Restricting digital sites of dissent: commercial social media and free expression

The widespread use of commercial social media platforms by protesters and activists has enhanced protest mobilisation and reporting but it has placed social media providers in the intermediary role as facilitators of dissent and has thereby created new challenges. Companies like Google and Facebook are increasingly restricting content that is published on or distributed through their platforms; they have been subject to obstruction by governments; and their services have been at the core of large-scale data collection and surveillance. This article analyses and categorises forms of infrastructure-based restrictions on free expression and dissent. It shows how private intermediaries have been incorporated into state-led content policies; how they set their own standards for legitimate online communication and intervene accordingly; and how state-based actions and commercial self-regulation intersect in the specific area of online surveillance. Based on a broad review of cases, it situates the role of social media in the wider trend of the privatisation of communications policy and the complex interplay between state-based regulation and commercial rule-making

Another Shipment of Six Short-Period Giant Planets from TESS

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 <G< 11.8, 7.7 <K< 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program (TFOP) Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (R$_{P}$ = 1.00-1.45 R$_{J}$), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.35 M$_{J}$, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4753 $<$ T$_{eff}$ $<$ 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 days, $e$ = $0.220\pm0.053$), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 days, $e$ = $0.182^{+0.039}_{-0.049}$), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 days, $e$ = $0.196^{+0.059}_{-0.053}$). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 $<$ $\log$ g $<$4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; $5.35^{+0.32}_{-0.35}$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2145 b) and $5.21\pm0.52$ M$_{\rm J}$ (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use {\it TESS} to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies.Comment: 20 Pages, 6 Figures, 8 Tables, Accepted by MNRA

Observation of long-range, near-side angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at the LHC

This is the pre-print version of the Published Article, which can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2010 Springer VerlagResults on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 0.9, 2.36, and 7 TeV are presented, using data collected with the CMS detector over a broad range of pseudorapidity (eta) and azimuthal angle (phi). Short-range correlations in Delta(eta), which are studied in minimum bias events, are characterized using a simple "independent cluster" parametrization in order to quantify their strength (cluster size) and their extent in eta (cluster decay width). Long-range azimuthal correlations are studied differentially as a function of charged particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum using a 980 inverse nb data set at 7 TeV. In high multiplicity events, a pronounced structure emerges in the two-dimensional correlation function for particle pairs with intermediate transverse momentum of 1-3 GeV/c, 2.0< |Delta(eta)| <4.8 and Delta(phi) near 0. This is the first observation of such a long-range, near-side feature in two-particle correlation functions in pp or p p-bar collisions

Observation of long-range, near-side angular correlations in proton-proton collisions at the LHC

Results on two-particle angular correlations for charged particles emitted in proton-proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 0.9, 2.36, and 7TeV are presented, using data collected with the CMS detector over a broad range of pseudorapidity (eta) and azimuthal angle (phi). Short-range correlations in Delta(eta), which are studied in minimum bias events, are characterized using a simple "independent cluster" parametrization in order to quantify their strength (cluster size) and their extent in eta (cluster decay width). Long-range azimuthal correlations are studied differentially as a function of charged particle multiplicity and particle transverse momentum using a 980 nb(-1) data set at 7TeV. In high multiplicity events, a pronounced structure emerges in the two-dimensional correlation function for particle pairs with intermediate p(T) of 1-3 GeV/c, 2.

