transfer of research results. Once demonstrated the empirical validity of these applications, the teachers, the educational system and the software companies available for a didactic support material contrasted. The main objective of the work is to contribute to the development of the mathematical skills of children from 4 to 7 years old so that they can successfully face the requirements of the school and to solve situations in their daily lives, promoting on the other hand, the change of attitude to students with respect to mathematics.peerReviewe

Linking the structural properties of galaxies and their star formation histories with STAGES

We study the links between star formation history and structure for a large mass-selected galaxy sample at 0.05 ≤ zphot ≤ 0.30. The galaxies inhabit a very broad range of environments, from cluster cores to the field. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) images, we quantify their structure following Hoyos et al., and divide them into disturbed and undisturbed. We also visually identify mergers. Additionally, we provide a quantitative measure of the degree of disturbance for each galaxy (‘roughness’). The majority of elliptical and lenticular galaxies have relaxed structure, showing no signs of ongoing star formation. Structurally disturbed galaxies, which tend to avoid the lowest density regions, have higher star formation activity and younger stellar populations than undisturbed systems. Cluster spirals with reduced/quenched star formation have somewhat less disturbed morphologies than spirals with ‘normal’ star formation activity, suggesting that these ‘passive’ spirals have started their morphological transformation into S0s. Visually identified mergers and galaxies not identified as mergers but with similar roughness have similar specific star formation rates and stellar ages. The degree of enhanced star formation is thus linked to the degree of structural disturbance, regardless of whether it is caused by major mergers or not. This suggests that merging galaxies are not special in terms of their higher-than-normal star formation activity. Any physical process that produces ‘roughness’, or regions of enhanced luminosity density, will increase the star formation activity in a galaxy with similar efficiency. An alternative explanation is that star formation episodes increase the galaxies’ roughness similarly, regardless of whether they are merger induced or not

Influencia del enfriamiento en las propiedades de titanatos de lantano y litio

Se ha estudiado el efecto de los tratamientos a alta temperatura sobre la estructura y la movilidad del litio para la solución sÛlida Li3xLa2/3-xTiO3 (0.03<x<0.167) con difracciÛn de rayos X a alta temperatura (DRXAT), espectroscopia Raman, RMN y de impedancias. Los patrones de difracción de rayos X (DRX) a temperatura ambiente de muestras enfriadas lentamente muestran una estructura tipo perovskita doblada en el eje c con simetrÌas tetragonales u ortorrómbicas, mientras que las muestras con un enfriamiento r·pido muestran una estructura tipo perovskita c ̇bica simple. Sin embargo, el espectro Raman de las muestras analizadas se interpreta, en todos los casos, con una simetrÌa tetragonal en la que el desorden catiónico se incrementa con el contenido de litio y el tratamiento de enfriamiento. La existencia de microdominios de maclado, orientados a lo largo de las tres direcciones de la perovski- ta, favorece la detecciÛn de la fase c ̇bica en los patrones de DRX. A partir de la espectroscopia de RMN del 7Li, se ha detectado un movimiento bidi- mensional del litio en las muestras ordenadas, el cual se convierte progresivamente en un movimiento tridimensional conforme se incrementa el desorden catiÛnico. Asimismo, la presencia de microdominios hace disminuir la conductividad dc de muestras con contenidos bajos de litio

Myocarditis and pericarditis associated with SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: A population-based descriptive cohort and a nested self-controlled risk interval study using electronic health care data from four European countries

COVID-19 vaccine; Adverse drug reaction; MyocarditisVacuna contra el COVID-19; Reacció adversa a fàrmacs; MiocarditisVacuna contra el COVID-19; Reacción adversa a medicamentos; MiocarditisBackground: Estimates of the association between COVID-19 vaccines and myo-/pericarditis risk vary widely across studies due to scarcity of events, especially in age- and sex-stratified analyses. Methods: Population-based cohort study with nested self-controlled risk interval (SCRI) using healthcare data from five European databases. Individuals were followed from 01/01/2020 until end of data availability (31/12/2021 latest). Outcome was first myo-/pericarditis diagnosis. Exposures were first and second dose of Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Janssen COVID-19 vaccines. Baseline incidence rates (IRs), and vaccine- and dose-specific IRs and rate differences were calculated from the cohort The SCRI calculated calendar time-adjusted IR ratios (IRR), using a 60-day pre-vaccination control period and dose-specific 28-day risk windows. IRRs were pooled using random effects meta-analysis. Findings: Over 35 million individuals (49·2% women, median age 39–49 years) were included, of which 57·4% received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Baseline incidence of myocarditis was low. Myocarditis IRRs were elevated after vaccination in those aged < 30 years, after both Pfizer vaccine doses (IRR = 3·3, 95%CI 1·2-9.4; 7·8, 95%CI 2·6-23·5, respectively) and Moderna vaccine dose 2 (IRR = 6·1, 95%CI 1·1-33·5). An effect of AstraZeneca vaccine dose 2 could not be excluded (IRR = 2·42, 95%CI 0·96-6·07). Pericarditis was not associated with vaccination. Interpretation: mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines and potentially AstraZeneca are associated with increased myocarditis risk in younger individuals, although absolute incidence remains low. More data on children (≤ 11 years) are needed.The project received support from the European Medicines Agency (EMA/2018/23/PE)

Evaluación del efecto de las condiciones generadas por Biorreactores de inmersión temporal sobre enzimas y procesos clave del metabolismo del carbono en plantas in vitro de plátano cv. CEMSA ¾

The technique of Temporary Immersion constitutes an effective tool for the plant propagation; it increases the multiplication coefficient and the quality of the same ones. Little it is known until the moment about the echophysiology of this new cultivation technique where the plants are subjected to an immersion between liquid and the physiologic changes that take place during this stage will be those responsible for the plants quality. To evaluate the effects of these conditions in the physiologic change of plantain plants, a descriptive experiment was directed during the elongation phase. Enzymes related with the carbon metabolism were measure of the plant heterotrophic behaviour during the studied phase. High levels of acid invertase (AI) activities and pyruvato kinase (PK) accompanied by first floor levels of sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), evidence these behaviours. The changes induced by the atmosphere and the indicative net photosynthesis and transpiration demonstrate the tendency from the plants to be a less autotrophy systems. The plants during the in vitro conditions don’t depend totally on the photosynthesis but rather they present photomixotrophic behaviour.Key words: acid invertase (AI), Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), pyruvato kinase (PK), sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS)Los Biorreactores de Inmersión Temporal (BIT) constituyen una herramienta eficaz para la propagación de plantas in vitro, pues aumentan el coeficiente de multiplicación y la calidad de las mismas. Poco se conoce hasta el momento sobre la ecofisiología de esta novedosa técnica de cultivo, donde las plantas son sometidas a una inmersión en medio de cultivo líquido y los cambios fisiológicos que se producen durante esta etapa son los responsables de la calidad de las plantas. En el presente trabajo se desarrolló la evaluación del efecto de las condiciones generadas por los BIT en la fisiología y metabolismo del carbono de plantas in vitro de plátano. Enzimas relacionadas con el metabolismo del carbono fueron la medida del comportamiento heterotrófico de las plantas durante la fase de estudio. Altos niveles de actividades enzimáticas de las invertasas ácidas (IA) y piruvato quinasa (PQ) acompañados de bajos niveles de actividad sacarosa fosfato sintasa (SFS) y fosfoenol piruvato carboxilasa (FEPC), evidenciaron estos comportamientos. Los cambios inducidos por el ambiente sobre los indicadores de fotosíntesis neta y transpiración demostraron la tendencia de las plantas a utilizar en menor medida el metabolismo autotrófico. Las plantas durante las condiciones in vitro no dependieron totalmente de la fotosíntesis sino que presentaron un comportamiento fotomixotrófico.Palabras clave: Fosfoenolpiruvato carboxilasa (FEPC), invertasa ácida (IA), piruvato quinasa (PQ), Sacarosa fosfato sintasa (SFS

A new automatic method to identify galaxy mergers - I. Description and application to the Space Telescope A901/902 Galaxy Evolution Survey

