Constraining the Nature of Dark Energy using the SKA

We investigate the potential of the Square Kilometer Array Telescope (SKA) to constrain the sound speed of dark energy. The Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect results in a significant power spectrum signal when CMB temperature anisotropies are cross-correlated with galaxies detectable with the SKA in HI. We consider using this measurement, the autocorrelation of HI galaxies and the CMB temperature power spectrum to derive constraints on the sound speed. We study the contributions to the cross-correlation signal made by galaxies at different redshifts and use redshift tomography to improve the signal-to-noise. We use a chi-square analysis to estimate the significance of detecting a sound speed different from that expected in quintessence models, finding that there is potential to distinguish very low sound speeds from the quintessence value.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures; updated references for publication MNRA

Specific orofacial problems experienced by musicians

Background: Patients who play musical instruments (especially wind and stringed instruments) and vocalists are prone to particular types of orofacial problems. Some problems are caused by playing and some are the result of dental treatment. This paper proposes to give an insight into these problems and practical guidance to general practice dentists. Method: Information in this paper is gathered from studies published in dental, music and occupational health journals, and from discussions with career musicians and music teachers. Results: Orthodontic problems, soft tissue trauma, focal dystonia, denture retention, herpes labialis, dry mouth and temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders were identified as orofacial problems of career musicians. Options available for prevention and palliative treatment as well as instrument selection are suggested to overcome these problems. Conclusions: Career musicians express reluctance to attend dentists who are not sensitive to their specific needs. General practitioner dentists who understand how the instruments impact on the orofacial structures and are aware of potential problems faced by musicians are able to offer preventive advice and supportive treatment to these patients, especially those in the early stages of their career

Ellipsoidal analysis of coordination polyhedra

The idea of the coordination polyhedron is essential to understanding chemical structure. Simple polyhedra in crystalline compounds are often deformed due to structural complexity or electronic instabilities so distortion analysis methods are useful. Here we demonstrate that analysis of the minimum bounding ellipsoid of a coordination polyhedron provides a general method for studying distortion, yielding parameters that are sensitive to various orders in metal oxide examples. Ellipsoidal analysis leads to discovery of a general switching of polyhedral distortions at symmetry-disallowed transitions in perovskites that may evidence underlying coordination bistability, and reveals a weak off-centre ‘d(5) effect' for Fe(3+) ions that could be exploited in multiferroics. Separating electronic distortions from intrinsic deformations within the low temperature superstructure of magnetite provides new insights into the charge and trimeron orders. Ellipsoidal analysis can be useful for exploring local structure in many materials such as coordination complexes and frameworks, organometallics and organic molecules

Rethinking feasibility analysis for urban development: a multidimensional decision support tool

Large-scale urban development projects featured over the past thirty years have shown some critical issues related to the implementation phase. Con-sequently, the current practice seems oriented toward minimal and wide-spread interventions meant as urban catalyst. This planning practice might solve the problem of limited reliability of large developments’ feasibility studies, but it rises an evaluation demand related to the selection of coali-tion of projects within a multidimensional and multi-stakeholders deci-sion-making context. This study aims to propose a framework for the generation of coalitions of elementary actions in the context of urban regeneration processes and for their evaluation using a Multi Criteria Decision Analysis approach. The proposed evaluation framework supports decision makers in exploring dif-ferent combinations of actions in the context of urban interventions taking into account synergies, i.e. positive or negative effects on the overall per-formance of an alternative linked to the joint realization of specific pairs of actions. The proposed evaluation framework has been tested on a pilot case study dealing with urban regeneration processes in the city of Milan (Italy)

Simultaneously Hermaphroditic Shrimp Use Lipophilic Cuticular Hydrocarbons as Contact Sex Pheromones

Successful mating is essentially a consequence of making the right choices at the correct time. Animals use specific strategies to gain information about a potential mate, which is then applied to decision-making processes. Amongst the many informative signals, odor cues such as sex pheromones play important ecological roles in coordinating mating behavior, enabling mate and kin recognition, qualifying mate choice, and preventing gene exchange among individuals from different populations and species. Despite overwhelming behavioral evidence, the chemical identity of most cues used in aquatic organisms remains unknown and their impact and omnipresence have not been fully recognized. In many crustaceans, including lobsters and shrimps, reproduction happens through a cascade of events ranging from initial attraction to formation of a mating pair eventually leading to mating. We examined the hypothesis that contact pheromones on the female body surface of the hermaphroditic shrimp Lysmata boggessi are of lipophilic nature, and resemble insect cuticular hydrocarbon contact cues. Via chemical analyses and behavioural assays, we show that newly molted euhermaphrodite-phase shrimp contain a bouquet of odor compounds. Of these, (Z)-9-octadecenamide is the key odor with hexadecanamide and methyl linoleate enhancing the bioactivity of the pheromone blend. Our results show that in aquatic systems lipophilic, cuticular hydrocarbon contact sex pheromones exist; this raises questions on how hydrocarbon contact signals evolved and how widespread these are in the marine environment

Forecasting Non-Stationary Diarrhea, Acute Respiratory Infection, and Malaria Time-Series in Niono, Mali

