Saharan dust electrification perceived by a triangle of atmospheric electricity stations in Southern Portugal

Atmospheric Electric Potential Gradient (PG) measurements were carried out in three sites forming a triangular array in Southern Portugal. The campaign was performed during the summer, characterized by Saharan dust outbreaks; 16th-17th July 2014 dust event is considered. Short time-scale oscillations of the PG at two of the stations and a mid time-scale suppression of the PG in the three stations are found. Results are interpreted as evidencing long-range dust electrification; attributed to the air-Earth electrical current creating a bipolar charge distribution inside of the dust layer. The relevance of using arrays of sensors, instead of single sited, is highlighted

Efeito do espacamento sobre o crescimento e producao de porta-enxertos de seringueira.

O trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de se determinar, para as condicoes edafoclimaticas de Manaus, qual espacamento entre plantas seria mais viavel tecnica e economicamente para a producao de porta-enxertos de seringueira (Hevea sp.). Foram testados doze tratamentos, constituidos por doze diferentres arranjos de espacamento entre linhas e entre plantas nas linhas. Constatou-se que, para a producao de mudas de seringueira do tipo toco-enxerto de raiz nua, empregando o metodo de enxertia verde, o melhor espacamento de viveiro para a producao dos porta-enxertos, tecnica e economicamente, e o de 60 cm x 15 cm. E para a producao do mesmo tipo de muda, empregando o metodo de enxertia convencional, o melhor espacamento e o de 70 cm x 15 cm, seguido pelo de 60 cm x 15 cm

Effects of Topically Administered Neuroprotective Drugs in Early Stages of Diabetic Retinopathy:Results of the EUROCONDOR Clinical Trial

The primary objective of this study was to assess whether the topical administration of two neuroprotective drugs (brimonidine and somatostatin) could prevent or arrest retinal neurodysfunction in patients with type 2 diabetes. For this purpose, adults aged between 45 and 75 years with a diabetes duration ≥5 years and an Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) level of ≤35 were randomly assigned to one of three arms: placebo, somatostatin, or brimonidine. The primary outcome was the change in implicit time (IT) assessed by multifocal electroretinography between baseline and at the end of follow-up (96 weeks). There were 449 eligible patients allocated to brimonidine (n = 152), somatostatin (n = 145), or placebo (n = 152). When the primary end point was evaluated in the whole population, we did not find any neuroprotective effect of brimonidine or somatostatin. However, in the subset of patients (34.7%) with preexisting retinal neurodysfunction, IT worsened in the placebo group (P < 0.001) but remained unchanged in the brimonidine and somatostatin groups. In conclusion, the topical administration of the selected neuroprotective agents appears useful in preventing the worsening of preexisting retinal neurodysfunction. This finding points to screening retinal neurodysfunction as a critical issue to identify a subset of patients in whom neuroprotective treatment might be of benefit

Status and performance of the underground muon detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Auger Muons and Infill for the Ground Array (AMIGA) is an enhancement of the Pierre Auger Observatory, whose purpose is to lower the energy threshold of the observatory down to 1016.5 eV, and to measure the muonic content of air showers directly. These measurements will significantly contribute to the determination of primary particle masses in the range between the second knee and the ankle, to the study of hadronic interaction models with air showers, and, in turn, to the understanding of the muon puzzle. The underground muon detector of AMIGA is concomitant to two triangular grids of water-Cherenkov stations with spacings of 433 and 750 m; each grid position is equipped with a 30 m2 plastic scintillator buried at 2.3 m depth. After the engineering array completion in early 2018 and general improvements to the design, the production phase commenced. In this work, we report on the status of the underground muon detector, the progress of its deployment, and the performance achieved after two years of operation. The detector construction is foreseen to finish by mid-2022

A combined fit of energy spectrum, shower depth distribution and arrival directions to constrain astrophysical models of UHECR sources

The combined fit of the measured energy spectrum and distribution of depths of shower maximum of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays is known to constrain the parameters of astrophysical scenarios with homogeneous source distributions. Further measurements show that the cosmic-ray arrival directions agree better with the directions and fluxes of catalogs of starburst galaxies and active galactic nuclei than with isotropy. Here, we present a novel combination of both analyses. For that, a three-dimensional universe model containing a nearby source population and a homogeneous background source distribution is built, and its parameters are adapted using a combined fit of the energy spectrum, depth of shower maximum distribution and energy-dependent arrival directions. The model takes into account a symmetric magnetic field blurring, source evolution and interactions during propagation. We use simulated data, which resemble measurements of the Pierre Auger Observatory, to evaluate the method’s sensitivity. With this, we are able to verify that the source parameters as well as the fraction of events from the nearby source population and the size of the magnetic field blurring are determined correctly, and that the data is described by the fitted model including the catalog sources with their respective fluxes and three-dimensional positions. We demonstrate that by combining all three measurements we reach the sensitivity necessary to discriminate between the catalogs of starburst galaxies and active galactic nuclei

Constraining Lorentz Invariance Violation using the muon content of extensive air showers measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory

Lorentz Invariance (LI) implies that the space-time structure is the same for all observers. On the other hand, various quantum gravity theories suggest that it may be violated when approaching the Planck scale. At extreme energies, like those available in the collision of Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) with atmosphere nuclei, one should also expect a change in the interactions due to Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV). In this work, the effects of LIV on the development of Extensive Air Showers (EAS) have been considered. After having introduced LIV as a perturbation term in the single-particle dispersion relation, a library of simulated showers with different energies, primary particles and LIV strengths has been produced. Possible LIV has been studied using the muon content of air showers measured at the Pierre Auger Observatory. Limits on LIV parameters have been derived from a comparison between the Monte Carlo expectations and muon fluctuation measurements from the Pierre Auger Observatory