Mission design for LISA Pathfinder

Here we describe the mission design for SMART-2/LISA Pathfinder. The best trade-off between the requirements of a low-disturbance environment and communications distance is found to be a free-insertion Lissajous orbit around the first co-linear Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system L1, 1.5x 10^6 km from Earth. In order to transfer SMART-2/LISA Pathfinder from a low Earth orbit, where it will be placed by a small launcher, the spacecraft carries out a number of apogee-raise manoeuvres, which ultimatively place it to a parabolic escape trajectory towards L1. The challenges of the design of a small mission are met, fulfilling the very demanding technology demonstration requirements without creating excessive requirements on the launch system or the ground segment.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, 5th International LISA Symposium, see http://www.landisoft.de/Markus-Landgra

L'enigma de les màscares

Les màscares objectiven les experiències dels membres de les societats màgico-ritualistes, però la fascinació que provoquen va més enllà d'aquest món primiti

Assessment of the periodontal health status and gingival recession during orthodontic treatment with clear aligners and fixed appliances: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: The aim was to assess periodontal health maintenance and gingival recessions development in pa-tients undergoing an orthodontic treatment with clear aligners (CA) and fixed appliances (FA).Material and Methods: An electronic search in MEDLINE, Scopus, The Cochrane Library, and Web of Science was performed up to September 2022 to identify all potential articles. Two investigators independently selected the studies according to the inclusion criteria. Prospective and retrospective studies assessing the periodontal health status and gingival recession development during the orthodontic treatment with buccal FA and CA were included. Case series, cross-sectional studies, and studies with less than two months of follow-up were excluded. Two investigators independently extracted the data from included articles and assessed risk of bias across studies using the Cochrane Collaboration tool. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the data were performed. Pairwise meta-analysis using a random-effects model were used to compare periodontal indices between FA and CA treat-ment in different follow-up periods.Results: From the 129 potential studies, finally 12 studies were included. Only 8 could be included in the quantita-tive analysis. CA seems to slightly maintain better periodontal health indices. Only plaque index in a mid-term follow-up (mean difference (MD):-0.99; 95%; Confidence interval (CI) [-1.94 to-0.03]; P=.04; I2=99%), and pocket probing depth at a long-term follow-up (MD: -0.93mm; 95% CI [-1.16 to 0.7]; P<0.0001) reported statisti-cally significant results favoring CA.Conclusions: Up to the date there is not enough evidence to conclude that CA maintains better periodontal health during an orthodontic treatment than FA

In Memoriam

Jordi Castellanos i Vila (1946-2012)Giovanni Lilliu (1914-2012)Manuel Mund&oacute; i Marcet (1923-2012

In Memoriam

Jordi Castellanos (1946-2012)Giovanni Lilliu (1914-2012)Manuel Mund&oacute; (1923-2012

Sensitivity study of surface wind flow of a limited area model simulating the extratropical storm Delta affecting the Canary Islands

In November 2005 an extratropical storm named Delta affected the Canary Islands (Spain). The high sustained wind and intense gusts experienced caused significant damage. A numerical sensitivity study of Delta was conducted using the Weather Research &amp; Forecasting Model (WRF-ARW). A total of 27 simulations were performed. Non-hydrostatic and hydrostatic experiments were designed taking into account physical parameterizations and geometrical factors (size and position of the outer domain, definition or not of nested grids, horizontal resolution and number of vertical levels). The Factor Separation Method was applied in order to identify the major model sensitivity parameters under this unusual meteorological situation. Results associated to percentage changes relatives to a control run simulation demonstrated that boundary layer and surface layer schemes, horizontal resolutions, hydrostaticity option and nesting grid activation were the model configuration parameters with the greatest impact on the 48 h maximum 10 m horizontal wind speed solution

Canted antiferromagnetism in phase-pure CuMnSb

We report the low-temperature properties of phase-pure single crystals of the half-Heusler compound CuMnSb grown by means of optical float-zoning. The magnetization, specific heat, electrical resistivity, and Hall effect of our single crystals exhibit an antiferromagnetic transition at $T_{\mathrm{N}} = 55~\mathrm{K}$ and a second anomaly at a temperature $T^{*} \approx 34~\mathrm{K}$. Powder and single-crystal neutron diffraction establish an ordered magnetic moment of $(3.9\pm0.1)~\mu_{\mathrm{B}}/\mathrm{f.u.}$, consistent with the effective moment inferred from the Curie-Weiss dependence of the susceptibility. Below $T_{\mathrm{N}}$, the Mn sublattice displays commensurate type-II antiferromagnetic order with propagation vectors and magnetic moments along $\langle111\rangle$ (magnetic space group $R[I]3c$). Surprisingly, below $T^{*}$, the moments tilt away from $\langle111\rangle$ by a finite angle $\delta \approx 11^{\circ}$, forming a canted antiferromagnetic structure without uniform magnetization consistent with magnetic space group $C[B]c$. Our results establish that type-II antiferromagnetism is not the zero-temperature magnetic ground state of CuMnSb as may be expected of the face-centered cubic Mn sublattice.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figure

