A european shipping companies survey on arctic shipping : expectation vs. reality

Operating a vessel in Arctic waters is complicated, costly and risky. Arctic shipping has gained growing attention since the early 2000s as a result of global warming. Although the duration, extent and nature of ice coverage are changing, the annual variability and a significant degree of uncertainty will remain. However, although the feasibility of increasing maritime traffic in the Arctic is tightly related to ice conditions, it is also coupled to governance, geopolitical factors, infrastructure development, prices of resources, and the interest of shipping companies. This paper describes the results of a study conducted from 2015 until 2016 on European shipping companies and their perceptions of Arctic shipping. The purpose of this survey was to take into account the operational point of view of shipping companies, and determine the interest for the Arctic market and whether the current trend was reflected the boom in the industry anticipated in the media.L’exploitation d'un navire dans les eaux arctiques est compliquée, coûteuse et risquée. La navigation dans l'Arctique a attiré de plus en plus l'attention depuis le début des années 2000 en raison du changement climatique. Bien que la durée, l'étendue et la nature de la couverture de glace changent, la variabilité annuelle et un degré important d'incertitude demeureront. Cependant, bien que la faisabilité d'augmenter le trafic maritime dans l'Arctique soit étroitement liée aux conditions des glaces, elle est également associée à la gouvernance, aux facteurs géopolitiques, au développement des infrastructures, aux prix des ressources et à l'intérêt des compagnies de navigation. Cet article décrit les résultats d'une étude menée de 2015 à 2016 sur les compagnies maritimes européennes et leur perception du transport maritime dans l'Arctique. Le but de cette enquête était de prendre en compte le point de vue opérationnel des compagnies de navigation, et d’évaluer leur intérêt pour le marché de l'Arctique

Polar seaways? maritime transport in the Arctic : an analysis of shipowners' intentions II

Climate change in the Arctic is leading to the fast recession of the sea ice extent in the summer. This evolution leads several observers, scientists, media and government officials, to consider the possibility of developing new shipping routes along Arctic routes, as these routes are much shorter between Europe and Asia. The literature displays a strong interest for these potential shipping routes while the media often assume shipping companies nurture a sustained attraction for Arctic routes. This paper tackles with this idea and examines to what extent shipping companies, the ultimate economic agents, are really interested in Arctic shipping routes. The image the research portrayed is that only a minority of shipping companies are indeed interested, and those that are interested stress the destinational dimension of Arctic shipping, not transit shippin

Leisure practice and its relations to cognitive vitality for seniors attending community organizations

The purpose of this study was to explore the relations between certain dimensions of leisure practice and cognitive vitality in seniors and identify which of their sociodemographic and health characteristics (SHC) are related to leisure practice. A cross-sectional analysis of leisure practice, cognitive performance, self-perceived memory and SHC was performed among 294 French-speaking Canadian seniors attending community centres (255 women, average age: 71), by multiple linear regressions and partial correlations controlled for SHC. Outcomes from the project show that the diversity of leisure was related to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and the California Verbal Learning Test, the frequency of cognitive leisure was associated to the Stroop Test, and the frequency of social leisure showed no significant association. “Paper and pencil games”, “computer use” and “helping a sibling” were related to various cognitive tests. Frequency of leisure (total) was related to gender and education, and diversity of leisure was related to education, age and depression. Study outcomes indicate that diversity of leisure was more related to cognitive vitality than frequency. Future studies should address leisure diversity as a way to promote cognitive vitality among seniors. Moreover, seniors’ characteristics should be considered when seeking to facilitate their participation in leisure activities.Le but de cette étude était d’explorer les relations entre certaines dimensions de la pratique de loisirs et la vitalité cognitive chez des aînés et d’identifier leurs caractéristiques sociodémographiques et de santé (CSS) qui étaient liées à leur pratique de loisirs. Une analyse transversale de la pratique de loisirs, de la performance cognitive, du niveau perçu de la mémoire et des CSS a été réalisée auprès de 294 aînés canadiens parlant français et qui participaient aux activités d’un centre communautaire (255 femmes, âge moyen : 71 ans), par des régressions linéaires multiples et des corrélations partielles contrôlées pour les CSS. Les résultats montrent que la variété des loisirs était liée au Montreal Cognitive Assessment et au California Verbal Learning Test, que la fréquence des loisirs cognitifs était associée au test de Stroop et que la fréquence des loisirs sociaux ne montrait aucune association. Les « jeux papier-crayon », « l’utilisation de l’ordinateur » et « prendre soin d’un proche » étaient reliés à plusieurs tests cognitifs. La fréquence totale des loisirs était liée au sexe et à l’éducation et la variété des loisirs était liée à l’éducation, à l’âge et à la dépression. Les résultats de cette étude montrent que la variété des loisirs était davantage liée à la vitalité comparée à la fréquence des loisirs. De futures études devraient aborder la variété des loisirs comme une manière de promouvoir la vitalité cognitive chez les aînées. De plus, les caractéristiques des aînés devraient être considérées afin de favoriser leur participation aux activités de loisirs dans les centres communautaires

