Spontaneous orbiting of two spheres levitated in a vibrated liquid

In the absence of gravity, particles can form a suspension in a liquid irrespective of the difference in density between the solid and the liquid. If such a suspension is subjected to vibration there is relative motion between the particles and the fluid which can lead to self-organization and pattern formation. Here we describe experiments carried out to investigate the behavior of two identical spheres suspended magnetically in a fluid, mimicking weightless conditions. Under vibration the spheres mutually attract and, for sufficiently large vibration amplitudes, the spheres are observed to spontaneously orbit each other. The collapse of the experimental data onto a single curve indicates that the instability occurs at a critical value of the streaming Reynolds number. Simulations repro- duce the observed behaviour qualitatively and quantitatively, and are used to identify the features of the flow that are responsible for this instability

Telemedicina: Situação em Portugal

Introdução: A telemedicina é hoje reconhecida pela OMS como uma ferramenta para melhorar o acesso e a qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. Apesar das vantagens aparentes é uma tecnologia recente e está longe de constituir uma prática de rotina na vida clínica diária. Objectivo: Conhecer a situação actual em Portugal relativamente à telemedicina, nomeadamente: quais as Unidades de Saúde com instalações de telemedicina e áreas em que se desenvolve esta actividade; número de serviços anuais e evolução; dificuldades e obstáculos dos profissionais e Instituições; perspectivas futuras Metodologia: A recolha dos dados foi efectuado através de: inquérito enviados às ARS do Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Alentejo, Algarve e IGIF; entrevista com algumas instituições relativa aos serviços em funcionamento; pesquisa bibliográfica e na Internet Resultados: Dos 6 inquéritos enviados foram recebidos 5, provenientes da ARS Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Algarve e Alentejo. Foram efectuadas entrevistas: H S. João, CHVila Nova de Gaia, CHVale do Sousa e H Pediátrico de Coimbra. Obtivemos informações relativas aos equipamentos instalados e serviços actualmente em funcionamento, em todo o país, destacando- se o funcionamento nas áreas da cardiologia, imagiologia e dermatologia. Não havia registo do número de teleconsultas e transmissão de exames excepto no que se refere à ARS Alentejo. Das dificuldades e obstáculos encontrados salientamos a falta de adesão dos profissionais e instituições; custos do funcionamento do sistema; ausência de definição funcional dos profissionais envolvidos (falta de remuneração dos actos médicos e acumulação de funções); ausência de uma estratégia nacional. Quanto às perspectivas futuras, de um modo geral, os objectivos das ARS incluem: a ligação dos centros de saúde e hospitais, e petrechamento com um equipamento básico de Telemedicina em conformidade com as actividades e tipos de consulta a realizar; o desenvolvimento de projectos no âmbito do INTERREG III. Comentários: O desafio que as organizações tem que enfrentar é a mudança estrutural provocada pela modernização dos processos e métodos de trabalho, «o hospital virtual», e a diluição das barreiras entre os Cuidados Primários e os Diferenciados. A telemedicina exige novas formas de gestão e de medição de desempenho das instituições; esta actividade deve ser equiparada às outras normalmente desenvolvidas nas unidades de saúde. Introduction: Telemedicine is recognized by the WHO as a tool for improvement of access and the quality of health care. However it is not yet a routine procedure in health services. Objective: to assess the utilization of telemedicine in Portugal, namely: health care services equipped with telemedicine, and services provided; annual services and evolution; difficulties and obstacles from professionals and institutions; future trends Methodology: data was obtained through a questionnaire sent to the five Regional Administrations of Health and the Financial Department of Health, interviews with some of the professionals practising Telemedicine and research in the web Results: We received five questionnaires from the Regional Administrations of Health, and collected data from the following Hospitals: S. João, Vila Nova de Gaia, Vale do Sousa e Coimbra Children’s Hospital. We obtained information of the institutions practising telemedicine, and the type of services. Cardiology, radiology and dermatology were the services more frequently provided. The number of teleconsultations or transmitted studies was not registered, except in Alentejo. The more common difficulties to implement this technology were: clinical and providers acceptance; lack of integration into the health care mainstream (the costs of teleconsultations are not reimbursed); equipment and operational costs; absence of a national strategy. Future trends include the equipment of telemedicine stations in Primary and Hospital care and the development of projects in cooperation with Spain (INTERREG III). Comments: Organizations face the challenge of a structural change due to the new technologies (telemedicine and health informatics) and the disappearance of barriers between primary and hospital care. Institutional, organizational and national policies must face new realities to introduce telemedicine into the mainstream of health, including assessment of health outcomes

