THE USE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS TOOLS BY LATVIAN ENVIRONMENTAL NGOS

Successful nature conservation requires engagement of diverse groups of stakeholders. Attracting attention of general public and engagement of local communities that underpin sustainable development are between the most important aspects of effective communications by environmental non-governmental organizations (ENGOs). In the modern world digital tools provide unprecedented opportunities for broadening reach of ENGO communications. In Latvia, many organizations including ENGOs use digital tools as a part of their communications mix. However, it is important to understand to what extent the power of digital strategies is utilised by these organisations. For this purpose, analysis of Latvian ENGO digital strategies was undertaken. The analysis involved evaluation of digital usage by top Latvian ENGOs in comparison to application of online communications tools by similar organizations in Western Europe and in the USA. It was found that while Latvian ENGOs actively use digital communications tools, in comparison with western organizations a range of approaches that make online strategies effective is still underutilised. This may generally reduce reach of the communications and their public appeal. Ultimately, underuse of opportunities provided by digital communication tools may weaken effectiveness of nature conservation at a regional scale. Thus, it is suggested to enhance digital communications taking an example from Western ENGOS by introducing more educational and engaging content in a variety of formats, ranging from audio to video materials. Detailed recommendations based on findings of present review are provided.

Tango for three: Sagittarius, LMC, and the Milky Way

We assemble a catalogue of candidate Sagittarius stream members with 5d and 6d phase-space information, using astrometric data from Gaia DR2, distances estimated from RR Lyrae stars, and line-of-sight velocities from various spectroscopic surveys. We find a clear misalignment between the stream track and the direction of the reflex-corrected proper motions in the leading arm of the stream, which we interpret as a signature of a time-dependent perturbation of the gravitational potential. A likely cause of this perturbation is the recent passage of the most massive Milky Way satellite - the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We develop novel methods for simulating the Sagittarius stream in the presence of the LMC, using specially tailored N-body simulations and a flexible parametrization of the Milky Way halo density profile. We find that while models without the LMC can fit most stream features rather well, they fail to reproduce the misalignment and overestimate the distance to the leading arm apocentre. On the other hand, models with an LMC mass in the range (1.3+-0.3)x10^11 Msun rectify these deficiencies. We demonstrate that the stream can not be modelled adequately in a static Milky Way. Instead, our Galaxy is required to lurch toward the massive in-falling Cloud, giving the Sgr stream its peculiar shape and kinematics. By exploring the parameter space of Milky Way potentials, we determine the enclosed mass within 100 kpc to be (5.6+-0.4)x10^11 Msun, and the virial mass to be (9.0+-1.3)x10^11 Msun, and find tentative evidence for a radially-varying shape and orientation of the Galactic halo.Comment: matches published versio

Algorithm of diagnosis and treatment of vascular anomalies

Vascular anomalies (VA) are characterized by a wide range of diseases, occurring at different frequencies and significantly different from each other, which presents great difficulties in their diagnosis and treatment. Since 2001, more than 5000 children and adults with VA have been treated. The work was based on the classification of VA adopted by the ISSVA. Methods that evaluated local hemodynamics (LHD), such as ultrasound with color Doppler mapping, thermal imaging, spectrophotometry, were of significant importance in the differential diagnosis of VA, in determining the stage of development of infant hemangioma (IH), in choosing a method of treatment and monitoring its effectiveness. Methods of managing patients with VA included in IH: observation, treatment with propranolol systemically and locally, laser thermotherapy, non-contact and interstitial; with vascular malformations: sclerotherapy with picibanyl and bleomycin, laser thermotherapy without contact and interstitial, IPL-therapy, excision. The main goal of treatment of VA was to obtain the best cosmetic result while maintaining the functions of the affected area. In children with IH, three variants of LHD - intensive, moderately elevated and normal, were observed. 45% of children with IH with normal or moderately elevated LHD were simply observed. Laser thermotherapy was performed in 10% of children with intensive LHD (in parallel with treatment with propranolol) and in the presence of ulceration of IH. The rest of the children were treated with propranolol systemically or according to the original technology locally. In the treatment of venous or arteriovenous malformations, thermal therapy with laser radiation with a wavelength of 1.56 μm was effective, especially in combination with a wavelength of 1.94 μm. With lymphatic malformation, large cysts were sclerized with picibanyl or bleomycin (efficacy greater than 75%). Small and microcamps were heated by laser radiation with a wavelength of 1.94 microns. In general, the algorithm developed allowed to significantly increase the efficiency of diagnosis and treatment of this difficult and very diverse pathology

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged jet production in root s(NN)=2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions

We present measurements of the azimuthal dependence of charged jet production in central and semi-central root s(NN) = 2.76 TeV Pb-Pb collisions with respect to the second harmonic event plane, quantified as nu(ch)(2) (jet). Jet finding is performed employing the anti-k(T) algorithm with a resolution parameter R = 0.2 using charged tracks from the ALICE tracking system. The contribution of the azimuthal anisotropy of the underlying event is taken into account event-by-event. The remaining (statistical) region-to-region fluctuations are removed on an ensemble basis by unfolding the jet spectra for different event plane orientations independently. Significant non-zero nu(ch)(2) (jet) is observed in semi-central collisions (30-50% centrality) for 20 <p(T)(ch) (jet) <90 GeV/c. The azimuthal dependence of the charged jet production is similar to the dependence observed for jets comprising both charged and neutral fragments, and compatible with measurements of the nu(2) of single charged particles at high p(T). Good agreement between the data and predictions from JEWEL, an event generator simulating parton shower evolution in the presence of a dense QCD medium, is found in semi-central collisions. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Forward-central two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between trigger particles in the forward pseudorapidity range (2.5 2GeV/c. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B. V.Peer reviewe

Event-shape engineering for inclusive spectra and elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV

Peer reviewe

Pseudorapidity and transverse-momentum distributions of charged particles in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

The pseudorapidity (eta) and transverse-momentum (p(T)) distributions of charged particles produced in proton-proton collisions are measured at the centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV. The pseudorapidity distribution in vertical bar eta vertical bar <1.8 is reported for inelastic events and for events with at least one charged particle in vertical bar eta vertical bar <1. The pseudorapidity density of charged particles produced in the pseudorapidity region vertical bar eta vertical bar <0.5 is 5.31 +/- 0.18 and 6.46 +/- 0.19 for the two event classes, respectively. The transverse-momentum distribution of charged particles is measured in the range 0.15 <p(T) <20 GeV/c and vertical bar eta vertical bar <0.8 for events with at least one charged particle in vertical bar eta vertical bar <1. The evolution of the transverse momentum spectra of charged particles is also investigated as a function of event multiplicity. The results are compared with calculations from PYTHIA and EPOS Monte Carlo generators. (C) 2015 CERN for the benefit of the ALICE Collaboration. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).Peer reviewe