Mapping the surface composition of Europa with SUDA

To assess the potential habitability of Jupiter's moon Europa, it is important to understand its chemical composition (Hand et al., 2007). Young terrain features on Europa's surface likely consist of material up-welled from the liquid water source below (Wilson et al., 1997; Pappalardo et al., 1998; McCord et al., 1999; Figueredo and Greeley, 2004; Mével and Mercier, 2007), encoding relevant compositional information. A major science objective of NASA's Europa Clipper mission is to characterize the composition of young terrain features using data acquired on close flybys. The Surface Dust Analyzer (SUDA) is an in situ instrument that collects and analyzes the composition of individual grains (Kempf et al., 2012), which are ejected from Europa's surface by a continuous bombardment of interplanetary impactors (Krüger et al., 1999, 2003; Goode et al., 2021). By applying a dynamical model of these particles, we compute the probability of SUDA's detections originating from a given feature along the flyby trajectory based on Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. The time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectra that characterize the chemical composition of individual grains, results in a time series of various compositional types along the flyby. We present here a method to analyze a time series of compositional spectra recorded by SUDA that provides a robust estimate for the abundance of compositional types on the surface, spatially resolved for features along the ground track of the flyby. By demonstrating the association of compositional detections with geological sites of origin, data collected by SUDA can be used to infer the compositional ground truth for terrain features on Europa

Data Movement Reduction for DNN Accelerators: Enabling Dynamic Quantization Through an eFPGA

Computational requirements for deep neural networks (DNNs) have been on a rising trend for years. Moreover, network dataflows and topologies are becoming more sophisticated to address more challenging applications. DNN accelerators cannot adopt quickly to the constantly changing DNNs. In this paper, we describe our approach to make a static accelerator more versatile by adding an embedded FPGA (eFPGA). The eFPGA is tightly coupled to the on-chip network, which allows us to pass data through the eFPGA before and after it is processed by the DNN accelerator. Hence, the proposed solution is able to quickly address changing requirements. To show the benefits of this approach, we propose an eFPGA application that enables dynamic quantization of data. We can fit four number converters on an $1.5mm^2$ eFPGA, which can process 400M data elements per second. We will practically validate our work in the near future, with a SoC tapeout in the ongoing EPI project

Micrometeoroid infall onto Saturn’s rings constrains their age to no more than a few hundred million years

There is ongoing debate as to whether Saturn’s main rings are relatively young or ancient— having been formed shortly after Saturn or during the Late Heavy Bombardment. The rings are mostly water-ice but are polluted by non-icy material with a volume fraction ranging from ∼0.1 to 2%. Continuous bombardment by micrometeoroids exogenic to the Saturnian system is a source of this non-icy material. Knowledge of the incoming mass flux of these pollutants allows estimation of the rings’ exposure time, providing a limit on their age. Here we report the final measurements by Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer of the micrometeoroid flux into the Saturnian system. Several populations are present, but the flux is dominated by low-relative velocity objects such as from the Kuiper belt. We find a mass flux between 6.9 · 10−17 and 2.7 · 10−16 kg m−2s−1 from which we infer a ring exposure time ≲100 to 400 million years in support of recent ring formation scenarios

Universalismus in Zeiten politischer Regression. Jürgen Habermas im Gespräch über die Gegenwart und sein Lebenswerk

Rozmowa ukazała się pierwotnie w 2020 roku w niemieckim czasopiśmie naukowym „Leviathan”. Za wyrażenie zgody na przedruk przekładu składamy podziękowania autorom rozmowy, szczególnie Claudii Czingon. Tekst w wersji polskiej został opatrzony dodatkowymi przypisami przybliżającymi czytelnikom kontekst wydarzeń, do których Habermas odwołuje się w rozmowie (w oryginalnej wersji rozmowy Habermas uczynił to tylko raz, w przypisie numer 4 polskiej wersji przekładu). Podstawa przekładu: Habermas, J., Moralischer Universalismus in Zeiten politischer Regression. Jürgen Habermas im Gespräch über die Gegenwart und sein Lebenswerk.(2020). Leviathan, 48(1), s. 7–28. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5771/0340-0425-2020-1-7Jürgen Habermas obchodził w 2019 roku 90. urodziny. Wykorzystaliśmy tę rocznicę jako okazję, aby porozmawiać z jednym z najbardziej wpływowych współczesnych intelektualistów o aktualnych wydarzeniach społeczno-politycznych w kontekście jego myśli filozoficznej. W tym celu odwiedziliśmy go w marcu 2019 r. w jego domu w Starnbergu, gdzie odbyliśmy rozmowę wstępną. Właściwy wywiad przeprowadziliśmy w październiku w formie pisemnej. Claudia Czingon, Aletta Diefenbach i Victor Kempf

Radial compositional profile of Saturn's E ring indicates substantial space weathering effects

Saturn's large and diffuse E ring is populated by microscopic water ice dust particles, which originate from the Enceladus plume. Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyser sampled these ice grains, revealing three compositional particle types with different concentrations of salts and organics. Here, we present the analysis of CDA mass spectra from several orbital periods of Cassini, covering the region from interior to Enceladus’ orbit to outside the orbit of Rhea, to map the distribution of the different particle types throughout the radial extent of the E ring. This will provide a better understanding of the potential impact of space weathering effects on to these particles, as the ice grains experience an increasing exposure age during their radially outward migration. In this context, we report the discovery of a new ice particle type (Type 5), which produces spectra indicative of very high salt concentrations, and which we suggest to evolve from less-salty Enceladean ice grains by space weathering. The radial compositional profile, now encompassing four particle types, reveals distinct radial variations in the E ring. At the orbital distance of Enceladus our results are in good agreement with earlier compositional analyses of E ring ice grains in the moon's vicinity. With increasing radial distance to Saturn however, our analysis suggests a growing degree of space weathering and considerable changes to the spatial distribution of the particle types. We also find that the proportion of Type 5 grains – peaking near Rhea's orbit – probably reflects particle charging processes in the E ring

