593 research outputs found
Estimates of Active Region Area Coverage through Simultaneous Measurements of He I 5876 and 10830 Lines
Simultaneous, high-quality measurements of the neutral helium triplet
features at 5876~\AA\ and 10830~\AA, respectively, in a sample of solar-type
stars are presented. The observations were made with ESO telescopes at the La
Silla Paranal Observatory under program ID 088.D-0028(A) and MPG Utility Run
for FEROS 088.A-9029(A). The equivalent widths of these features combined with
chromospheric models are utilized to infer the fractional area coverage, or
filling factor, of magnetic regions outside of spots. We find that the majority
of the sample is characterized by filling factors less than unity. However,
discrepancies occur among the coolest K-type and warmest and most rapidly
rotating F-type dwarf stars. We discuss these apparently anomalous results and
find that in the case of K-type stars they are an artifact of the application
of chromospheric models best suited to the Sun than to stars with significantly
lower . The case of the F-type rapid rotators can be explained
with the measurement uncertainties of the equivalent widths, but they may also
be due to a non-magnetic heating component in their atmospheres. With the
exceptions noted above, preliminary results suggest that the average heating
rates in the active regions are the same from one star to the other, differing
in the spatially integrated, observed level of activity due to the area
coverage. Hence, differences in activity in this sample are mainly due to the
filling factor of active regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Multispacecraft observations of a prominence eruption
On 9 May 2007 a prominence eruption occurred at the West limb. Remarkably, the event was observed by the STEREO/EUVI telescopes and by the HINODE/EIS and SOHO/UVCS spectrometers. We present results from all these instruments. High-cadence (~37 s) data from STEREO/EUVI A and B in the He II λ304 line were used to study the 3-D shape and expansion of the prominence. The high spatial resolution EUVI images (~1.5"/pixel) have been used to infer via triangulation the 3-D shape and orientation of the prominence 12 min after the eruption onset. At this time the prominence has mainly the shape of a "hook" highly inclined southward, has an average thickness of 0.068 Râ, a length of 0.43 Râ and lies, in first approximation, on a plane. Hence, the prominence is mainly a 2-D structure and there is no evidence for a twisted flux rope configuration. HINODE/EIS was scanning with the 2" slit the region where the filament erupted. The EIS spectra show during the eruption remarkable non-thermal broadening (up to ~100 km sâ1) in the region crossed by the filament in spectral lines emitted at different temperatures, possibly with differences among lines from higher Fe ionization stages. The CME was also observed by the SOHO/UVCS instrument: the spectrograph slit was centered at 1.7 Râ, at a latitude of 5° SW and recorded a sudden increase in the O VI λλ1032â1037 and Si XII λ520 spectral line intensities, representative of the CME front transit
Absolute radiometric calibration of the EUNIS-06 170-205 A channel and calibration update for CDS/NIS
The Extreme-Ultraviolet Normal-Incidence Spectrograph sounding-rocket payload
was flown on 2006 April 12 (EUNIS-06), carrying two independent imaging
spectrographs covering wave bands of 300-370 A in first order and 170-205 A in
second order, respectively. The absolute radiometric response of the EUNIS-06
long-wavelength (LW) channel was directly measured in the same facility used to
calibrate CDS prior to the SOHO launch. Because the absolute calibration of the
short-wavelength (SW) channel could not be obtained from the same lab
configuration, we here present a technique to derive it using a combination of
solar LW spectra and density- and temperature-insensitive line intensity
ratios. The first step in this procedure is to use the coordinated, cospatial
EUNIS and SOHO/CDS spectra to carry out an intensity calibration update for the
CDS NIS-1 waveband, which shows that its efficiency has decreased by a factor
about 1.7 compared to that of the previously implemented calibration. Then,
theoretical insensitive line ratios obtained from CHIANTI allow us to determine
absolute intensities of emission lines within the EUNIS SW bandpass from those
of cospatial CDS/NIS-1 spectra after the EUNIS LW calibration correction. A
total of 12 ratios derived from intensities of 5 CDS and 12 SW emission lines
from Fe Fe X - Fe XIII yield an instrumental response curve for the EUNIS-06 SW
channel that matches well to a relative calibration which relied on combining
measurements of individual optical components. Taking into account all
potential sources of error, we estimate that the EUNIS-06 SW absolute
calibration is accurate to about 20%.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. 2010, ApJ Suppl. In pres
Prevalence of severe asthma according to the drug regulatory agency perspective: An Italian experience
Severe asthma prevalenc
Coordination within the remote sensing payload on the Solar Orbiter mission
Context. To meet the scientific objectives of the mission, the Solar Orbiter spacecraft carries a suite of in-situ (IS) and remote sensing (RS) instruments designed for joint operations with inter-instrument communication capabilities. Indeed, previous missions have shown that the Sun (imaged by the RS instruments) and the heliosphere (mainly sampled by the IS instruments) should be considered as an integrated system rather than separate entities. Many of the advances expected from Solar Orbiter rely on this synergistic approach between IS and RS measurements. /
Aims. Many aspects of hardware development, integration, testing, and operations are common to two or more RS instruments. In this paper, we describe the coordination effort initiated from the early mission phases by the Remote Sensing Working Group. We review the scientific goals and challenges, and give an overview of the technical solutions devised to successfully operate these instruments together. /