We present a new automatic method to identify galaxy mergers using the morphological information contained in the residual images of galaxies after the subtraction of a smooth Sérsic model. The removal of the bulk signal from the host galaxy light is done with the aim of detecting the much fainter and elusive minor mergers. The specific morphological parameters that are used in the merger diagnostic suggested here are the residual flux fraction (RFF) and the asymmetry of the residuals [A(Res)]. The new diagnostic has been calibrated and optimized so that the resulting merger sample is very complete. However, the contamination by non-mergers is also high. If the same optimization method is adopted for combinations of other structural parameters such as the Concentration, Asymmetry, clumpineSs (CAS) system, the merger indicator we introduce yields merger samples of equal or higher statistical quality than the samples obtained through the use of other structural parameters. We investigate the ability of the method presented here to select minor mergers by identifying a sample of visually classified mergers that would not have been picked up by the use of the CAS system, when using its usual limits. However, given the low prevalence of mergers among the general population of galaxies and the optimization used here, we find that the merger diagnostic introduced in this work is best used as a negative merger test, that is, it is very effective at selecting non-merging galaxies. In common with all the currently available automatic methods, the sample of merger candidates selected is heavily contaminated by non-mergers, and further steps are needed to produce a clean merger sample. This merger diagnostic has been developed using the Hubble Space Telescope/ACS F606W images of the A901/902 multiple cluster system (z= 0.165) obtained by the Space Telescope A901/902 Galaxy Evolution Survey team. In particular, we have focused on a mass- and magnitude-limited sample (log M/M⊙ > 9.0, RVega, Total≤ 23.5 mag) which includes 905 cluster galaxies and 655 field galaxies of all morphological type

A New Automatic Method to Identify Galaxy Mergers I. Description and Application to the STAGES Survey

We present an automatic method to identify galaxy mergers using the morphological information contained in the residual images of galaxies after the subtraction of a Sersic model. The removal of the bulk signal from the host galaxy light is done with the aim of detecting the fainter minor mergers. The specific morphological parameters that are used in the merger diagnostic suggested here are the Residual Flux Fraction and the asymmetry of the residuals. The new diagnostic has been calibrated and optimized so that the resulting merger sample is very complete. However, the contamination by non-mergers is also high. If the same optimization method is adopted for combinations of other structural parameters such as the CAS system, the merger indicator we introduce yields merger samples of equal or higher statistical quality than the samples obtained through the use of other structural parameters. We explore the ability of the method presented here to select minor mergers by identifying a sample of visually classified mergers that would not have been picked up by the use of the CAS system, when using its usual limits. Given the low prevalence of mergers among the general population of galaxies and the optimization used here, we find that the merger diagnostic introduced in this work is best used as a negative merger test, i.e., it is very effective at selecting non-merging galaxies. As with all the currently available automatic methods, the sample of merger candidates selected is contaminated by non-mergers, and further steps are needed to produce a clean sample. This merger diagnostic has been developed using the HST/ACS F606W images of the A901/02 cluster (z=0.165) obtained by the STAGES team. In particular, we have focused on a mass and magnitude limited sample (log M/M_{O}>9.0, R_{Vega}<23.5mag)) which includes 905 cluster galaxies and 655 field galaxies of all morphological types.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables. To appear in MNRA

The environmental dependence of the structure of galactic discs in STAGES S0 galaxies: implications for S0 formation

