Trigger and Aperture of the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive air showers (EAS) generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy, from the identification of candidate showers at the level of a single detector, amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with energy above $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, for all zenith angles between 0$^\circ$ and 60$^\circ$, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass of the primary particle. In these range of energies and angles, the exposure of the surface array can be determined purely on the basis of the geometrical acceptance.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figure

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Ultrahigh energy neutrinos at the Pierre Auger observatory

The observation of ultrahigh energy neutrinos (UHEνs) has become a priority in experimental astroparticle physics. UHEνs can be detected with a variety of techniques. In particular, neutrinos can interact in the atmosphere (downward-going ν) or in the Earth crust (Earth-skimming ν), producing air showers that can be observed with arrays of detectors at the ground. With the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory we can detect these types of cascades. The distinguishing signature for neutrino events is the presence of very inclined showers produced close to the ground (i.e., after having traversed a large amount of atmosphere). In this work we review the procedure and criteria established to search for UHEνs in the data collected with the ground array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This includes Earth-skimming as well as downward-going neutrinos. No neutrino candidates have been found, which allows us to place competitive limits to the diffuse flux of UHEνs in the EeV range and above.P. Abreu ... K. B. Barber ... J. A. Bellido ... R. W. Clay ... M. J. Cooper ... B. R. Dawson ... T. A. Harrison ... A. E. Herve ... V. C. Holmes ... J. Sorokin ... P. Wahrlich ... B. J. Whelan ... et al

Measurement of the Radiation Energy in the Radio Signal of Extensive Air Showers as a Universal Estimator of Cosmic-Ray Energy

We measure the energy emitted by extensive air showers in the form of radio emission in the frequency range from 30 to 80 MHz. Exploiting the accurate energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory, we obtain a radiation energy of 15.8\ub10.7(stat)\ub16.7(syst)\u2009\u2009MeV for cosmic rays with an energy of 1 EeV arriving perpendicularly to a geomagnetic field of 0.24 G, scaling quadratically with the cosmic-ray energy. A comparison with predictions from state-of-the-art first-principles calculations shows agreement with our measurement. The radiation energy provides direct access to the calorimetric energy in the electromagnetic cascade of extensive air showers. Comparison with our result thus allows the direct calibration of any cosmic-ray radio detector against the well-established energy scale of the Pierre Auger Observatory

Search for photons with energies above 1018eV using the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

A search for ultra-high energy photons with energies above 1EeV is performed using nine years of data collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory in hybrid operation mode. An unprecedented separation power between photon and hadron primaries is achieved by combining measurements of the longitudinal air-shower development with the particle content at ground measured by the fluorescence and surface detectors, respectively. Only three photon candidates at energies 1\u20132EeV are found, which is compatible with the expected hadron induced background. Upper limits on the integral flux of ultra-high energy photons of 0.027, 0.009, 0.008, 0.008 and 0.007 km 122 sr 121 yr 121 are derived at 95% C.L. for energy thresholds of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10EeV. These limits bound the fractions of photons in the all-particle integral flux below 0.1%, 0.15%, 0.33%, 0.85% and 2.7%. For the first time the photon fraction at EeV energies is constrained at the sub-percent level. The improved limits are below the flux of diffuse photons predicted by some astrophysical scenarios for cosmogenic photon production. The new results rule-out the early top-down models 12 in which ultra-high energy cosmic rays are produced by, e.g., the decay of super-massive particles 12 and challenge the most recent super-heavy dark matter model

Search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger Observatory

We present a search for ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles with the Pierre Auger observatory. Such particles, possibly a relic of phase transitions in the early Universe, would deposit a large amount of energy along their path through the atmosphere, comparable to that of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs). The air-shower profile of a magnetic monopole can be effectively distinguished by the fluorescence detector from that of standard UHECRs. No candidate was found in the data collected between 2004 and 2012, with an expected background of less than 0.1 event from UHECRs. The corresponding 90% confidence level (C.L.) upper limits on the flux of ultrarelativistic magnetic monopoles range from 10^ 1219(cm2 sr s)^ 121 for a Lorentz factor \u3b3 = 10^9 to 2.5 7 10 1221(cm2 sr s)^ 121 for \u3b3 = 10^12. These results\u2014the first obtained with a UHECR detector\u2014improve previously published limits by up to an order of magnitude

The K2-OjOS Project*New and revisited planets and candidates in K2 campaigns 5, 16, & 18

We present the first results of K2-OjOS, a collaborative project between professional and amateur astronomers primarily aimed to detect, characterize, and validate new extrasolar planets. For this work, 10 amateur astronomers looked for planetary signals by visually inspecting the 20 427 light curves of K2 campaign 18 (C18). They found 42 planet candidates, of which 18 are new detections and 24 had been detected in the overlapping C5 by previous works. We used archival photometric and spectroscopic observations, as well as new high-spatial resolution images in order to carry out a complete analysis of the candidates found, including a homogeneous characterization of the host stars, transit modelling, search for transit timing variations and statistical validation. As a result, we report four new planets (K2-355 b, K2-356 b, K2-357 b, and K2-358 b) and 14 planet candidates. Besides, we refine the transit ephemeris of the previously published planets and candidates by modelling C5, C16 (when available) and C18 photometric data jointly, largely improving the period and mid-transit time precision. Regarding individual systems, we highlight the new planet K2-356 b and candidate EPIC 211537087.02 being near a 2:1 period commensurability, the detection of significant TTVs in the bright star K2-184 (V = 10.35), the location of K2-103 b inside the habitable zone according to optimistic models, the detection of a new single transit in the known system K2-274, and the disposition reassignment of K2-120 b, which we consider as a planet candidate as the origin of the signal cannot be ascertained

Impacto del proyecto PERSECC en la productividad de las MYPES de calzado de la ciudad de Trujillo, 2017

RESUMEN La presente investigación tiene como propósito determinar el impacto del proyecto creado por la Oficina de Proyectos de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación de CITEccal Trujillo, el “Proyecto de Reactivación del Sector Cuero y Calzado” en la productividad de las MYPES del sector calzado en relación con la incidencia que tenga este con el comportamiento de las ventas, producción y demás indicadores de las empresas que aplicaron a PERSECC durante el año 2017, con la finalidad de demostrar la labor del Estado al tomar medidas orientadas a elevar los niveles de competitividad de las empresas en estudio en relación a la reactivación de dicho sector. Para el desarrollo del presente trabajo de investigación, se utilizaron fuentes de información primaria debido a que serán documentos directos que se obtendrán de la oficina de Investigación, Desarrollo e Innovación de CITEccal Trujillo. Para esto, se tuvo en cuenta el análisis de la documentación de los datos recopilados del registro anual y evolución trimestral de ventas, producción, capacidad instalada, capacidad productiva, inversión en I+D+i, recurso humano, plan de acción del programa PERSECC, los cuales fueron facilitados directamente del área de la oficina de proyectos I+D+i para la realización del proyecto. Luego, se recopilaron los datos a través del análisis documental para ser procesados en tablas y gráficos, en seguida se determinaron las medias usando la Prueba T - Student para datos relacionados (muestras dependientes). Finalmente para medir la relación entre las variables en estudio se calculó el valor de probabilidad estadístico por el cual se rechaza la hipótesis nula y se acepta la hipótesis alternativa. De esta manera, la investigación llega a la conclusión que existen diferencias estadísticamente significativas entre los valores trimestrales de todos los indicadores analizados de las MYPES de calzado de la ciudad de Trujillo anteriores y posteriores de la aplicación del proyecto PERSECC, lo que significa que el proyecto PERSECC incide de manera significativa en la evolución de los indicadores de la productividad de cada una de las empresas del sector Calzado que aplicaron al proyecto. La principal recomendación que se hace al área de Proyectos I+D+i, es que el jefe de Proyectos autorice la continuación de la aplicación anual del Proyecto PERSECC con la finalidad de ampliar la participación de más MYPES, manteniendo un continuo control del registro de la data con respecto a la evaluación y seguimiento de indicadores en la mejora de su productividad y de esta manera, definir mejor el apoyo de la labor que viene realizando el CITEccal Trujillo para el aumento de la competitividad de las empresas del sector calzado. Palabras clave: Proyecto, Soporte Productivo, I+D, Productividad, Mypes (Micro y Pequeñas Empresas), Sector Calzado, Producción Calzado, Comercio Calzado.ABSTRACT The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of the project created by the Research, Development and Innovation Projects Office of CITEccal Trujillo, the "PERSECC" project in the productivity of the MSEs of the footwear sector in relation to the impact that this has with the behavior of sales, production and other indicators of the companies that applied to PERSECC during the year 2017, in order to demonstrate the work of the State to take measures aimed at raising the levels of competitiveness of companies under study in relation to the reactivation of this sector. For the development of this research work, primary information sources were used because they will be direct documents that will be obtained from the Research, Development and Innovation office of CITEccal Trujillo. For this, the analysis of the documentation of the annual record and quarterly evolution of sales, production, installed capacity, productive capacity, investment in R & D & I, human resources, action plan of the PERSECC program was taken account, which were provided directly from the area of the R + D + i project office for the realization of the project. Then, the data was collected through the documentary analysis to be processed in tables and graphs, consequently sample means were determined using the T - Student test for related data (dependent samples). Finally, to measure the relationship between the variables under study, it has been estimated the statistical probability value by which the null hypothesis is rejected and the alternative hypothesis is accepted. The main recommendation made to the area of R + D + i Projects, is that the Project Manager continues to authorize the application of the PERSECC Project in the coming years in order to expand the participation of more MYPES, maintaining a continuous control of the registry of the data with respect to the evaluation and monitoring of indicators to improve their productivity and, in this way, better define the support of the work that CITEccal Trujillo has been doing to increase the competitiveness of companies in the footwear sector

Survival of 86,690 patients with thyroid cancer: A population-based study in 29 European countries from EUROCARE-5

Background Incidence rates of thyroid cancer (TC) increased in several countries during the last 30 years, while mortality rates remained unchanged, raising important questions for treatment and follow-up of TC patients. This study updates population-based estimates of relative survival (RS) after TC diagnosis in Europe by sex, country, age, period and histology. Methods Data from 87 cancer registries in 29 countries were extracted from the EUROCARE-5 dataset. One- and 5-year RS were estimated using the cohort approach for 86,690 adult TC patients diagnosed in 2000â\u80\u932007 and followed-up to 12/31/2008. RS trends in 1999â\u80\u932007 and 10-year RS in 2005â\u80\u932007 were estimated using the period approach. Results In Europe 2000â\u80\u932007, 5-year RS after TC was 88% in women and 81% in men. Survival rates varied by country and were strongly correlated (Pearson Ï\u81 = 75%) with country-specific incidence rates. Five-year RS decreased with age (in women from >95% at age 15â\u80\u9354 to 57% at age 75+), from 98% in women and 94% in men with papillary TC to 14% in women and 12% in men with anaplastic TC. Proportion of papillary TC varied by country and increased over time, while survival rates were similar across areas and periods. In 1999â\u80\u932007, 5-year RS increased by five percentage points for all TCs but only by two for papillary and by four for follicular TC. Ten-year RS in 2005â\u80\u932007 was 89% in women and 79% in men. Conclusions The reported increasing TC survival trend and differences by area are mainly explained by the varying histological case-mix of cases

Measurement of charm production at central rapidity in proton-proton collisions at 1as = 2.76 TeV

The p t-differential production cross sections of the prompt (B feed-down subtracted) charmed mesons D0, D+, and D*+ in the rapidity range |y| < 0.5, and for transverse momentum 1 < p t < 12 GeV/c, were measured in proton-proton collisions at 1as = 2.76 TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis exploited the hadronic decays D 0 \u2192 K -\u3c0 +, D + \u2192 K -\u3c0 +\u3c0 +, D *+ \u2192 D 0\u3c0 +, and their charge conjugates, and was performed on a L int = 1.1 nb -1 event sample collected in 2011 with a minimum-bias trigger. The total charm production cross section at 1as = 2.76 TeV and at 7 TeV was evaluated by extrapolating to the full phase space the p t-differential production cross sections at 1as = 2.76 TeV and our previous measurements at 1as = 7 TeV. The results were compared to existing measurements and to perturbative-QCD calculations. The fraction of cd D mesons produced in a vector state was also determined. \ua9 2012 SISSA