Methods. A major constraint for the RS instruments is the limited telemetry (TM) bandwidth of the Solar Orbiter deep-space mission compared to missions in Earth orbit. Hence, many of the strategies developed to maximise the scientific return from these instruments revolve around the optimisation of TM usage, relying for example on onboard autonomy for data processing, compression, and selection for downlink. The planning process itself has been optimised to alleviate the dynamic nature of the targets, and an inter-instrument communication scheme has been implemented which can be used to autonomously alter the observing modes. We also outline the plans for in-flight cross-calibration, which will be essential to the joint data reduction and analysis. /
Results. The RS instrument package on Solar Orbiter will carry out comprehensive measurements from the solar interior to the inner heliosphere. Thanks to the close coordination between the instrument teams and the European Space Agency, several challenges specific to the RS suite were identified and addressed in a timely manner
Imaging in major salivary gland diseases
Most of the salivary glands diseases are characterized only by a few distinct clinical patterns. Medical history and clinical examination are still considered of great relevance. However, in order to obtaine a definite diagnosis, imaging techniques are required in most of the cases. Salivary glands ultrasonography (US) is the technique to be used as the first because US can easily differentiate calculosis, inflammatory diseases and tumors. Sonography is also frequently needed to perform needle aspiration or biopsy (FNAC). Sialography should be used essentially for assessing chronic sialoadenitis as well as Sjogren's syndrome. At present, Magnetic Resonance sialography should be preferred because of the greater sensibility in diagnosing inflammatory diseases of the salivary glands. It allows to evaluate both intraglandular oedema and nodules, so that incannulation of the salivary duct is not required. Computer Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance imaging (MR) are useful when neoplasm are suspected, particularly if deep areas of the gland, which cannot be visualized by US, are involved. Sequential scintigraphy is currently employed for assessing the functional status of all the 4 major salivary glands and evaluating the chronic evolution of glandular damage
PHOENIX model chromospheres of mid- to late-type M dwarfs
We present semi-empirical model chromospheres computed with the atmosphere
code PHOENIX. The models are designed to fit the observed spectra of five mid-
to late-type M dwarfs. Next to hydrogen lines from the Balmer series we used
various metal lines, e. g. from Fe {\sc i}, for the comparison between data and
models. Our computations show that an NLTE treatment of C, N, O impacts on the
hydrogen line formation, while NLTE treatment of less abundant metals such as
nickel influences the lines of the considered species itself. For our coolest
models we investigated also the influence of dust on the chromospheres and
found that dust increases the emission line flux.
Moreover we present an (electronically published) emission line list for the
spectral range of 3100 to 3900 and 4700 to 6800 \AA for a set of 21 M dwarfs
and brown dwarfs. The line list includes the detection of the Na {\sc i} D
lines in emission for a L3 dwarf.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figure
Comparing extrapolations of the coronal magnetic field structure at 2.5 solar radii with multi-viewpoint coronagraphic observations
The magnetic field shapes the structure of the solar corona but we still know
little about the interrelationships between the coronal magnetic field
configurations and the resulting quasi-stationary structures observed in
coronagraphic images (as streamers, plumes, coronal holes). One way to obtain
information on the large-scale structure of the coronal magnetic field is to
extrapolate it from photospheric data and compare the results with
coronagraphic images. Our aim is to verify if this comparison can be a fast
method to check systematically the reliability of the many methods available to
reconstruct the coronal magnetic field. Coronal fields are usually extrapolated
from photospheric measurements typically in a region close to the central
meridian on the solar disk and then compared with coronagraphic images at the
limbs, acquired at least 7 days before or after to account for solar rotation,
implicitly assuming that no significant changes occurred in the corona during
that period. In this work, we combine images from three coronagraphs
(SOHO/LASCO-C2 and the two STEREO/SECCHI-COR1) observing the Sun from different
viewing angles to build Carrington maps covering the entire corona to reduce
the effect of temporal evolution to ~ 5 days. We then compare the position of
the observed streamers in these Carrington maps with that of the neutral lines
obtained from four different magnetic field extrapolations, to evaluate the
performances of the latter in the solar corona. Our results show that the
location of coronal streamers can provide important indications to discriminate
between different magnetic field extrapolations.Comment: Accepted by A&A the 20th of May, 201
Potential Approaches Versus Approved or Developing Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Therapy.
Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have revolutionized the treatment of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, continued use of these inhibitors has contributed to the increase in clinical resistance and the persistence of resistant leukemic stem cells (LSCs). So, there is an urgent need to introduce additional targeted and selective therapies to eradicate quiescent LSCs, and to avoid the relapse and disease progression. Here, we focused on emerging BCR-ABL targeted and non-BCR-ABL targeted drugs employed in clinical trials and on alternative CML treatments, including antioxidants, oncolytic virus, engineered exosomes, and natural products obtained from marine organisms that could pave the way for new therapeutic approaches for CML patients
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