A VSA search for the extended Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect in the Corona Borealis Supercluster

We present interferometric imaging at 33 GHz of the Corona Borealis supercluster, using the extended configuration of the Very Small Array. A total area of 24 deg^2 has been imaged, with an angular resolution of 11 arcmin and a sensitivity of 12 mJy/beam. The aim of these observations is to search for Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) detections from known clusters of galaxies in this supercluster and for a possible extended SZ decrement due to diffuse warm/hot gas in the intercluster medium. We measure negative flux values in the positions of the ten richest clusters in the region. Collectively, this implies a 3.0-sigma detection of the SZ effect. In the clusters A2061 and A2065 we find decrements of approximately 2-sigma. Our main result is the detection of two strong and resolved negative features at -70+-12 mJy/beam (-157+-27 microK) and -103+-10 mJy/beam (-230+-23 microK), respectively, located in a region with no known clusters, near the centre of the supercluster. We discuss their possible origins in terms of primordial CMB anisotropies and/or SZ signals related to either unknown clusters or to a diffuse extended warm/hot gas distribution. Our analyses have revealed that a primordial CMB fluctuation is a plausible explanation for the weaker feature (probability of 37.82%). For the stronger one, neither primordial CMB (probability of 0.33%) nor SZ can account alone for its size and total intensity. The most reasonable explanation, then, is a combination of both primordial CMB and SZ signal. Finally, we explore what characteristics would be required for a filamentary structure consisting of warm/hot diffuse gas in order to produce a significant contribution to such a spot taking into account the constraints set by X-ray data.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures. Accepted in MNRA

New Approaches for Education and Training in Veterinary Public Health: The SAPUVET Projects

Continued contact between humans and animals, in combination with the ever-increasing movement of human and animal populations that is one effect of globalization, contributes to the spread of diseases, often with detrimental effects on public health. This has led professionals involved in both animal health and public health to recognize veterinary public health (VPH) as a key area for their activities to address the human–animal interface. Veterinarians, a profession with major involvement in this field, are in need of specific knowledge and skills to prevent and control public-health problems. As a result, VPH must be directly integrated into veterinary educational programs. At present, only few veterinary schools have specific VPH programs; in most institutions, VPH does not feature as a specific subject in either undergraduate or post-graduate curricula. SAPUVET and SAPUVETNET II are network projects supported by the ALFA program of the European Union (EU). Their main objectives are to reach a common understanding between European and Latin American universities in the definition of the areas in which VPH is important in their respective countries, and to design a harmonized training program for veterinarians in VPH, by making use of new technological applications and innovative teaching methodologies. The elaboration of educational material in combination with case studies presenting real-life problems provides a basis to apply the knowledge acquired on VPH. It is envisaged that the material and modules developed during the two projects will be integrated into the veterinary curricula of the participating universities, as well as in other partner organizations

Experiences in Teaching Veterinary Public Health across Latin-America and Europe: the SAPUVETNET III Project

Experiences in Teaching Veterinary Public Health across Latin-America and Europe: the SAPUVETNET III Project SAPUVETNET III (n. DCI-LA/2008/75) is the third phase of a series of projects, co-financed under the EU ALFA programme, aimed to support a VPH network constituted by Faculties of Veterinary Medicine of 12 Latin-american and 6 European countries in addition to various collaborating institutions/organizations both at national and international level (http://www.sapuvetnet.org). The project envisages the development and the implementation of a common VPH curriculum, through the use of innovative teaching methods, mainly based on problem solving approach. The authors present here some teaching material developed by the project as an example of new strategies/approach for teaching VPH: case studies, videos and self-learning programme on meat inspection/food hygiene, an Interactive Manual on VPH, as well as e-conferences on upcoming VPH issues. Project partners use a mail-list and distance learning platforms (e.g. Moodle, Colibri) to organize teaching activities. A Journal, “Una Salud/One Health/Uma Saúde”, is also published and distributed both as hard copy or .pdf through the web. Didactic tools produced by the SAPUVETNET projects have been and/or are being tested and used by the partner faculties and other teaching institutions, both for under and post-graduate courses. Teaching material by SAPUVETNET is distributed according to Creative Common criteria and policy (http://creativecommons.org/). It can be freely circulated and distributed, it can be used for distance learning and can be modified/adapted to the local context at each country/geographical area, even outside Latin-America and Europe. Teaching products produced under the SAPUVETNET projects are available at the URL http://www.sapuvetnet.org, or can be obtained from the project co-ordinator(s) and/or the contact persons at the partner Faculties/Universities. The Authors would like to acknowledge all participants/collaborators/partners of the current and previous SAPUVETNET projects who greatly contributed –in different moments and at different levels- to the development of the teaching tools herein described