Telemedicina: Situação em Portugal

Introdução: A telemedicina é hoje reconhecida pela OMS como uma ferramenta para melhorar o acesso e a qualidade dos cuidados de saúde. Apesar das vantagens aparentes é uma tecnologia recente e está longe de constituir uma prática de rotina na vida clínica diária. Objectivo: Conhecer a situação actual em Portugal relativamente à telemedicina, nomeadamente: quais as Unidades de Saúde com instalações de telemedicina e áreas em que se desenvolve esta actividade; número de serviços anuais e evolução; dificuldades e obstáculos dos profissionais e Instituições; perspectivas futuras Metodologia: A recolha dos dados foi efectuado através de: inquérito enviados às ARS do Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Alentejo, Algarve e IGIF; entrevista com algumas instituições relativa aos serviços em funcionamento; pesquisa bibliográfica e na Internet Resultados: Dos 6 inquéritos enviados foram recebidos 5, provenientes da ARS Norte, Centro, Lisboa e Vale do Tejo, Algarve e Alentejo. Foram efectuadas entrevistas: H S. João, CHVila Nova de Gaia, CHVale do Sousa e H Pediátrico de Coimbra. Obtivemos informações relativas aos equipamentos instalados e serviços actualmente em funcionamento, em todo o país, destacando- se o funcionamento nas áreas da cardiologia, imagiologia e dermatologia. Não havia registo do número de teleconsultas e transmissão de exames excepto no que se refere à ARS Alentejo. Das dificuldades e obstáculos encontrados salientamos a falta de adesão dos profissionais e instituições; custos do funcionamento do sistema; ausência de definição funcional dos profissionais envolvidos (falta de remuneração dos actos médicos e acumulação de funções); ausência de uma estratégia nacional. Quanto às perspectivas futuras, de um modo geral, os objectivos das ARS incluem: a ligação dos centros de saúde e hospitais, e petrechamento com um equipamento básico de Telemedicina em conformidade com as actividades e tipos de consulta a realizar; o desenvolvimento de projectos no âmbito do INTERREG III. Comentários: O desafio que as organizações tem que enfrentar é a mudança estrutural provocada pela modernização dos processos e métodos de trabalho, «o hospital virtual», e a diluição das barreiras entre os Cuidados Primários e os Diferenciados. A telemedicina exige novas formas de gestão e de medição de desempenho das instituições; esta actividade deve ser equiparada às outras normalmente desenvolvidas nas unidades de saúde. Introduction: Telemedicine is recognized by the WHO as a tool for improvement of access and the quality of health care. However it is not yet a routine procedure in health services. Objective: to assess the utilization of telemedicine in Portugal, namely: health care services equipped with telemedicine, and services provided; annual services and evolution; difficulties and obstacles from professionals and institutions; future trends Methodology: data was obtained through a questionnaire sent to the five Regional Administrations of Health and the Financial Department of Health, interviews with some of the professionals practising Telemedicine and research in the web Results: We received five questionnaires from the Regional Administrations of Health, and collected data from the following Hospitals: S. João, Vila Nova de Gaia, Vale do Sousa e Coimbra Children’s Hospital. We obtained information of the institutions practising telemedicine, and the type of services. Cardiology, radiology and dermatology were the services more frequently provided. The number of teleconsultations or transmitted studies was not registered, except in Alentejo. The more common difficulties to implement this technology were: clinical and providers acceptance; lack of integration into the health care mainstream (the costs of teleconsultations are not reimbursed); equipment and operational costs; absence of a national strategy. Future trends include the equipment of telemedicine stations in Primary and Hospital care and the development of projects in cooperation with Spain (INTERREG III). Comments: Organizations face the challenge of a structural change due to the new technologies (telemedicine and health informatics) and the disappearance of barriers between primary and hospital care. Institutional, organizational and national policies must face new realities to introduce telemedicine into the mainstream of health, including assessment of health outcomes

