The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, ventilation management, and outcomes in invasively ventilated intensive care unit patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome: a pooled analysis of four observational studies

Background: Geoeconomic variations in epidemiology, the practice of ventilation, and outcome in invasively ventilated intensive care unit (ICU) patients without acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) remain unexplored. In this analysis we aim to address these gaps using individual patient data of four large observational studies. Methods: In this pooled analysis we harmonised individual patient data from the ERICC, LUNG SAFE, PRoVENT, and PRoVENT-iMiC prospective observational studies, which were conducted from June, 2011, to December, 2018, in 534 ICUs in 54 countries. We used the 2016 World Bank classification to define two geoeconomic regions: middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs). ARDS was defined according to the Berlin criteria. Descriptive statistics were used to compare patients in MICs versus HICs. The primary outcome was the use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) for the first 3 days of mechanical ventilation. Secondary outcomes were key ventilation parameters (tidal volume size, positive end-expiratory pressure, fraction of inspired oxygen, peak pressure, plateau pressure, driving pressure, and respiratory rate), patient characteristics, the risk for and actual development of acute respiratory distress syndrome after the first day of ventilation, duration of ventilation, ICU length of stay, and ICU mortality. Findings: Of the 7608 patients included in the original studies, this analysis included 3852 patients without ARDS, of whom 2345 were from MICs and 1507 were from HICs. Patients in MICs were younger, shorter and with a slightly lower body-mass index, more often had diabetes and active cancer, but less often chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure than patients from HICs. Sequential organ failure assessment scores were similar in MICs and HICs. Use of LTVV in MICs and HICs was comparable (42\ub74% vs 44\ub72%; absolute difference \u20131\ub769 [\u20139\ub758 to 6\ub711] p=0\ub767; data available in 3174 [82%] of 3852 patients). The median applied positive end expiratory pressure was lower in MICs than in HICs (5 [IQR 5\u20138] vs 6 [5\u20138] cm H2O; p=0\ub70011). ICU mortality was higher in MICs than in HICs (30\ub75% vs 19\ub79%; p=0\ub70004; adjusted effect 16\ub741% [95% CI 9\ub752\u201323\ub752]; p<0\ub70001) and was inversely associated with gross domestic product (adjusted odds ratio for a US$10 000 increase per capita 0\ub780 [95% CI 0\ub775\u20130\ub786]; p<0\ub70001). Interpretation: Despite similar disease severity and ventilation management, ICU mortality in patients without ARDS is higher in MICs than in HICs, with a strong association with country-level economic status. Funding: No funding

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Comparing the Structures and Photophysical Properties of Two Charge Transfer Co-crystals

In the search for molecular materials for next-generation optoelectronic devices, organic co-crystals have emerged as a promising class of semiconductors for their unique photophysical properties. This paper presents a joint experimental-theoretical study of ground and excited state charge transfer (CT) interactions in two CT co-crystals. Reported herein is a novel CT co-crystal Npe:TCNQ, formed from 4-(1-naphthylvinyl) pyridine (Npe) and 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ) molecules via molecular self-assembly. The electronic structure and photophysical properties of Npe:TCNQ are compared with those of the co-crystal composed of Npe and 1,2,4,5-tetracyanobenzene (TCNB) molecules, Npe:TCNB, reported here with a higher-symmetry (monoclinic) crystal structure than previously published. Npe:TCNB and Npe:TCNQ dimer clusters are used as theoretical model systems for the co-crystals and their electronic structure is compared to that of the extended solids via periodic boundary conditions density functional theory (PBC DFT). UV-Vis absorption spectra of the dimers are computed with time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) and compared to experimental UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectra. Both Npe:TCNB and Npe:TCNQ are found to exhibit neutral character in the S0 state and ionic character in the S1 state. The degree of CT in the S0 state of Npe:TCNB is found to be slightly smaller than that of Npe:TCNQ, as predicted from differences in electron affinities of the acceptors. Furthermore, the degree of CT in the S1 state of Npe:TCNB is found to be slightly higher than that of Npe:TCNQ, aligning with predictions employing a recently developed orbital similarity metric

Supporting Information for "Comparing the Structures and Photophysical Properties of Two Charge Transfer Co-crystals"

There are two main folders in this directory, named NpeTCNB and NpeTCNQ.Each folder of these two has three folders named Ground_State_Calculations, TDDFT_Calculations, and PBC_Calculation. These folders has the structures that are reported in the manuscript.The naming convention used is as follows:1) The conformers name start with Str and with a number, ex: Str1, Str2, etc...2) The functional is also included in the conformer name, ex: Str1-B3LYP, Str1-CAM-B3LYP3) The basis sets are labeled as:a) B0 for 6-31G(d,p)b) B1 for 6-31+G(d,p)c) B2 for 6-311+G(d,p)4) When empirical dispersion is used, the file name has "GD3" in the name, ex: Str1-CAM-B3LYP-B0-GD3.log</p