The 13th Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: First Spectroscopic Data from the SDSS-IV Survey Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory

The fourth generation of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-IV) began observations in July 2014. It pursues three core programs: APOGEE-2,MaNGA, and eBOSS. In addition, eBOSS contains two major subprograms: TDSS and SPIDERS. This paper describes the first data release from SDSS-IV, Data Release 13 (DR13), which contains new data, reanalysis of existing data sets and, like all SDSS data releases, is inclusive of previously released data. DR13 makes publicly available 1390 spatially resolved integral field unit observations of nearby galaxies from MaNGA,the first data released from this survey. It includes new observations from eBOSS, completing SEQUELS. In addition to targeting galaxies and quasars, SEQUELS also targeted variability-selected objects from TDSS and X-ray selected objects from SPIDERS. DR13 includes new reductions ofthe SDSS-III BOSS data, improving the spectrophotometric calibration and redshift classification. DR13 releases new reductions of the APOGEE-1data from SDSS-III, with abundances of elements not previously included and improved stellar parameters for dwarf stars and cooler stars. For the SDSS imaging data, DR13 provides new, more robust and precise photometric calibrations. Several value-added catalogs are being released in tandem with DR13, in particular target catalogs relevant for eBOSS, TDSS, and SPIDERS, and an updated red-clump catalog for APOGEE.This paper describes the location and format of the data now publicly available, as well as providing references to the important technical papers that describe the targeting, observing, and data reduction. The SDSS website, http://www.sdss.org, provides links to the data, tutorials and examples of data access, and extensive documentation of the reduction and analysis procedures. DR13 is the first of a scheduled set that will contain new data and analyses from the planned ~6-year operations of SDSS-IV.PostprintPeer reviewe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Digital teaching skills: comparative study in higher education

Research entitled Comparative study of the teacher's digital competencies since the perception of students from four Senati locations, Lima-2020 was intended to establish the significant differences in digital competences between teachers of the different senati headquarters, located in Lima Metropolitana and Callao; the work followed the quantitative methodology, descriptive, comparative and explanatory level; the population was 4440 students with a random sample stratified of 354; the instrument was subjected to the reliability and validity of both content and construct. The main results established that at least two population means are different, as indicated by the p value (0,000) and F (11,819). Lima Cercado's headquarters were also shown to perform better compared to the other headquarters.A pesquisa intitulada Estudo comparativo das competências digitais do professor desde a percepção de alunos de quatro localidades do Senati, Lima-2020 teve como objetivo estabelecer as diferenças significativas nas competências digitais entre professores das diferentes sedes senati, localizadas em Lima Metropolitana e Callao; o trabalho seguiu a metodologia quantitativa, descritiva, comparativa e nível explicativo; a população foi de 4440 alunos com uma amostra aleatória estratificada de 354; o instrumento foi submetido à confiabilidade e validade de conteúdo e construto. Os principais resultados estabeleceram que pelo menos duas médias populacionais são diferentes, conforme indicado pelo valor de p (0,000) e F (11.819). A sede de Lima Cercado também apresentou um desempenho melhor em comparação com as outras sedes.La investigación titulada Estudio comparativo de las competencias digitales del docente desde la percepción de estudiantes de cuatro sedes del Senati, Lima-2020 tuvo como objetivo establecer las diferencias significativas en competencias digitales entre docentes de las distintas sedes del Senati, ubicadas en Lima Metropolitana y Callao; el trabajo siguió la metodología cuantitativa, nivel descriptivo, comparativo y explicativo; la población fue de 4440 estudiantes con una muestra aleatoria estratificada de 354; el instrumento se sometió a la confiabilidad y validez tanto de contenido como de constructo. Los principales resultados establecieron que al menos dos medias poblacionales son diferentes, como lo indican el valor p (0,000) y F (11,819). La sede de Lima Cercado también mostró un mejor desempeño en comparación con las otras sedes

