A chemical survey of exoplanets with ARIEL

Thousands of exoplanets have now been discovered with a huge range of masses, sizes and orbits: from rocky Earth-like planets to large gas giants grazing the surface of their host star. However, the essential nature of these exoplanets remains largely mysterious: there is no known, discernible pattern linking the presence, size, or orbital parameters of a planet to the nature of its parent star. We have little idea whether the chemistry of a planet is linked to its formation environment, or whether the type of host star drives the physics and chemistry of the planet’s birth, and evolution. ARIEL was conceived to observe a large number (~1000) of transiting planets for statistical understanding, including gas giants, Neptunes, super-Earths and Earth-size planets around a range of host star types using transit spectroscopy in the 1.25–7.8 μm spectral range and multiple narrow-band photometry in the optical. ARIEL will focus on warm and hot planets to take advantage of their well-mixed atmospheres which should show minimal condensation and sequestration of high-Z materials compared to their colder Solar System siblings. Said warm and hot atmospheres are expected to be more representative of the planetary bulk composition. Observations of these warm/hot exoplanets, and in particular of their elemental composition (especially C, O, N, S, Si), will allow the understanding of the early stages of planetary and atmospheric formation during the nebular phase and the following few million years. ARIEL will thus provide a representative picture of the chemical nature of the exoplanets and relate this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. ARIEL is designed as a dedicated survey mission for combined-light spectroscopy, capable of observing a large and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. Transit, eclipse and phase-curve spectroscopy methods, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allow us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of 10–100 part per million (ppm) relative to the star and, given the bright nature of targets, also allows more sophisticated techniques, such as eclipse mapping, to give a deeper insight into the nature of the atmosphere. These types of observations require a stable payload and satellite platform with broad, instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect many molecular species, probe the thermal structure, identify clouds and monitor the stellar activity. The wavelength range proposed covers all the expected major atmospheric gases from e.g. H2O, CO2, CH4 NH3, HCN, H2S through to the more exotic metallic compounds, such as TiO, VO, and condensed species. Simulations of ARIEL performance in conducting exoplanet surveys have been performed – using conservative estimates of mission performance and a full model of all significant noise sources in the measurement – using a list of potential ARIEL targets that incorporates the latest available exoplanet statistics. The conclusion at the end of the Phase A study, is that ARIEL – in line with the stated mission objectives – will be able to observe about 1000 exoplanets depending on the details of the adopted survey strategy, thus confirming the feasibility of the main science objectives.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio

Giving voice to persons with disabilities (PWD)

10.1111/medu.15205MEDICAL EDUCATION57111135-113

Coming home SG

The Coming Home SG campaign is Singapore’s first campaign to raise awareness of foster care among young adults, and promote volunteering opportunities as a stepping stone towards fostering - was launched. The campaign is also the first to use social media as an outreach platform for foster care. It engaged 3,948 young adults via a mix of online and on-ground platforms such as a campaign website, art- jamming sessions, a local makers’ fair, sharing sessions by members of the fostering community and university roadshows. 220 volunteer interests were raised, and nearly half of the participants indicated strong willingness to foster in the future. This paper summarises the research that underpinned campaign strategies, details the campaign’s execution, and evaluates its effectiveness. Finally, it recommends how the campaign’s pioneering initiatives will be sustained.Bachelor of Communication Studie

The adult patient with headache

10.11622/smedj.2018094SINGAPORE MEDICAL JOURNAL598399-40

Prescribing Antibiotics in Public Primary Care Clinics in Singapore: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background: Antibiotic prescription practices in primary care in Singapore have received little scholarly attention. In this study, we ascertained prescription prevalence and identified care gaps and predisposing factors. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on adults (>21 years old) at six public primary care clinics in Singapore. Prescriptions >14 days were excluded. Descriptive statistics were used to showcase the prevalence data. We used chi-square and logistic regression analyses to identify the factors affecting care gaps. Results: A total of 141,944 (4.33%) oral and 108,357 (3.31%) topical antibiotics were prescribed for 3,278,562 visits from 2018 to 2021. There was a significant reduction in prescriptions (p < 0.01) before and after the pandemic, which was attributed to the 84% reduction in prescriptions for respiratory conditions. In 2020 to 2021, oral antibiotics were most prescribed for skin (37.7%), genitourinary (20.2%), and respiratory conditions (10.8%). Antibiotic use in the “Access” group (WHO AWaRe classification) improved from 85.6% (2018) to 92.1% (2021). Areas of improvement included a lack of documentation of reasons for antibiotic use, as well as inappropriate antibiotic prescription for skin conditions. Conclusion: There was a marked reduction in antibiotic prescriptions associated with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Further studies could address the gaps identified here and evaluate private-sector primary care to inform antibiotic guidelines and the local development of stewardship programs

Open data from the first and second observing runs of Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software