Trigger and Aperture of the Surface Detector Array of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory consists of 1600 water-Cherenkov detectors, for the study of extensive air showers (EAS) generated by ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. We describe the trigger hierarchy, from the identification of candidate showers at the level of a single detector, amongst a large background (mainly random single cosmic ray muons), up to the selection of real events and the rejection of random coincidences. Such trigger makes the surface detector array fully efficient for the detection of EAS with energy above $3\times 10^{18}$ eV, for all zenith angles between 0$^\circ$ and 60$^\circ$, independently of the position of the impact point and of the mass of the primary particle. In these range of energies and angles, the exposure of the surface array can be determined purely on the basis of the geometrical acceptance.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figure

The Changing Landscape for Stroke\ua0Prevention in AF: Findings From the GLORIA-AF Registry Phase 2

Background GLORIA-AF (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation) is a prospective, global registry program describing antithrombotic treatment patterns in patients with newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation at risk of stroke. Phase 2 began when dabigatran, the first non\u2013vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulant (NOAC), became available. Objectives This study sought to describe phase 2 baseline data and compare these with the pre-NOAC era collected during phase 1. Methods During phase 2, 15,641 consenting patients were enrolled (November 2011 to December 2014); 15,092 were eligible. This pre-specified cross-sectional analysis describes eligible patients\u2019 baseline characteristics. Atrial fibrillation disease characteristics, medical outcomes, and concomitant diseases and medications were collected. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results Of the total patients, 45.5% were female; median age was 71 (interquartile range: 64, 78) years. Patients were from Europe (47.1%), North America (22.5%), Asia (20.3%), Latin America (6.0%), and the Middle East/Africa (4.0%). Most had high stroke risk (CHA2DS2-VASc [Congestive heart failure, Hypertension, Age  6575 years, Diabetes mellitus, previous Stroke, Vascular disease, Age 65 to 74 years, Sex category] score  652; 86.1%); 13.9% had moderate risk (CHA2DS2-VASc = 1). Overall, 79.9% received oral anticoagulants, of whom 47.6% received NOAC and 32.3% vitamin K antagonists (VKA); 12.1% received antiplatelet agents; 7.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. For comparison, the proportion of phase 1 patients (of N = 1,063 all eligible) prescribed VKA was 32.8%, acetylsalicylic acid 41.7%, and no therapy 20.2%. In Europe in phase 2, treatment with NOAC was more common than VKA (52.3% and 37.8%, respectively); 6.0% of patients received antiplatelet treatment; and 3.8% received no antithrombotic treatment. In North America, 52.1%, 26.2%, and 14.0% of patients received NOAC, VKA, and antiplatelet drugs, respectively; 7.5% received no antithrombotic treatment. NOAC use was less common in Asia (27.7%), where 27.5% of patients received VKA, 25.0% antiplatelet drugs, and 19.8% no antithrombotic treatment. Conclusions The baseline data from GLORIA-AF phase 2 demonstrate that in newly diagnosed nonvalvular atrial fibrillation patients, NOAC have been highly adopted into practice, becoming more frequently prescribed than VKA in Europe and North America. Worldwide, however, a large proportion of patients remain undertreated, particularly in Asia and North America. (Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation [GLORIA-AF]; NCT01468701

Ultrahigh energy neutrinos at the Pierre Auger observatory

The observation of ultrahigh energy neutrinos (UHEνs) has become a priority in experimental astroparticle physics. UHEνs can be detected with a variety of techniques. In particular, neutrinos can interact in the atmosphere (downward-going ν) or in the Earth crust (Earth-skimming ν), producing air showers that can be observed with arrays of detectors at the ground. With the surface detector array of the Pierre Auger Observatory we can detect these types of cascades. The distinguishing signature for neutrino events is the presence of very inclined showers produced close to the ground (i.e., after having traversed a large amount of atmosphere). In this work we review the procedure and criteria established to search for UHEνs in the data collected with the ground array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This includes Earth-skimming as well as downward-going neutrinos. No neutrino candidates have been found, which allows us to place competitive limits to the diffuse flux of UHEνs in the EeV range and above.P. Abreu ... K. B. Barber ... J. A. Bellido ... R. W. Clay ... M. J. Cooper ... B. R. Dawson ... T. A. Harrison ... A. E. Herve ... V. C. Holmes ... J. Sorokin ... P. Wahrlich ... B. J. Whelan ... et al

Class modeling techniques in the control of the geographical origin of wines

Wine samples of four different countries: Hungary, Czech Republic, Romania and South Africa, have been studied within the European project WINES-DB "establishing of a wine data bank for analytical parameters from third countries". For each country two types of wine samples were collected, during three consecutive years: commercial wines and wines obtained by microvinification according to EC regulation N. 2729/2000. The sampling design was organized to represent both the grape varieties and the official wine regions in the four countries. The 1188 wine samples were analyzed for 58 chemical quantities. Data analysis was performed with special attention to the real problem, namely the control of frauds. Class modeling techniques (UNEQ, SIMCA, MRM) have been applied, to answer to the general question: "Does sample O, stated of class A, really belong to class A?". Two validation strategies, based on cross validation and on an external, representative, evaluation set, have been used to evaluate carefully the predictive performance of the class models. The results obtained with the four class modeling techniques indicate that for the four countries it is possible to compute models with high efficiency, generally with a reduced number of variables. To obtain efficient models, red and white wines, commercial and microvinification wines, must be considered separately. The validity of the models is ensured by the representativity of the samples, the appropriate application of techniques of Chemometrics and the validation