Another shipment of six short-period giant planets from TESS

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) – TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), and TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9 &lt;G &lt; 11.8, 7.7 &lt;K &lt; 10.1). Using a combination of time-series photometric and spectroscopic follow-up observations from the TESS Follow-up Observing Program Working Group, we have determined that the planets are Jovian-sized (RP = 0.99–1.45 RJ), have masses ranging from 0.92 to 5.26 MJ, and orbit F, G, and K stars (4766 ≤ Teff ≤ 7360 K). We detect a significant orbital eccentricity for the three longest-period systems in our sample: TOI-2025 b (P = 8.872 d, 0.394+0.035-0.038), TOI-2145 b (P = 10.261 d, e = 0.208+0.034-0.047), and TOI-2497 b (P = 10.656 d, e = 0.195+0.043-0.040). TOI-2145 b and TOI-2497 b both orbit subgiant host stars (3.8 &lt; log g &lt;4.0), but these planets show no sign of inflation despite very high levels of irradiation. The lack of inflation may be explained by the high mass of the planets; 5.26+0.38-0.37 MJ (TOI-2145 b) and 4.82 ± 0.41 MJ (TOI-2497 b). These six new discoveries contribute to the larger community effort to use TESS to create a magnitude-complete, self-consistent sample of giant planets with well-determined parameters for future detailed studies. © 2023 The Author(s).80NSSC20K0250; LE140100050; FEUZ-2020-0038, PGC2018-098153-B-C31; National Science Foundation, NSF: 1516242, 1608203, 2007811, AST-1751874, AST-1907790; David and Lucile Packard Foundation, DLPF; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA: GN-2018B-LP-101, NNX13AM97A, XRP 80NSSC22K0233; W. M. Keck Foundation, WMKF; New York Community Trust, NYCT; Research Corporation for Science Advancement, RCSA; Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium, PSGC; Ames Research Center, ARC; George Mason University, GMU; University of North Carolina, UNC; Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT; University of Pennsylvania; Ohio State University, OSU; California Institute of Technology, CIT; University of Florida, UF; Michigan State University, MSU; University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC-CH; Pennsylvania State University, PSU; University of Montana, UM; University of Texas at Austin, UT; Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, SAO; Horizon 2020 Framework Programme, H2020: 1952545, 724427; Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation; Accelerated Bridge Construction University Transportation Center, ABC-UTC; National Centres of Competence in Research SwissMAP; Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition, DPAC; European Research Council, ERC; European Space Agency, ESA; Australian Research Council, ARC: DP180100972, DP210103119, DP220100365, FL220100117, LE160100001; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG: HA 3279/12-1, SPP1992; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, KAKEN: JP18H05439; University of New South Wales, UNSW; University of Southern Queensland, USQ; Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico, FONDECYT: 11200751, 1210718, 14ENI2-26865, IC120009; Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology, CREST: JPMJCR1761; Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Minobrnauka: 075-15-2020-780, N13.1902.21.0039; Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, MCTI; University of Toronto, U of T; Université de Genève, UNIGE; Ministry of Economy; Nanjing University, NJU; Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, IAC; NCCR Catalysis, NCCRThe authors thank the CHIRON team members, including Todd Henry, Leonardo Paredes, Hodari James, Azmain Nisak, Rodrigo Hinojosa, Roberto Aviles, Wei-Chun Jao, and CTIO staffs, for their work in acquiring RVs with CHIRON at CTIO. This research has made use of SAO/NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia ( https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia ), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium ). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This work makes use of observations from the LCO network. Based in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações (MCTI/LNA) do Brasil, the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA’s Science Mission directorate. The authors acknowledge the use of public TESS Alert data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which are operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission, which are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). This paper includes observations obtained under Gemini program GN-2018B-LP-101. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. This publication makes use of The Data and Analysis Center for Exoplanets (DACE), which is a facility based at the University of Geneva (CH) dedicated to extrasolar planets data visualisation, exchange and analysis. DACE is a platform of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, federating the Swiss expertise in Exoplanet research. The DACE platform is available at https://dace.unige.ch .LC, KS, EA, JR, JER, JAR, PW, and EZ are grateful for support from NSF grants AST-1751874 and AST-1907790, along with a Cottrell Fellowship from the Research Corporation. CZ is supported by a Dunlap Fellowship at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, funded through an endowment established by the Dunlap family and the University of Toronto. T.H. acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 Framework Program via the ERC Advanced Grant Origins 83 24 28. JVS acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project Four Aces; grant agreement No. 724427). PR acknowledges support from NSF grant No. 1952545. RB and AJ acknowledges support from FONDECYT Projects 11200751 and 1210718 and from the CORFO project N◦14ENI2-26865. AJ, RB and MH acknowledge support from project IC120009 ‘Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS)’ of the Millenium Science Initiative, Chilean Ministry of Economy. The Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science. The Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds is supported by the Pennsylvania State University, the Eberly College of Science, and the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. KKM gratefully acknowledges support from the New York Community Trust’s Fund for Astrophysical Research. LG and AG are supported by NASA Massachusetts Space Grant Fellowships. EWG, ME, and PC acknowledge support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant HA 3279/12-1 within the DFG Schwerpunkt SPP1992, Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets. BSG was partially supported by the Thomas Jefferson Chair for Space Exploration at the Ohio State University. CD acknowledges support from the Hellman Fellows Fund and NASA XRP via grant 80NSSC20K0250. BSS, MVG, and AAB acknowledge the support of Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the grant 075-15-2020-780 (N13.1902.21.0039). BA is supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP180100972. TRB acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP210103119). TRB acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP210103119 and FL220100117). The authors thank the CHIRON team members, including Todd Henry, Leonardo Paredes, Hodari James, Azmain Nisak, Rodrigo Hinojosa, Roberto Aviles, Wei-Chun Jao, and CTIO staffs, for their work in acquiring RVs with CHIRON at CTIO. This research has made use of SAO/NASA’s Astrophysics Data System Bibliographic Services. This research has made use of the SIMBAD database, operated at CDS, Strasbourg, France. This work has made use of data from the European Space Agency (ESA) mission Gaia (https://www.cosmos.esa.int/gaia), processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC, https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/gaia/dpac/consortium). Funding for the DPAC has been provided by national institutions, in particular the institutions participating in the Gaia Multilateral Agreement. This work makes use of observations from the LCO network. Based in part on observations obtained at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovações (MCTI/LNA) do Brasil, the US National Science Foundation’s NOIRLab, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU). Funding for the TESS mission is provided by NASA’s Science Mission directorate. The authors acknowledge the use of public TESS Alert data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive and the Exoplanet Follow-up Observation Program website, which are operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. This paper includes data collected by the TESS mission, which are publicly available from the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (MAST). This paper includes observations obtained under Gemini program GN-2018B-LP-101. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products. This publication makes use of The Data and Analysis Center for Exoplanets (DACE), which is a facility based at the University of Geneva (CH) dedicated to extrasolar planets data visualisation, exchange and analysis. DACE is a platform of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) PlanetS, federating the Swiss expertise in Exoplanet research. The DACE platform is available at https://dace.unige.ch. MINERVA-Australis is supported by Australian Research Council LIEF Grant LE160100001 (Discovery Grant DP180100972 and DP220100365) Mount Cuba Astronomical Foundation, and institutional partners University of Southern Queensland, UNSW Sydney, MIT, Nanjing University, George Mason University, University of Louisville, University of California Riverside, University of Florida, and The University of Texas at Austin. The authors respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of all lands throughout Australia and recognize their continued cultural and spiritual connection to the land, waterways, cosmos, and community. The authors pay our deepest respects to all Elders, ancestors and descendants of the Giabal, Jarowair, and Kambuwal nations, upon whose lands the MINERVA-Australis facility at Mt Kent is situated. MINERVA-North is a collaboration among the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Montana, the University of Southern Queensland, University of Pennsylvania, and George Mason University. It is made possible by generous contributions from its collaborating institutions and Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (EPSCOR grant NNX13AM97A, XRP 80NSSC22K0233), the Australian Research Council (LIEF grant LE140100050), and the National Science Foundation (grants 1516242, 1608203, and 2007811). This article is based on observations made with the MuSCAT2 instrument, developed by ABC, at Telescopio Carlos Sánchez operated on the island of Tenerife by the IAC in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide. This work is partly financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through grants PGC2018-098153-B-C31.The work of VK was supported by the Ministry of science and higher education of the Russian Federation, topic FEUZ-2020-0038. This work is partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18H05439, JST CREST Grant Number JPMJCR1761. This article is based on observations made with the MuSCAT2 instrument, developed by ABC, at Telescopio Carlos Sánchez operated on the island of Tenerife by the IAC in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide.Some of the data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation. The authors wish to recognize and acknowledge the very significant cultural role and reverence that the summit of Mauna Kea has always had within the indigenous Hawaiian community. We are most fortunate to have the opportunity to conduct observations from this mountain.This article is based on observations made with the MuSCAT2 instrument, developed by ABC, at Telescopio Carlos Sánchez operated on the island of Tenerife by the IAC in the Spanish Observatorio del Teide. This work is partly financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economics and Competitiveness through grants PGC2018-098153-B-C31.The work of VK was supported by the Ministry of science and higher education of the Russian Federation, topic FEUZ-2020-0038.LC, KS, EA, JR, JER, JAR, PW, and EZ are grateful for support from NSF grants AST-1751874 and AST-1907790, along with a Cottrell Fellowship from the Research Corporation. CZ is supported by a Dunlap Fellowship at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, funded through an endowment established by the Dunlap family and the University of Toronto. T.H. acknowledges support from the European Research Council under the Horizon 2020 Framework Program via the ERC Advanced Grant Origins 83 24 28. JVS acknowledges funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (project Four Aces; grant agreement No. 724427). PR acknowledges support from NSF grant No. 1952545. RB and AJ acknowledges support from FONDECYT Projects 11200751 and 1210718 and from the CORFO project N°14ENI2-26865. AJ, RB and MH acknowledge support from project IC120009 ‘Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS)’ of the Millenium Science Initiative, Chilean Ministry of Economy. The Pennsylvania State University Eberly College of Science. The Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds is supported by the Pennsylvania State University, the Eberly College of Science, and the Pennsylvania Space Grant Consortium. KKM gratefully acknowledges support from the New York Community Trust’s Fund for Astrophysical Research. LG and AG are supported by NASA Massachusetts Space Grant Fellowships. EWG, ME, and PC acknowledge support by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) grant HA 3279/12-1 within the DFG Schwerpunkt SPP1992, Exploring the Diversity of Extrasolar Planets. BSG was partially supported by the Thomas Jefferson Chair for Space Exploration at the Ohio State University. CD acknowledges support from the Hellman Fellows Fund and NASA XRP via grant 80NSSC20K0250. BSS, MVG, and AAB acknowledge the support of Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation under the grant 075-15-2020-780 (N13.1902.21.0039). BA is supported by Australian Research Council Discovery Grant DP180100972. TRB acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP210103119). TRB acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (DP210103119 and FL220100117).Minerva -Australis is supported by Australian Research Council LIEF Grant LE160100001 (Discovery Grant DP180100972 and DP220100365) Mount Cuba Astronomical Foundation, and institutional partners University of Southern Queensland, UNSW Sydney, MIT, Nanjing University, George Mason University, University of Louisville, University of California Riverside, University of Florida, and The University of Texas at Austin. The authors respectfully acknowledge the traditional custodians of all lands throughout Australia and recognize their continued cultural and spiritual connection to the land, waterways, cosmos, and community. The authors pay our deepest respects to all Elders, ancestors and descendants of the Giabal, Jarowair, and Kambuwal nations, upon whose lands the Minerva -Australis facility at Mt Kent is situated.MINERVA-North is a collaboration among the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, The Pennsylvania State University, the University of Montana, the University of Southern Queensland, University of Pennsylvania, and George Mason University. It is made possible by generous contributions from its collaborating institutions and Mt. Cuba Astronomical Foundation, The David & Lucile Packard Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (EPSCOR grant NNX13AM97A, XRP 80NSSC22K0233), the Australian Research Council (LIEF grant LE140100050), and the National Science Foundation (grants 1516242, 1608203, and 2007811)