The last 50.000 years in the neotropics (Southern Brazil) : evolution of vegetation and climate

In the "Lagoa Campestre" (lake) of Salitre (19°S, 46°46'W, 970 m elev.), there are plant taxa belonging to many ecological groups that are encountered nowhere else at this latitude. Frequent incursions of polar advections causing cooling and humidity, a cool and foggy climate in the middle of the depression and warmer temperatures on the surrounding slopes help to maintain all these groups within a fairly restricted area. Late Pleistocene-Holocene climatic change has had a considerable impact on the flora and vegetation of Salitre. The pollen record of the 6 m deep core LC3 shows how cold forest trees such as #Araucaria angustifolia and #Drimys brasiliensis, semi-deciduous forest, halophytic plants and peat bog started to develop on this site. The initial period, between c. 50,000 and 40,000 yr B.P., was an arid phase not recorded in any other neotropical lowland site. It was followed by a period of high moisture levels (40,000 to 27,000 yr B.P.) with a maximum estimated at c. 35,000 yr B.P. The Late Glacial maximum is missing because of a gap in sedimentation. Humidity gradually increased during the Late Pleistocene, between 16,000 and 11,000 yr B.P. The early Holocene, 9500 to 5000 yr B.P., is characterized by a more marked seasonal pattern and higher temperatures, reaching a maximum c. 5000 yr B.P. The spread of semi-deciduous forest between 4000 and 3000 yr B.P. attests to a return of humidity. Comparison with the Serra Negra section (19°S, 46°45'-46'W, 1170 m elev.) not far from Salitre confirms the high moisture rates recorded at c. 35-40,000 yr B.P. (although temperatures were cooler at the altitude of Serra Negra, as is attested by the presence of #Araucaria$ forest) and also confirms the strong impact of polar advections on the climate of Southeastern Brazil. (Résumé d'auteur

Arctic routes opening up : strategies and perceptions of the bulk shipping industry

La fonte des glaces arctiques a suscité un intérêt renouvelé pour les routes arctiques dans les milieux de la recherche et dans les média. Plusieurs travaux se sont intéressés au secteur du conteneur, mais peu abordent spécifiquement le secteur du vrac. Une enquête auprès de plusieurs transporteurs maritimes du secteur du vrac, menée en 2010 puis en 2015, a cependant permis de souligner le faible intérêt des entreprises de ce marché pour le transit arctique.The melting of Arctic sea ice has sparked a renewed interest for Arctic routes in the research community and in the media. Several studies have focused on the container sector, but few specifically addressed the bulk sector. A survey of several bulk shipping companies, conducted in 2010 and 2015, however, highlighted the low interest of companies in this market for Arctic transi

Detection of prions in the plasma of presymptomatic and symptomatic patients with variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) is a human prion disease resulting from the consumption of meat products contaminated by the agent causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Evidence supporting the presence of a population of silent carriers that can potentially transmit the disease through blood transfusion is increasing. The development of a blood-screening assay for both symptomatic vCJD patients and asymptomatic carriers is urgently required. We show that a diagnostic assay combining plasminogen-bead capture and protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) technologies consistently detected minute amounts of abnormal prion protein from French and British vCJD cases in the required femtomolar range. This assay allowed the blinded identification of 18 patients with clinical vCJD among 256 plasma samples from the two most affected countries, with 100% sensitivity [95% confidence interval (CI), 81.5 to 100%], 99.2% analytical specificity (95% CI, 95.9 to 100%), and 100% diagnostic specificity (95% CI, 96.5 to 100%). This assay also allowed the detection of silent carriage of prions 1.3 and 2.6 years before the clinical onset in two blood donors who later developed vCJD. These data provide a key step toward the validation of this PMCA technology as a blood-based diagnostic test for vCJD and support its potential for detecting presymptomatic patients, a prerequisite for limiting the risk of vCJD transmission through blood transfusion