We present an analysis of V-band radial surface brightness μ(r) profiles for S0 galaxies in different environments using Hubble Space Telescope/Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging and data from the Space Telescope A901/2 Galaxy Evolution Survey. Using a large sample of ∼280 field and cluster S0s, we find that in both environments, ∼25 per cent have a pure exponential disc (type I) and ∼50 per cent exhibit an up-bending disc break (antitruncation, type III). However, we find hardly any (<5 per cent) down-bending disc breaks (truncations, type II) in our S0s and many cases (∼20 per cent) where no discernible exponential component was observed (i.e. general curvature). We also find no evidence for an environmental dependence on the disc scalelength h or break strength T (outer-to-inner scalelength ratio), implying that the galaxy environment does not affect the stellar distribution in S0 stellar discs. Comparing disc structure (e.g. h, T) between these S0s and the spiral galaxies from our previous studies, we find: (i) no evidence for the type I scalelength h being dependent on morphology; and (ii) some evidence to suggest that the type II/III break strength T is smaller (weaker) in S0s compared to spiral galaxies. Taken together, these results suggest that the stellar distribution in S0s is not drastically affected by the galaxy environment. However, some process inherent to the morphological transformation of spiral galaxies into S0s does affect stellar disc structure causing a weakening of μ(r) breaks and may even eliminate truncations from S0 galaxies. In further tests, we perform analytical bulge–disc decompositions on our S0s and compare the results to those for spiral galaxies from our previous studies. For type III galaxies, we find that bulge light can account for the excess light at large radii in up to ∼50 per cent of S0s but in only ∼15 per cent of spirals. We propose that this result is consistent with a fading stellar disc (evolving bulge-to-disc ratio) being an inherent process in the transformation of spiral galaxies into S0s

Renin-angiotensin system blockers and susceptibility to COVID-19:an international, open science, cohort analysis

Background: Angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEIs) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) have been postulated to affect susceptibility to COVID-19. Observational studies so far have lacked rigorous ascertainment adjustment and international generalisability. We aimed to determine whether use of ACEIs or ARBs is associated with an increased susceptibility to COVID-19 in patients with hypertension.Methods: In this international, open science, cohort analysis, we used electronic health records from Spain (Information Systems for Research in Primary Care [SIDIAP]) and the USA (Columbia University Irving Medical Center data warehouse [CUIMC] and Department of Veterans Affairs Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership [VA-OMOP]) to identify patients aged 18 years or older with at least one prescription for ACEIs and ARBs (target cohort) or calcium channel blockers (CCBs) and thiazide or thiazide-like diuretics (THZs; comparator cohort) between Nov 1, 2019, and Jan 31, 2020. Users were defined separately as receiving either monotherapy with these four drug classes, or monotherapy or combination therapy (combination use) with other antihypertensive medications. We assessed four outcomes: COVID-19 diagnosis; hospital admission with COVID-19; hospital admission with pneumonia; and hospital admission with pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury, or sepsis. We built large-scale propensity score methods derived through a data-driven approach and negative control experiments across ten pairwise comparisons, with results meta-analysed to generate 1280 study effects. For each study effect, we did negative control outcome experiments using a possible 123 controls identified through a data-rich algorithm. This process used a set of predefined baseline patient characteristics to provide the most accurate prediction of treatment and balance among patient cohorts across characteristics. The study is registered with the EU Post-Authorisation Studies register, EUPAS35296.Findings: Among 1 355 349 antihypertensive users (363 785 ACEI or ARB monotherapy users, 248 915 CCB or THZ monotherapy users, 711 799 ACEI or ARB combination users, and 473 076 CCB or THZ combination users) included in analyses, no association was observed between COVID-19 diagnosis and exposure to ACEI or ARB monotherapy versus CCB or THZ monotherapy (calibrated hazard ratio [HR] 0·98, 95% CI 0·84-1·14) or combination use exposure (1·01, 0·90-1·15). ACEIs alone similarly showed no relative risk difference when compared with CCB or THZ monotherapy (HR 0·91, 95% CI 0·68-1·21; with heterogeneity of &gt;40%) or combination use (0·95, 0·83-1·07). Directly comparing ACEIs with ARBs demonstrated a moderately lower risk with ACEIs, which was significant with combination use (HR 0·88, 95% CI 0·79-0·99) and non-significant for monotherapy (0·85, 0·69-1·05). We observed no significant difference between drug classes for risk of hospital admission with COVID-19, hospital admission with pneumonia, or hospital admission with pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, acute kidney injury, or sepsis across all comparisons.Interpretation: No clinically significant increased risk of COVID-19 diagnosis or hospital admission-related outcomes associated with ACEI or ARB use was observed, suggesting users should not discontinue or change their treatment to decrease their risk of COVID-19.</p