Iron depletion in mineral dust grains from Saturn’s main rings

During the Grand Finale orbits, Cassini’s Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) recorded in situ mass spectra of ice and mineral nanodust grains ejected from Saturn’s main rings falling into the planet’s atmosphere. We present a compositional analysis of the mineral dust fraction employing a spectral deconvolution method to determine the elemental composition of these grains. The results indicate a relatively homogenous composition of exclusively Mg-rich silicates, with Mg, Si, and Ca close to CI chondritic abundances but a significant depletion in Fe and only traces of organic material at best. The Fe depletion becomes even more pronounced when compared to Fe-rich interplanetary dust particles encountered by CDA in the Saturnian system, which are assumed to contaminate and darken the main rings over time. We discuss potential explanations for the depletion, from which we favour compositional alteration of the infalling dust grains by impact-triggered chemistry in combination with dynamical selection effects and instrumental bias as the most plausible ones. This might cause an accumulation of Fe in the main rings over time, most likely in the form of oxides

Zugriffszahlen auf den SARS-CoV-2-Hygieneplan am Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Main im Verlauf der COVID-19-Pandemie sowie Transmissionsraten und Ausbruchsgeschehen

Mit Beginn der COVID-19-Pandemie waren medizinische Einrichtungen in Deutschland vor das Problem gestellt, binnen kürzester Zeit spezifische SARS-CoV-2-Hygienepläne erstellen und in Kraft setzen zu müssen. Der Beitrag setzt den Zeitverlauf der Erstellung und die Frequenz der Änderungen des SARS-CoV-2-Hygieneplans am Universitätsklinikum Frankfurt am Main sowie die Zugriffszahlen der Beschäftigten auf die Hygieneplandokumente in Korrelation mit den an das RKI übermittelten SARS-CoV-2-Fallzahlen in Deutschland. Ebenfalls werden die Transmissionsraten sowie die stattgehabten Ausbruchsgeschehen im Universitätsklinikum im Zeitraum von Februar 2020 bis April 2022 dargestellt.Peer Reviewe

Towards reconfigurable accelerators in HPC: Designing a multipurpose eFPGA tile for heterogeneous SoCs

The goal of modern high performance computing platforms is to combine low power consumption and high throughput. Within the European Processor Initiative (EPI), such an SoC platform to meet the novel exascale requirements is built and investigated. As part of this project, we introduce an embedded Field Programmable Gate Array (eFPGA), adding flexibility to accelerate various workloads. In this article, we show our approach to design the eFPGA tile that supports the EPI SoC. While eFPGAs are inherently reconfigurable, their initial design has to be determined for tape-out. The design space of the eFPGA is explored and evaluated with different configurations of two HPC workloads, covering control and dataflow heavy applications. As a result, we present a well-balanced eFPGA design that can host several use cases and potential future ones by allocating 1% of the total EPI SoC area. Finally, our simulation results of the architectures on the eFPGA show great performance improvements over their software counterparts.European Processor Initiative (EPI) project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 826647, from Spanish Government (PID2019- 107255GB-C21/AEI /10.13039/501100011033), and from Generalitat de Catalunya (contracts 2017-SGR-1414 and 2017-SGR-1328). M. Moreto is partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness under Ramon y Cajal fellowship No. RYC-2016-21104.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Prediabetes conversion to Normoglycemia is superior adding a low-carbohydrate and energy deficit formula diet to lifestyle intervention - a 12-month subanalysis of the ACOORH trial

Lifestyle interventions have been shown to reverse hyperglycemia to normoglycemia. However, these effects are not long-lasting and are accompanied with high dropout rates. As formula diets have been shown to be simple in usage and effective in improving glycemic control, we hypothesised that adding a low-carbohydrate and energy deficit formula diet to a low-intensity lifestyle intervention is superior in reversing prediabetes compared with lifestyle intervention alone. In this predefined subanalysis of an international, multicenter randomised controlled trial (Almased Concept against Overweight and Obesity and Related Health Risk (ACOORH) study (ID DRKS00006811)), 141 persons with prediabetes were randomised (1:2) into either a control group with lifestyle intervention only (CON, n = 45) or a lifestyle intervention group accompanied with a formula diet (INT, n = 96). Both groups were equipped with telemonitoring devices. INT received a low-carbohydrate formula diet substituting three meals/day (~1200 kcal/day) within the first week, two meals/day during week 2–4, and one meal/day during week 5–26 (1300–1500 kcal/day). Follow-up was performed after 52 weeks and 105 participants (75%, INT: n = 74; CON: n = 31) finished the 26-week intervention phase. Follow-up data after 52 weeks were available from 93 participants (66%, INT: n = 65; CON: n = 28). Compared with CON, significantly more INT participants converted to normoglycemia after 52 weeks (50% vs. 31%; p 0.05). The risk reduction led to a number-needed-to-treat of 5.3 for INT. Lifestyle intervention with a low-carbohydrate formula diet reduces prediabetes prevalence stronger than lifestyle intervention alone and is effective for type 2 diabetes prevention