Atmospheric Reconnaissance of TRAPPIST-1 b with JWST/NIRISS: Evidence for Strong Stellar Contamination in the Transmission Spectra

TRAPPIST-1 is a nearby system of seven Earth-sized, temperate, rocky exoplanets transiting a Jupiter-sized M8.5V star, ideally suited for in-depth atmospheric studies. Each TRAPPIST-1 planet has been observed in transmission both from space and from the ground, confidently rejecting cloud-free, hydrogen-rich atmospheres. Secondary eclipse observations of TRAPPIST-1 b with JWST/MIRI are consistent with little to no atmosphere given the lack of heat redistribution. Here we present the first transmission spectra of TRAPPIST-1 b obtained with JWST/NIRISS over two visits. The two transmission spectra show moderate to strong evidence of contamination from unocculted stellar heterogeneities, which dominates the signal in both visits. The transmission spectrum of the first visit is consistent with unocculted starspots and the second visit exhibits signatures of unocculted faculae. Fitting the stellar contamination and planetary atmosphere either sequentially or simultaneously, we confirm the absence of cloud-free hydrogen-rich atmospheres, but cannot assess the presence of secondary atmospheres. We find that the uncertainties associated with the lack of stellar model fidelity are one order of magnitude above the observation precision of 89 ppm (combining the two visits). Without affecting the conclusion regarding the atmosphere of TRAPPIST-1 b, this highlights an important caveat for future explorations, which calls for additional observations to characterize stellar heterogeneities empirically and/or theoretical works to improve model fidelity for such cool stars. This need is all the more justified as stellar contamination can affect the search for atmospheres around the outer, cooler TRAPPIST-1 planets for which transmission spectroscopy is currently the most efficient technique.Comment: 26 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

Awesome SOSS: Transmission Spectroscopy of WASP-96b with NIRISS/SOSS

The future is now - after its long-awaited launch in December 2021, JWST began science operations in July 2022 and is already revolutionizing exoplanet astronomy. The Early Release Observations (ERO) program was designed to provide the first images and spectra from JWST, covering a multitude of science cases and using multiple modes of each on-board instrument. Here, we present transmission spectroscopy observations of the hot-Saturn WASP-96b with the Single Object Slitless Spectroscopy (SOSS) mode of the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, observed as part of the ERO program. As the SOSS mode presents some unique data reduction challenges, we provide an in-depth walk-through of the major steps necessary for the reduction of SOSS data: including background subtraction, correction of 1/f noise, and treatment of the trace order overlap. We furthermore offer potential routes to correct for field star contamination, which can occur due to the SOSS mode's slitless nature. By comparing our extracted transmission spectrum with grids of atmosphere models, we find an atmosphere metallicity between 1x and 5x solar, and a solar carbon-to-oxygen ratio. Moreover, our models indicate that no grey cloud deck is required to fit WASP-96b's transmission spectrum, but find evidence for a slope shortward of 0.9$\mu$m, which could either be caused by enhanced Rayleigh scattering or the red wing of a pressure-broadened Na feature. Our work demonstrates the unique capabilities of the SOSS mode for exoplanet transmission spectroscopy and presents a step-by-step reduction guide for this new and exciting instrument.Comment: MNRAS, in press. Updated to reflect published versio

A united statement of the global chiropractic research community against the pseudoscientific claim that chiropractic care boosts immunity.

BACKGROUND: In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, the International Chiropractors Association (ICA) posted reports claiming that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. These claims clash with recommendations from the World Health Organization and World Federation of Chiropractic. We discuss the scientific validity of the claims made in these ICA reports. MAIN BODY: We reviewed the two reports posted by the ICA on their website on March 20 and March 28, 2020. We explored the method used to develop the claim that chiropractic adjustments impact the immune system and discuss the scientific merit of that claim. We provide a response to the ICA reports and explain why this claim lacks scientific credibility and is dangerous to the public. More than 150 researchers from 11 countries reviewed and endorsed our response. CONCLUSION: In their reports, the ICA provided no valid clinical scientific evidence that chiropractic care can impact the immune system. We call on regulatory authorities and professional leaders to take robust political and regulatory action against those claiming that chiropractic adjustments have a clinical impact on the immune system

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements