Old Money, Networks and Distinction : The Social and Service Clubs of Milan’s Upper Classes

Upper-class social clubs in the European metropolis have mostly been described through isolated monographies. The case of Milan allows us to present a more relational analysis: in this city, the social (and some service) clubs form a relatively autonomous and coherent space of distinction. Differences between clubs concern historical origins, social composition, organizational features, and modalities for membership. But they also pertain to the particular criteria used by each institution in organizing, mobilizing, describing, and legitimating the links connecting its members with each other, as well as in distinguishing itself from its competitors. We show that the representation of social capital contributes to its reality, and that part of its efficiency stems from the symbolic categories deployed to make sense of it

Identification et analyse des prises de décision dans la chaîne de soins en radiothérapie

This study had two purposes: first, we wanted to understand what role social interactions play in decision-making processes during radiotherapy; second, we aimed to highlight to what extent these decisions can create patient risk. Our analysis focused on the real existing activity which is performed for preparing radiotherapy treatments. We found eight situations in which decision-making is needed: for half of them, interactions among professionals or between professionals and patients have a key role; for all of them, decision-making implies potential risks for patients. These findings stress the importance of taking into account social informal interactions to better understand decision-making and its inherent risks for patients treated with radiotherapy. To conclude, some psychosocial processes that could be involved in these situations are discussed.Le double objectif de cette recherche a été de mettre en évidence l'impact des interactions sociales dans les prises de décisions en radiothérapie et d'identifier en quoi ces décisions peuvent être liées à des risques potentiels pour le patient. Pour ce faire, nous avons analysé l'activité réelle de préparation des traitements des patients au sein d'un service de radiothérapie. Les résultats de notre analyse ont fait apparaître huit situations dans lesquelles des décisions doivent être prises, dont la moitié sont sous l'influence des interactions entre professionnels et avec les patients, et qui présentent toutes des risques potentiels pour la santé de ces derniers. Cette analyse de terrain met donc en évidence la nécessité de prendre en compte les échanges sociaux informels dans l'identification des risques inhérents aux soins en radiothérapie et propose une analyse plus spécifique des mécanismes psychosociaux en jeu

Spin-Exchange optical pumping in a van

International audienceThe advent of spin-hyperpolarization techniques designed to overcome the sensitivity issue of nuclear magnetic resonance owing to polarization transfer from more ordered systems has recently raised great enthusiasm. However, the out-of-equilibrium character of the polarization requires a close proximity between the area of production and the site of use. We present here a mobile spin-exchange optical pumping setup that enables production of laser-polarized noble gases in a standalone mode, in close proximity to hospitals or research laboratories. Only compressed air and mains power need to be supplied by the host laborator

The CCAT 25m diameter submillimeter-wave telescope

CCAT will be a 25 m diameter telescope operating in the 2 to 0.2 mm wavelength range. It will be located at an altitude of 5600 m on Cerro Chajnantor in Northern Chile. The telescope will be equipped with wide-field, multi-color cameras for surveys and multi-object spectrometers for spectroscopic follow up. Several innovations have been developed to meet the <0.5 arcsec pointing error and 10 µm surface error requirements while keeping within the modest budget appropriate for radio telescopes

SPHERE: the exoplanet imager for the Very Large Telescope

Observations of circumstellar environments to look for the direct signal of exoplanets and the scattered light from disks has significant instrumental implications. In the past 15 years, major developments in adaptive optics, coronagraphy, optical manufacturing, wavefront sensing and data processing, together with a consistent global system analysis have enabled a new generation of high-contrast imagers and spectrographs on large ground-based telescopes with much better performance. One of the most productive is the Spectro-Polarimetic High contrast imager for Exoplanets REsearch (SPHERE) designed and built for the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. SPHERE includes an extreme adaptive optics system, a highly stable common path interface, several types of coronagraphs and three science instruments. Two of them, the Integral Field Spectrograph (IFS) and the Infra-Red Dual-band Imager and Spectrograph (IRDIS), are designed to efficiently cover the near-infrared (NIR) range in a single observation for efficient young planet search. The third one, ZIMPOL, is designed for visible (VIR) polarimetric observation to look for the reflected light of exoplanets and the light scattered by debris disks. This suite of three science instruments enables to study circumstellar environments at unprecedented angular resolution both in the visible and the near-infrared. In this work, we present the complete instrument and its on-sky performance after 4 years of operations at the VLT.Comment: Final version accepted for publication in A&

Psychological well-being in Europe after the outbreak of war in Ukraine

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, has had devastating effects on the Ukrainian population and the global economy, environment, and political order. However, little is known about the psychological states surrounding the outbreak of war, particularly the mental well-being of individuals outside Ukraine. Here, we present a longitudinal experience-sampling study of a convenience sample from 17 European countries (total participants = 1,341, total assessments = 44,894, countries with >100 participants = 5) that allows us to track well-being levels across countries during the weeks surrounding the outbreak of war. Our data show a significant decline in well-being on the day of the Russian invasion. Recovery over the following weeks was associated with an individual’s personality but was not statistically significantly associated with their age, gender, subjective social status, and political orientation. In general, well-being was lower on days when the war was more salient on social media. Our results demonstrate the need to consider the psychological implications of the Russo-Ukrainian war next to its humanitarian, economic, and ecological consequences

A global experience-sampling method study of well-being during times of crisis : The CoCo project

We present a global experience-sampling method (ESM) study aimed at describing, predicting, and understanding individual differences in well-being during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. This international ESM study is a collaborative effort of over 60 interdisciplinary researchers from around the world in the “Coping with Corona” (CoCo) project. The study comprises trait-, state-, and daily-level data of 7490 participants from over 20 countries (total ESM measurements = 207,263; total daily measurements = 73,295) collected between October 2021 and August 2022. We provide a brief overview of the theoretical background and aims of the study, present the applied methods (including a description of the study design, data collection procedures, data cleaning, and final sample), and discuss exemplary research questions to which these data can be applied. We end by inviting collaborations on the CoCo dataset

Cosmogenic background simulations for the DARWIN observatory at different underground locations

Xenon dual-phase time projections chambers (TPCs) have proven to be a successful technology in studying physical phenomena that require low-background conditions. With 40t of liquid xenon (LXe) in the TPC baseline design, DARWIN will have a high sensitivity for the detection of particle dark matter, neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$), and axion-like particles (ALPs). Although cosmic muons are a source of background that cannot be entirely eliminated, they may be greatly diminished by placing the detector deep underground. In this study, we used Monte Carlo simulations to model the cosmogenic background expected for the DARWIN observatory at four underground laboratories: Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM) and SNOLAB. We determine the production rates of unstable xenon isotopes and tritium due to muon-included neutron fluxes and muon-induced spallation. These are expected to represent the dominant contributions to cosmogenic backgrounds and thus the most relevant for site selection