Comparison of telemonitoring combined with intensive patient support with standard care in patients with chronic cardiovascular disease - a randomized clinical trial

Abstract Importance Healthcare concepts for chronic diseases based on tele-monitoring have become increasingly important during COVID-19 pandemic. Objective To study the effectiveness of a novel integrated care concept (NICC) that combines tele-monitoring with the support of a call centre in addition to guideline therapy for patients with atrial fibrillation, heart failure, or treatment-resistant hypertension. Design A prospective, parallel-group, open-label, randomized, controlled trial. Setting Between December 2017 and August 2019 at the Rostock University Medical Center (Germany). Participants Including 960 patients with either atrial fibrillation, heart failure, or treatment-resistant hypertension. Interventions Patients were randomized to either NICC (n = 478) or standard-of-care (SoC) (n = 482) in a 1:1 ratio. Patients in the NICC group received a combination of tele-monitoring and intensive follow-up and care through a call centre. Main outcomes and measures Three primary endpoints were formulated: (1) composite of all-cause mortality, stroke, and myocardial infarction; (2) number of inpatient days; (3) the first plus cardiac decompensation, all measured at 12-months follow-up. Superiority was evaluated using a hierarchical multiple testing strategy for the 3 primary endpoints, where the first step is to test the second primary endpoint (hospitalization) at two-sided 5%-significance level. In case of a non-significant difference between the groups for the rate of hospitalization, the superiority of NICC over SoC is not shown. Results The first primary endpoint occurred in 1.5% of NICC and 5.2% of SoC patients (OR: 3.3 [95%CI 1.4–8.3], p = 0.009). The number of inpatient treatment days did not differ significantly between both groups (p = 0.122). The third primary endpoint occurred in 3.6% of NICC and 8.1% of SoC patients (OR: 2.2 [95%CI 1.2–4.2], p = 0.016). Four patients died of all-cause death in the NICC and 23 in the SoC groups (OR: 4.4 [95%CI 1.6–12.6], p = 0.006). Based on the prespecified hierarchical statistical analysis protocol for multiple testing, the trial did not meet its primary outcome measure. Conclusions and relevance Among patients with atrial fibrillation, heart failure, or treatment-resistant hypertension, the NICC approach was not superior over SoC, despite a significant reduction in all-cause mortality, stroke, myocardial infarction and cardiac decompensation. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03317951