School Sanitation in Underserved Urban Areas in India

This paper discusses how GIZ is supporting the Ministry of Urban Development in improving the sanitation situation for the urban poor. It selected 47 schools in five Indian cities to significantly improve the sanitation conditions, aiming to build awareness and capacity. All schools showed measurable improvements on school sanitation at the end of the project

The Geoff Egan Memorial Lecture 2011. Artefacts, art and artifice: reconsidering iconographic sources for archaeological objects in early modern Europe

A first systematic analysis of historic domestic material culture depicted in contemporaneous Western painting and prints, c.1400-1800. Drawing on an extensive data set, the paper proposes to methodologies and hermeneutics for historical analysis and archaeological correspondence

Microarray analyses demonstrate the involvement of type i interferons in psoriasiform pathology development in D6-deficient mice

The inflammatory response is normally limited by mechanisms regulating its resolution. In the absence of resolution, inflammatory pathologies can emerge, resulting in substantial morbidity and mortality. We have been studying the D6 chemokine scavenging receptor, which played an indispensable role in the resolution phase of inflammatory responses and does so by facilitating removal of inflammatory CC chemokines. In D6-deficient mice, otherwise innocuous cutaneous inflammatory stimuli induce a grossly exaggerated inflammatory response that bears many similarities to human psoriasis. In the present study, we have used transcriptomic approaches to define the molecular make up of this response. The data presented highlight potential roles for a number of cytokines in initiating and maintaining the psoriasis-like pathology. Most compellingly, we provide data indicating a key role for the type I interferon pathway in the emergence of this pathology. Neutralizing antibodies to type I interferons are able to ameliorate the psoriasis-like pathology, confirming a role in its development. Comparison of transcriptional data generated from this mouse model with equivalent data obtained from human psoriasis further demonstrates the strong similarities between the experimental and clinical systems. As such, the transcriptional data obtained in this preclinical model provide insights into the cytokine network active in exaggerated inflammatory responses and offer an excellent tool to evaluate the efficacy of compounds designed to therapeutically interfere with inflammatory processes

A complex geo-scientific strategy for landslide hazard mitigation ? from airborne mapping to ground monitoring

International audienceAfter a large landslide event in Sibratsgfäll/Austria several exploration methods were evaluated on their applicability to investigate and monitor landslide areas. The resulting optimised strategy consists of the combined application of airborne electromagnetics, ground geoelectrical measurements and geoelectrical monitoring combined with hydrological and geological mapping and geotechnical modelling. Interdisciplinary communication and discussion was the primary key to assess this complicated hazard situation

Roche lobe effects on the atmospheric loss of "Hot Jupiters"

Observational evidence of a hydrodynamically evaporating upper atmosphere of HD209458b (Vidal-Madjar et al. 2003; 2004) and recent theoretical studies on evaporation scenarios of ``Hot Jupiters'' in orbits around solar-like stars with the age of the Sun indicate that the upper atmospheres of short-periodic exoplanets experience hydrodynamic blow-off conditions resulting in loss rates of the order of about 10^10 - 10^12 g s^-1 (Lammer et al. 2003; Yelle 2004; Baraffe et al. 2004; Lecavlier des Etangs et al. 2004; Jaritz et al. 2005, Tian et al. 2005; Penz et al. 2007). By studying the effect of the Roche lobe on the atmospheric loss from short-periodic gas giants we found, that the effect of the Roche lobe can enhance the hydrodynamic evaporation from HD209458b by about 2 and from OGLE-TR-56b by about 2.5 times. For similar exoplanets which are closer to their host star than OGLE-TR-56b, the enhancement of the mass loss can be even larger. Moreover, we show that the effect of the Roche lobe raises the possibility that ``Hot Jupiters'' can reach blow-off conditions at temperatures which are less than expected (< 10000 K) due to the stellar X-ray and EUV (XUV) heating.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to A&

The image as historical source or: grabbing contexts

Displaying images on computer screens is one of the more spectacular types of demonstration available. Besides being spectacular, such systems hold, however, quite some promise for the handling of a type of source which by its great variability proved to be quite elusive for formal, but not only for formal analysis in recent years. The author paper tries to summarize recent developments and argues, that the important potential of image processing, as far as research is concerned, is not in the area of retrieving and displaying images, but in improved possibilities for a more intersubjective way of analyzing them

The Roles of Tidal Evolution and Evaporative Mass Loss in the Origin of CoRoT-7 b

CoRoT-7 b is the first confirmed rocky exoplanet, but, with an orbital semi-major axis of 0.0172 AU, its origins may be unlike any rocky planet in our solar system. In this study, we consider the roles of tidal evolution and evaporative mass loss in CoRoT-7 b's history, which together have modified the planet's mass and orbit. If CoRoT-7 b has always been a rocky body, evaporation may have driven off almost half its original mass, but the mass loss may depend sensitively on the extent of tidal decay of its orbit. As tides caused CoRoT-7 b's orbit to decay, they brought the planet closer to its host star, thereby enhancing the mass loss rate. Such a large mass loss also suggests the possibility that CoRoT-7 b began as a gas giant planet and had its original atmosphere completely evaporated. In this case, we find that CoRoT-7 b's original mass probably didn't exceed 200 Earth masses (about 2/3 of a Jupiter mass). Tides raised on the host star by the planet may have significantly reduced the orbital semi-major axis, perhaps causing the planet to migrate through mean-motion resonances with the other planet in the system, CoRoT-7 c. The coupling between tidal evolution and mass loss may be important not only for CoRoT-7 b but also for other close-in exoplanets, and future studies of mass loss and orbital evolution may provide insight into the origin and fate of close-in planets, both rocky and gaseous.Comment: Accepted for publication by MNRAS on 2010 May

Estimation of the XUV radiation onto close planets and their evaporation

Context: The current distribution of planet mass vs. incident stellar X-ray flux supports the idea that photoevaporation of the atmosphere may take place in close-in planets. Integrated effects have to be accounted for. A proper calculation of the mass loss rate due to photoevaporation requires to estimate the total irradiation from the whole XUV range. Aims: The purpose of this paper is to extend the analysis of the photoevaporation in planetary atmospheres from the accessible X-rays to the mostly unobserved EUV range by using the coronal models of stars to calculate the EUV contribution to the stellar spectra. The mass evolution of planets can be traced assuming that thermal losses dominate the mass loss of their atmospheres. Methods: We determine coronal models for 82 stars with exoplanets that have X-ray observations available. Then a synthetic spectrum is produced for the whole XUV range (~1-912 {\AA}). The determination of the EUV stellar flux, calibrated with real EUV data, allows us to calculate the accumulated effects of the XUV irradiation on the planet atmosphere with time, as well as the mass evolution for planets with known density. Results: We calibrate for the first time a relation of the EUV luminosity with stellar age valid for late-type stars. In a sample of 109 exoplanets, few planets with masses larger than ~1.5 Mj receive high XUV flux, suggesting that intense photoevaporation takes place in a short period of time, as previously found in X-rays. The scenario is also consistent with the observed distribution of planet masses with density. The accumulated effects of photoevaporation over time indicate that HD 209458b may have lost 0.2 Mj since an age of 20 Myr. Conclusions: Coronal radiation produces rapid photoevaporation of the atmospheres of planets close to young late-type stars. More complex models are needed to explain fully the observations.Comment: Accepted by A&A. 10 pages, 8 figures, 7 Tables (2 online). Additional online material includes 7 pages, 6 figures and 6 tables, all include