BACKGROUND: Much of the developing world, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, exhibits high levels of morbidity and mortality associated with diarrhea, acute respiratory infection, and malaria. With the increasing awareness that the aforementioned infectious diseases impose an enormous burden on developing countries, public health programs therein could benefit from parsimonious general-purpose forecasting methods to enhance infectious disease intervention. Unfortunately, these disease time-series often i) suffer from non-stationarity; ii) exhibit large inter-annual plus seasonal fluctuations; and, iii) require disease-specific tailoring of forecasting methods. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this longitudinal retrospective (01/1996-06/2004) investigation, diarrhea, acute respiratory infection of the lower tract, and malaria consultation time-series are fitted with a general-purpose econometric method, namely the multiplicative Holt-Winters, to produce contemporaneous on-line forecasts for the district of Niono, Mali. This method accommodates seasonal, as well as inter-annual, fluctuations and produces reasonably accurate median 2- and 3-month horizon forecasts for these non-stationary time-series, i.e., 92% of the 24 time-series forecasts generated (2 forecast horizons, 3 diseases, and 4 age categories = 24 time-series forecasts) have mean absolute percentage errors circa 25%. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The multiplicative Holt-Winters forecasting method: i) performs well across diseases with dramatically distinct transmission modes and hence it is a strong general-purpose forecasting method candidate for non-stationary epidemiological time-series; ii) obliquely captures prior non-linear interactions between climate and the aforementioned disease dynamics thus, obviating the need for more complex disease-specific climate-based parametric forecasting methods in the district of Niono; furthermore, iii) readily decomposes time-series into seasonal components thereby potentially assisting with programming of public health interventions, as well as monitoring of disease dynamics modification. Therefore, these forecasts could improve infectious diseases management in the district of Niono, Mali, and elsewhere in the Sahel

Mosquito Feeding Affects Larval Behaviour and Development in a Moth

Organisms are attacked by different natural enemies present in their habitat. While enemies such as parasitoids and predators will kill their hosts/preys when they successfully attack them, enemies such as micropredators will not entirely consume their prey. However, they can still have important consequences on the performance and ecology of the prey, such as reduced growth, increased emigration, disease transmission

Measurement of the cross-section of high transverse momentum vector bosons reconstructed as single jets and studies of jet substructure in pp collisions at √s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This paper presents a measurement of the cross-section for high transverse momentum W and Z bosons produced in pp collisions and decaying to all-hadronic final states. The data used in the analysis were recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7 TeV;{\rm Te}{\rm V}$and correspond to an integrated luminosity of$4.6\;{\rm f}{{{\rm b}}^{-1}}$. The measurement is performed by reconstructing the boosted W or Z bosons in single jets. The reconstructed jet mass is used to identify the W and Z bosons, and a jet substructure method based on energy cluster information in the jet centre-of-mass frame is used to suppress the large multi-jet background. The cross-section for events with a hadronically decaying W or Z boson, with transverse momentum${{p}_{{\rm T}}}\gt 320\;{\rm Ge}{\rm V}$and pseudorapidity$|\eta |\lt 1.9$, is measured to be${{\sigma }_{W+Z}}=8.5\pm 1.7$ pb and is compared to next-to-leading-order calculations. The selected events are further used to study jet grooming techniques

Search for direct pair production of the top squark in all-hadronic final states in proton-proton collisions at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The results of a search for direct pair production of the scalar partner to the top quark using an integrated luminosity of 20.1fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at √s = 8 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC are reported. The top squark is assumed to decay via t˜→tχ˜01 or t˜→ bχ˜±1 →bW(∗)χ˜01 , where χ˜01 (χ˜±1 ) denotes the lightest neutralino (chargino) in supersymmetric models. The search targets a fully-hadronic final state in events with four or more jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model background prediction is observed, and exclusion limits are reported in terms of the top squark and neutralino masses and as a function of the branching fraction of t˜ → tχ˜01 . For a branching fraction of 100%, top squark masses in the range 270–645 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 30 GeV. For a branching fraction of 50% to either t˜ → tχ˜01 or t˜ → bχ˜±1 , and assuming the χ˜±1 mass to be twice the χ˜01 mass, top squark masses in the range 250–550 GeV are excluded for χ˜01 masses below 60 GeV

Search for pair-produced long-lived neutral particles decaying to jets in the ATLAS hadronic calorimeter in ppcollisions at √s=8TeV

The ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN is used to search for the decay of a scalar boson to a pair of long-lived particles, neutral under the Standard Model gauge group, in 20.3fb−1of data collected in proton–proton collisions at √s=8TeV. This search is sensitive to long-lived particles that decay to Standard Model particles producing jets at the outer edge of the ATLAS electromagnetic calorimeter or inside the hadronic calorimeter. No significant excess of events is observed. Limits are reported on the product of the scalar boson production cross section times branching ratio into long-lived neutral particles as a function of the proper lifetime of the particles. Limits are reported for boson masses from 100 GeVto 900 GeV, and a long-lived neutral particle mass from 10 GeVto 150 GeV