Granular discharge and clogging for tilted hoppers

We measure the flux of spherical glass beads through a hole as a systematic function of both tilt angle and hole diameter, for two different size beads. The discharge increases with hole diameter in accord with the Beverloo relation for both horizontal and vertical holes, but in the latter case with a larger small-hole cutoff. For large holes the flux decreases linearly in cosine of the tilt angle, vanishing smoothly somewhat below the angle of repose. For small holes it vanishes abruptly at a smaller angle. The conditions for zero flux are discussed in the context of a {\it clogging phase diagram} of flow state vs tilt angle and ratio of hole to grain size

Lessons learned from the ATLAS performance studies of the Iberian Cloud for the first LHC running period

In this contribution we describe the performance of the Iberian (Spain and Portugal) ATLAS cloud during the first LHC running period (March 2010-January 2013) in the context of the GRID Computing and Data Distribution Model. The evolution of the resources for CPU, disk and tape in the Iberian Tier-1 and Tier-2s is summarized. The data distribution over all ATLAS destinations is shown, focusing on the number of files transferred and the size of the data. The status and distribution of simulation and analysis jobs within the cloud are discussed. The Distributed Analysis tools used to perform physics analysis are explained as well. Cloud performance in terms of the availability and reliability of its sites is discussed. The effect of the changes in the ATLAS Computing Model on the cloud is analyzed. Finally, the readiness of the Iberian Cloud towards the first Long Shutdown (LS1) is evaluated and an outline of the foreseen actions to take in the coming years is given. The shutdown will be a good opportunity to improve and evolve the ATLAS Distributed Computing system to prepare for the future challenges of the LHC operation.Peer Reviewe

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations

Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Beijing, China, August 201

Search for the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) in gamma gamma collisions

Data taken with the ALEPH detector at LEP1 have been used to search for gamma gamma production of the glueball candidates f0(1500) and fJ(1710) via their decay to pi+pi-. No signal is observed and upper limits to the product of gamma gamma width and pi+pi- branching ratio of the f0(1500) and the fJ(1710) have been measured to be Gamma_(gamma gamma -> f0(1500)). BR(f0(1500)->pi+pi-) < 0.31 keV and Gamma_(gamma gamma -> fJ(1710)). BR(fJ(1710)->pi+pi-) < 0.55 keV at 95% confidence level.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

A search for point sources of EeV photons

Measurements of air showers made using the hybrid technique developed with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for point sources of EeV photons anywhere in the exposed sky. A multivariate analysis reduces the background of hadronic cosmic rays. The search is sensitive to a declination band from -85{\deg} to +20{\deg}, in an energy range from 10^17.3 eV to 10^18.5 eV. No photon point source has been detected. An upper limit on the photon flux has been derived for every direction. The mean value of the energy flux limit that results from this, assuming a photon spectral index of -2, is 0.06 eV cm^-2 s^-1, and no celestial direction exceeds 0.25 eV cm^-2 s^-1. These upper limits constrain scenarios in which EeV cosmic ray protons are emitted by non-transient sources in the Galaxy.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Reconstruction of inclined air showers detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the method devised to reconstruct inclined cosmic-ray air showers with zenith angles greater than $60^\circ$ detected with the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured signals at the ground level are fitted to muon density distributions predicted with atmospheric cascade models to obtain the relative shower size as an overall normalization parameter. The method is evaluated using simulated showers to test its performance. The energy of the cosmic rays is calibrated using a sub-sample of events reconstructed with both the fluorescence and surface array techniques. The reconstruction method described here provides the basis of complementary analyses including an independent measurement of the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using very inclined events collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP