Dark energy properties from large future galaxy surveys

We perform a detailed forecast on how well a {\sc Euclid}-like survey will be able to constrain dark energy and neutrino parameters from a combination of its cosmic shear power spectrum, galaxy power spectrum, and cluster mass function measurements. We find that the combination of these three probes vastly improves the survey's potential to measure the time evolution of dark energy. In terms of a dark energy figure-of-merit defined as $(\sigma(w_{\mathrm p}) \sigma(w_a))^{-1}$, we find a value of 690 for {\sc Euclid}-like data combined with {\sc Planck}-like measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies in a 10-dimensional cosmological parameter space, assuming a $\Lambda$CDM fiducial cosmology. For the more commonly used 7-parameter model, we find a figure-of-merit of 1900 for the same data combination. We consider also the survey's potential to measure dark energy perturbations in models wherein the dark energy is parameterised as a fluid with a nonstandard non-adiabatic sound speed, and find that in an \emph{optimistic} scenario in which $w_0$ deviates by as much as is currently observationally allowed from $-1$, models with $\hat{c}_\mathrm{s}^2 = 10^{-6}$ and $\hat{c}_\mathrm{s}^2 = 1$ can be distinguished at more than $2\sigma$ significance. We emphasise that constraints on the dark energy sound speed from cluster measurements are strongly dependent on the modelling of the cluster mass function; significantly weaker sensitivities ensue if we modify our model to include fewer features of nonlinear dark energy clustering. Finally, we find that the sum of neutrino masses can be measured with a $1 \sigma$ precision of 0.015~eV, (abridged)Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, matches JCAP versio

Botanical research in the Galapagos islands : the last fifty years and the next fifty

We review recommendations made since the founding of the Charles Darwin Foundation in 1959, concerning botanical research for the conservation of Galapagos, and present our suggestions for priorities for the immediate future

Rhino Conjunctivitis and Asthma Among Seafood Processing Workers in Greenland. A Cross-Sectional Study

Introduction: The fishing- and the seafood processing industries are the largest industrial sectors in Greenland. Despite this, only a few cases of occupational diseases in this industry have been reported to the Danish Labor Market Insurance. Occupational asthma and allergy are well-known occupational diseases in the seafood processing industry worldwide and underreporting of occupational diseases in Greenland is suspected.Objective: The aim of the current study was to examine the associations between job exposures and occupational asthma and rhino conjunctivitis in workers in the Greenlandic seafood processing industry and to compare the prevalence of sensitization by type and degree of exposure to snow crab, shrimp, fish, and the fish parasite, Anisakis simplex.Methods: Data from 382 Greenlandic seafood processing workers were collected during 2016–2018. Data included questionnaire answers, lung function measurements, skin prick tests, and blood samples with ImmunoCAP. For all analyses, p < 0.05 was considered the level of significance.Results: 5.5% of the workers had occupational asthma and 4.6% had occupational rhino conjunctivitis. A large proportion of the workers were sensitized to allergens specific to the workplace; 18.1% to snow crab, 13.6% to shrimp, 1.4% to fish, and 32.6% to the fish parasite, A. simplex. We found a dose-response relationship between the risk of being sensitized to snow crab and A. simplex and years of exposure to the allergens in the seafood processing industry.Conclusion: This study showed that a considerable proportion of workers in the Greenlandic seafood processing industry had occupational asthma and rhino conjunctivitis. Additionally, the study showed high sensitization levels toward snow crab, shrimp, and the fish parasite, A. simplex. This supports the hypothesis of a considerable degree of underreporting of occupational allergic airway disease in the Greenlandic seafood processing industry. Prospectively, it is important to inform workers, leaders, and health care professionals of the health problems and the law on worker's compensation, and to initiate preventive actions at factory and trawler level