Enfermedades trasmitidas por alimentos en la provincia Guantánamo

Se realiza estudio de comportamiento de brotes de enfermedades trasmitidas por alimentos en la provincia Guantánamo. El universo se corresponde con brotes notificados durante el 2002 hasta 2006, donde predomina el grupo de 15 a 44 años de edad. Las fuentes de información fueron las encuestas archivadas en el Departamento Provincial de Higiene de los Alimentos y Nutrición y Estadísticas del Centro Provincial de Higiene Epidemiología y Microbiología. El m unicipio Guantánamo fue el más afectado por este tipo de enfermedades. Salmonellas fue el germen que más predominó, sobre todo en cárnicos.

Enfermedades trasmitidas por alimentos en la provincia Guantánamo

Se realiza estudio de comportamiento de brotes de enfermedades trasmitidas por alimentos en la provincia Guantánamo. El universo se corresponde con brotes notificados durante el 2002 hasta 2006, donde predomina el grupo de 15 a 44 años de edad. Las fuentes de información fueron las encuestas archivadas en el Departamento Provincial de Higiene de los Alimentos y Nutrición y Estadísticas del Centro Provincial de Higiene Epidemiología y Microbiología. El m unicipio Guantánamo fue el más afectado por este tipo de enfermedades. Salmonellas fue el germen que más predominó, sobre todo en cárnicos.

Building S.C.A.D.A. Systems in Scientific Installations with Sardana and Taurus

International audienceSardana and Taurus form a python software suite for Supervision, Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) optimized for scientific installations. Sardana and Taurus are open source and deliver a substantial reduction in both time and cost associated to the design, development and support of control and data acquisition systems. The project was initially developed at ALBA and later evolved to an international collaboration driven by a community of users and developers from ALBA, DESY, MAXIV and Solaris as well as other institutes and private companies. The advantages of Sardana for its adoption by other institutes are: free and open source code, comprehensive workflow for enhancement proposals, a powerful environment for building and executing macros, optimized access to the hardware and a generic Graphical User Interface (Taurus) that can be customized for every application. Sardana and Taurus are currently based on the Tango Control System framework but also capable to inter-operate to some extend with other control systems like EPICS. The software suite scales from small laboratories to large scientific institutions, allowing users to use only some parts or employ it as a whole

As redes da distinção: familiares da Inquisição na América Portuguesa do século XVIII The networks of distinction: inquisitorial officials in Eighteenth century Portuguese America

A familiatura tinha uma dupla função na sociedade portuguesa de Antigo Regime: além do controle social e religioso exercido por este corpo de oficiais inquisitoriais, a obtenção da carta de familiar também nobilitava os indivíduos que a obtinham. O artigo se propõe a estudar a presença dos oficiais leigos do Santo Oficio na América portuguesa setecentista. Procurou-se compreender o significado desse expressivo número de familiares distribuídos pelas diferentes regiões da colônia brasileira, procedendo a uma avaliação da dimensão dessa rede de agentes inquisitoriais, em particular no Rio Grande de São Pedro e na Colônia do Sacramento.<br>The institution of familiatura had a double role in the traditional Portuguese society: besides the social and religious control that was exercised by these inquisitional officials, the attainment of this title also ennobled the individuals that achieved it. The article aims to study the presence of the Holy Office’s lay officials in eighteenth century Portuguese America. We tried do understand the significance of this meaningful contingent of familiares, scattered all over the Brazilian colony, proceeding an evaluation of the size of this network of inquisitional officials, particularly in Rio Grande de São Pedro and Colônia do Sacramento