Planck 2015 results I. Overview of products and scientific results

The European Space Agency's Planck satellite, which is dedicated to studying the early Universe and its subsequent evolution, was launched on 14 May 2009. It scanned the microwave and submillimetre sky continuously between 12 August 2009 and 23 October 2013. In February 2015, ESA and the Planck Collaboration released the second set of cosmology products based on data from the entire Planck mission, including both temperature and polarization, along with a set of scientific and technical papers and a web-based explanatory supplement. This paper gives an overview of the main characteristics of the data and the data products in the release, as well as the associated cosmological and astrophysical science results and papers. The data products include maps of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, diffuse foregrounds in temperature and polarization, catalogues of compact Galactic and extragalactic sources (including separate catalogues of Sunyaev-Zeldovich clusters and Galactic cold clumps), and extensive simulations of signals and noise used in assessing uncertainties and the performance of the analysis methods. The likelihood code used to assess cosmological models against the Planck data is described, along with a CMB lensing likelihood. Scientific results include cosmological parameters derived from CMB power spectra, gravitational lensing, and cluster counts, as well as constraints on inflation, non-Gaussianity, primordial magnetic fields, dark energy, and modified gravity, and new results on low-frequency Galactic foregrounds

Bioactivities of six plant essential oils against some isolated microbes from an archaeological limestone statue at the Saqqara excavation

This is the final version. Available from NC State University via the DOI in this record. The effect of microbial activity on the deterioration of archaeological stone items is a worldwide issue, and conserving them with low-toxicity, ecologically benign and naturally biocides is a difficult undertaking. Molecular identification of the microbial communities from a deteriorated archaeological object (Ptahshepses stone statue) located from the Saqqara excavation, Giza, Egypt was recorded. Six essential oils (EOs) (black cumin, clove, geranium, lavender, lemongrass, and thyme) were tested for antimicrobial activity against six degrading fungal and bacterial species. Alternaria alternate, Aspergillus flavus, A. niger, Cladosporium halotolerans, Penicillium crustosum, and Trichoderma viride and three bacterial species, Pseudomonas protegens, P. putida, and Serratia odorifera, were isolated. Of the most effective EOs, thyme showed the highest inhibition percentage (143.4%) against Serratia odorifera, followed by P. putida (135%), and Pseudomonas protegens (131.5%). Lemongrass and clove EOs had minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) ranging from 0.5 µL/mL to 2 µL/mL for all isolated deteriorated fungal and bacterial species, while the lowest efficiency EOs were lavender, geranium and black cumin. It can be concluded that thyme and lemongrass EOs have a potential use for protecting the Ptahshepses stone statue from microbial deterioration.King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Monitoring the past and choosing the future: the prefrontal cortical influences on voluntary action

Choosing between equivalent response options requires the resolution of ambiguity. One could facilitate such decisions by monitoring previous actions and implementing transient or arbitrary rules to differentiate response options. This would reduce the entropy of chosen actions. We examined voluntary action decisions during magnetoencephalography, identifying the spatiotemporal correlates of stimulus- and choice-entropy. Negative correlations between frontotemporal activity and entropy of past trials were observed after participants’ responses, reflecting sequential monitoring of recent events. In contrast, choice entropy correlated negatively with prefrontal activity, before and after participants’ response, consistent with transient activation of latent response-sets ahead of a decision and updating the monitor of recent decisions after responding. Individual differences in current choices were related to the strength of the prefrontal signals that reflect monitoring of the statistical regularities in previous events. Together, these results explain individual expressions of voluntary action, through differential engagement of prefrontal areas to guide sequential decisions