In situ manipulation of the sub gap states in hydrogenated amorphous silicon monitored by advanced application of Fourier transform photocurrent spectroscop

A profound comprehension of the nanostructure of hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) and the defect states in this material is currently still lacking despite several decades of research on this topic. Investigating the nature of defects in a-Si:H devices is especially important in view of the poorly understood Staebler\u2013Wronski effect (SWE). Therefore we present the latest insights into the gap states in the a-Si:H bandgap by manipulating these sub gap states in three different ways: via the application of a voltage bias, via in situ light soaking, and via in situ annealing. To monitor the changes in the sub gap absorption we employ an advanced application of Fourier Transform Photocurrent Spectroscopy (FTPS). A recently published optical model that removes interference fringes from the photocurrent spectrum is presented to obtain the absorption coefficient. For FTPS measurements on solar cells the photocurrent spectrum is scaled to the external quantum efficiency (EQE) of the solar cell. Further, a mathematical data fitting routine is employed to accurately quantify the sub gap absorption and the changes therein during light soaking and annealing. The high sensitivity of FTPS is particularly helpful in identifying the sub gap states that play a role in the SWE in a-Si:H devices

Deletions of the transcription factor Ikaros in myeloproliferative neoplasms

Transformation to acute leukemia is a major complication of myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), however, the genetic changes leading to transformation remain largely unknown. We screened nine patients with post-MPN leukemia for chromosomal aberrations using microarray karyotyping. Deletions on the short arm of chromosome 7 (del7p) emerged as a recurrent defect. We mapped the common deleted region to the IKZF1 gene, which encodes the transcription factor Ikaros. We further examined the frequency of IKZF1 deletions in a total of 29 post-MPN leukemia and 526 MPN patients without transformation and observed a strong association of IKZF1 deletions with post-MPN leukemia in two independent cohorts. Patients with IKZF1 loss showed complex karyotypes, and del7p was a late event in the genetic evolution of the MPN clone. IKZF1 deletions were observed in both undifferentiated and differentiated myeloid cell types, indicating that IKZF1 loss does not cause differentiation arrest but rather renders progenitors susceptible to transformation, most likely through chromosomal instability. Induced Ikzf1 haploinsufficiency in primary murine progenitors resulted in elevated Stat5 phosphorylation and increased cytokine-dependent growth, suggesting that reduced expression of IKZF1 is sufficient to perturb growth regulation. Thus, IKZF1 loss is an important step in the leukemic transformation of a subpopulation of MPN patients

Comparison of pressure standards in the range 10 kPa to 140 kPa

NRC publication: Ye

Double band crossing in the superdeformed nucleus 145Gd

The nuclear structure of 145Gd has been investigated via the 114Cd(36S,5n) reaction. Three superdeformed bands have been discovered, consisting of 17, 16 and 10 transitions, respectively. The first excited superdeformed band shows two band crossings which are assigned to the subsequent alignment of an View the MathML source proton pair and a crossing of the View the MathML source and View the MathML source neutron orbitals, respectively. Such a double band crossing has been observed for the first time. The second excited superdeformed band is assigned as the signature partner of the previous band but shows no band crossing in the observed frequency range. The band crossing behaviour of the SD bands has been described theoretically

Hair cortisol in patients with a depressive episode treated with electroconvulsive therapy

Background: There is substantial evidence showing changes in hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA)-axis ac-tivity in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Also, there seem to be differences in HPA-axis func-tioning between MDD subgroups. It is however unclear whether hair cortisol concentrations (HCC), which are a stable marker of long-term cortisol levels, are suitable as a biomarker for identifying subgroups in MDD. Methods: We were able to attain valid HCC from a scalp hair sample of sixty-two patients with a major de-pressive episode right before electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). HCC were our main biological outcome measure. We created subgroups using depression severity as defined by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, the pre-sence/absence of psychotic symptoms, the presence of melancholia as defined by the CORE and catatonia as defined by the Bush-Francis Catatonia Rating Scale. Results: Our analyses of the total group showed a median HCC of 4.4 pg/mg. We found patients with catatonia (N = 10) to have substantially higher median HCC (8.3 pg/mg) than patients without catatonia (3.8 pg/mg). Although presence of melancholia and depression severity were not significantly associated with HCC, more severe psychomotor agitation was associated with higher HCC. Pre-treatment HCC was not associated with ECT outcome. Strengths and limitations: A complicating factor in interpretation of our results was the large variability in HCC. This could be related to potential confounders such as cardiometabolic and other comorbidities, that were however addressed to the extent possible. Conclusions: HCC is a potential biomarker for MDD patients with severe agitation and/or catatonia. ClinicalTrials.gov: Identifier: NCT02562846.Stress-related psychiatric disorders across the life spa

TO-SYN-FUEL: TURNING SEWAGE SLUDGE INTO FUELS AND HYDROGEN

The To-Syn-Fuel project aims to demonstrate a sustainable process able to transform waste biomass such as sewage sludge into renewable liquid fuels. The Thermo-Catalytic Reforming TCR\uae, which is a technology developed by Fraunhofer UMSICHT, will be implemented in a new process integrated with hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) and pressure swing adsorption (PSA) technologies to convert a wide range of residual biomass into three main products: H2-rich synthesis gas, biochar and a liquid bio-oil that can be upgraded to green fuels being ready to be used directly in automotive internal combustion engines, as they fulfil EN fuel standards. To-Syn-Fuel is designed to set the benchmark for future sustainable development within Europe, by providing a valuable example of sustainable synthetic fuels and green hydrogen production to the rest of the world, while successfully addressing energy, environmental, economic and social needs