On the evaluation of global sea-salt aerosol models at coastal/orographic sites

Sea-salt aerosol global models are typically evaluated against concentration observations at coastal stations that are unaffected by local surf conditions and thus considered representative of open ocean conditions. Despite recent improvements in sea-salt source functions, studies still show significant model errors in specific regions. Using a multiscale model, we investigated the effect of high model resolution (0.1 degrees x 0.1 degrees vs. 1 degrees x 1.4 degrees) upon sea-salt patterns in four stations from the University of Miami Network: Baring Head, Chatam Island, and Invercargill in New Zealand, and Marion Island in the sub-antarctic Indian Ocean. Normalized biases improved from +63.7% to +3.3% and correlation increased from 0.52 to 0.84. The representation of sea/land interfaces, mesoscale circulations, and precipitation with the higher resolution model played a major role in the simulation of annual concentration trends. Our results recommend caution when comparing or constraining global models using surface concentration observations from coastal stations. (C) 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Postprint (published version

Aerosols in the CALIOPE air quality modelling system: evaluation and analysis of PM levels, optical depths and chemical composition over Europe

The CALIOPE air quality modelling system is developed and applied to Europe with high spatial resolution (12 km × 12 km). The modelled daily-to-seasonal aerosol variability over Europe in 2004 is evaluated and analysed. Aerosols are estimated from two models, CMAQv4.5 (AERO4) and BSC-DREAM8b. CMAQv4.5 calculates biogenic, anthropogenic and sea salt aerosol and BSC-DREAM8b provides the natural mineral dust contribution from North African deserts. For the evaluation, we use daily PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt;, PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt; and aerosol components data from 55 stations of the EMEP/CREATE network and total, coarse and fine aerosol optical depth (AOD) data from 35 stations of the AERONET sun photometer network. Annual correlations between modelled and observed values for PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and PM&lt;sub&gt;2.5&lt;/sub&gt; are 0.55 and 0.47, respectively. Correlations for total, coarse and fine AOD are 0.51, 0.63, and 0.53, respectively. The higher correlations of the PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and the coarse mode AOD are largely due to the accurate representation of the African dust influence in the forecasting system. Overall PM and AOD levels are underestimated. The evaluation of the aerosol components highlights underestimations in the fine fraction of carbonaceous matter (EC and OC) and secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA; i.e. nitrate, sulphate and ammonium). The scores of the bulk parameters are significantly improved after applying a simple model bias correction based on the observed aerosol composition. The simulated PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and AOD present maximum values over the industrialized and populated Po Valley and Benelux regions. SIA are dominant in the fine fraction representing up to 80% of the aerosol budget in latitudes north of 40° N. In southern Europe, high PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; and AOD are linked to the desert dust transport from the Sahara which contributes up to 40% of the aerosol budget. Maximum seasonal ground-level concentrations (PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; &gt; 30 μg m&lt;sup&gt;−3&lt;/sup&gt;) are found between spring and early autumn. We estimate that desert dust causes daily exceedances of the PM&lt;sub&gt;10&lt;/sub&gt; European air quality limit value (50 μg m&lt;sup&gt;−3&lt;/sup&gt;) in large areas south of 45° N with more than 75 exceedances per year in the southernmost regions

Splitting of separatrices for (fast) quasiperiodic forcing

We consider fast quasiperiodic perturbations of a pendulum with two frequencies $(1,\gamma)$, where $\gamma$ is the golden mean number. For small perturbations such that its Fourier coefficients (the ones associated to Fibonacci numbers), are separated from zero, it is announced that the invariant manifolds split, and the value of the splitting, that turns out to be exponentially small with respect to the perturbation parameter, is correctly predicted by the Melnikov function. An explicit example shows that the splitting can be of the order of some power of $\varepsilon$ if the function $m$ is not analytic. This makes a qualitative difference between periodic and quasiperiodic perturbation