1,443 research outputs found
The Latin American Consortium of Studies in Obesity (LASO)
Current, high-quality data are needed to evaluate the health impact of the epidemic of obesity in Latin America. The Latin American Consortium of Studies of Obesity (LASO) has been established, with the objectives of (i) Accurately estimating the prevalence of obesity and its distribution by sociodemographic characteristics; (ii) Identifying ethnic, socioeconomic and behavioural determinants of obesity; (iii) Estimating the association between various anthropometric indicators or obesity and major cardiovascular risk factors and (iv) Quantifying the validity of standard definitions of the various indexes of obesity in Latin American population. To achieve these objectives, LASO makes use of individual data from existing studies. To date, the LASO consortium includes data from 11 studies from eight countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Peru, Puerto Rico and Venezuela), including a total of 32 462 subjects. This article describes the overall organization of LASO, the individual studies involved and the overall strategy for data analysis. LASO will foster the development of collaborative obesity research among Latin American investigators. More important, results from LASO will be instrumental to inform health policies aiming to curtail the epidemic of obesity in the region
NEXT-100 Technical Design Report (TDR). Executive Summary
In this Technical Design Report (TDR) we describe the NEXT-100 detector that
will search for neutrinoless double beta decay (bbonu) in Xe-136 at the
Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC), in Spain. The document formalizes
the design presented in our Conceptual Design Report (CDR): an
electroluminescence time projection chamber, with separate readout planes for
calorimetry and tracking, located, respectively, behind cathode and anode. The
detector is designed to hold a maximum of about 150 kg of xenon at 15 bar, or
100 kg at 10 bar. This option builds in the capability to increase the total
isotope mass by 50% while keeping the operating pressure at a manageable level.
The readout plane performing the energy measurement is composed of Hamamatsu
R11410-10 photomultipliers, specially designed for operation in low-background,
xenon-based detectors. Each individual PMT will be isolated from the gas by an
individual, pressure resistant enclosure and will be coupled to the sensitive
volume through a sapphire window. The tracking plane consists in an array of
Hamamatsu S10362-11-050P MPPCs used as tracking pixels. They will be arranged
in square boards holding 64 sensors (8 times8) with a 1-cm pitch. The inner
walls of the TPC, the sapphire windows and the boards holding the MPPCs will be
coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB), a wavelength shifter, to improve the
light collection.Comment: 32 pages, 22 figures, 5 table
Radon and material radiopurity assessment for the NEXT double beta decay experiment
The Neutrino Experiment with a Xenon TPC (NEXT), intended to investigate the
neutrinoless double beta decay using a high-pressure xenon gas TPC filled with
Xe enriched in 136Xe at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain, requires
ultra-low background conditions demanding an exhaustive control of material
radiopurity and environmental radon levels. An extensive material screening
process is underway for several years based mainly on gamma-ray spectroscopy
using ultra-low background germanium detectors in Canfranc but also on mass
spectrometry techniques like GDMS and ICPMS. Components from shielding,
pressure vessel, electroluminescence and high voltage elements and energy and
tracking readout planes have been analyzed, helping in the final design of the
experiment and in the construction of the background model. The latest
measurements carried out will be presented and the implication on NEXT of their
results will be discussed. The commissioning of the NEW detector, as a first
step towards NEXT, has started in Canfranc; in-situ measurements of airborne
radon levels were taken there to optimize the system for radon mitigation and
will be shown too.Comment: Proceedings of the Low Radioactivity Techniques 2015 workshop
(LRT2015), Seattle, March 201
Pseudoscalar susceptibilities and quark condensates: chiral restoration and lattice screening masses
A super-Earth and a sub-Neptune orbiting the bright, quiet M3 dwarf TOI-1266
We report the discovery and characterisation of a super-Earth and a
sub-Neptune transiting the bright (), quiet, and nearby (37 pc) M3V
dwarf TOI-1266. We validate the planetary nature of TOI-1266 b and c using four
sectors of TESS photometry and data from the newly-commissioned 1-m SAINT-EX
telescope located in San Pedro M\'artir (Mexico). We also include additional
ground-based follow-up photometry as well as high-resolution spectroscopy and
high-angular imaging observations. The inner, larger planet has a radius of
R and an orbital period of 10.9 days. The
outer, smaller planet has a radius of R on
an 18.8-day orbit. The data are found to be consistent with circular, co-planar
and stable orbits that are weakly influenced by the 2:1 mean motion resonance.
Our TTV analysis of the combined dataset enables model-independent constraints
on the masses and eccentricities of the planets. We find planetary masses of
= (
at 2-) for TOI-1266 b and
( at 2-) for TOI-1266
c. We find small but non-zero orbital eccentricities of
( at 2-) for TOI-1266 b and ( at
2-) for TOI-1266 c. The equilibrium temperatures of both planets are of
K and K, respectively, assuming a null Bond albedo and
uniform heat redistribution from the day-side to the night-side hemisphere. The
host brightness and negligible activity combined with the planetary system
architecture and favourable planet-to-star radii ratios makes TOI-1266 an
exquisite system for a detailed characterisation
A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007
We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts
associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal
new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy,
particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the
underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the
period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first
science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed
for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with
the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place
limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave
emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of
merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at
http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access
area to figures, tables at
https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000
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