Spectrophotometric study in the near-ir of a sample of MIPS selected galaxies at Z~2

Our main objective is to determine what kind of galaxies dominate the cosmic SFR density at z~2. Our sample consists of 24 galaxies in Chandra Deep Field South, a unique field for the study of galaxy evolution (12 observed with GNIRS/GEMINI and 12 with ISAAC/VLT). We use H alpha together with the already merged X-ray, ultraviolet, optical, near and mid-infrared imaging data to obtain estimations of SFRs, metallicities, stellar and dynamical masses, AGN activity, and extinction properties. We have obtained 15 Hα detections, 4 rotation curves, and SFR relationship for 7 galaxies. The metallicities obtained for 8 galaxies of the sample are compatible with the metallicities of local galaxies

Unveiling microbial structures during raw microalgae digestion and co-digestion with primary sludge to produce biogas using semi-continuous AnMBR systems

[EN] Methane production from microalgae can be enhanced through anaerobic co-digestion with carbon-rich substrates and thus mitigate the inhibition risk associated with its low C:N ratio. Acclimated microbial communities for microalgae disruption can be used as a source of natural enzymes in bioenergy production. However, co-substrates with a certain microbial diversity such as primary sludge might shift the microbial structure. Substrates were generated in a Water Resource Recovery Facility (WRRF) and combined as follows: Scenedesmus or Chlorella digestion and microalgae co-digestion with primary sludge. The study was performed using two lab-scale Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBR). During three years, different feedstocks scenarios for methane production were evaluated with a special focus on the microbial diversity of the AnMBR. 57% of the population was shared between the different feedstock scenarios, revealing the importance of Anaerolineaceae members besides Smithella and Methanosaeta genera. The addition of primary sludge enhanced the microbial diversity of the system during both Chlorella and Scenedesmus co-digestion and promoted different microbial structures. Aceticlastic methanogen Methanosaeta was dominant in all the feedstock scenarios. A more remarkable role of syntrophic fatty acid degraders (Smithella, Syntrophobacteraceae) was observed during co-digestion when only microalgae were digested. However, no significant changes were observed in the microbial composition during anaerobic microalgae digestion when feeding only Chlorella or Scenedesmus. This is the first work revealing the composition of complex communities for semi-continuous bioenergy production from WRRF streams. The stability and maintenance of a microbial core over-time in semi-continuous AnMBRs is here shown supporting their future application in full-scale systems for raw microalgae digestion or codigestion.The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) are gratefully acknowledged for their support to this research work through CTM2011-28595-C02-02 and CTM2014-54980-C2-1-R projects. The authors are thankful to Ph.D. Silvia Greses and Ph.D. candidate Rebecca Serna-Garcia (Universitat de Valencia, Spain) for allowing the collection of digestate samples from their bioreactors and providing a brief data characterization of their performance. As well, authors thank the support of Maria Paches (IIAMA, Valencia, Spain) during phytoplankton monitoring in the photobioreactor plant. Finally, the sequencing service from FISABIO (Valencia, Spain) is also gratefully acknowledged for their technical support during the design stage of this work.Zamorano-López, N.; Borrás, L.; Seco, A.; Aguado García, D. (2020). Unveiling microbial structures during raw microalgae digestion and co-digestion with primary sludge to produce biogas using semi-continuous AnMBR systems. The Science of The Total Environment. 699:1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134365S112699APHA, APHA/AWWA/WEF, 2012. In: Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater. Stand. Methods, pp. 541 doi.org/ISBN 9780875532356.Astals, S., Musenze, R. S., Bai, X., Tannock, S., Tait, S., Pratt, S., & Jensen, P. D. (2015). Anaerobic co-digestion of pig manure and algae: Impact of intracellular algal products recovery on co-digestion performance. Bioresource Technology, 181, 97-104. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.01.039Baudelet, P.-H., Ricochon, G., Linder, M., & Muniglia, L. (2017). A new insight into cell walls of Chlorophyta. Algal Research, 25, 333-371. doi:10.1016/j.algal.2017.04.008Bovio, P., Cabezas, A., & Etchebehere, C. (2018). Preliminary analysis ofChloroflexipopulations in full-scale UASB methanogenic reactors. Journal of Applied Microbiology, 126(2), 667-683. doi:10.1111/jam.14115Calusinska, M., Goux, X., Fossépré, M., Muller, E. E. L., Wilmes, P., & Delfosse, P. (2018). A year of monitoring 20 mesophilic full-scale bioreactors reveals the existence of stable but different core microbiomes in bio-waste and wastewater anaerobic digestion systems. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 11(1). doi:10.1186/s13068-018-1195-8Carrillo-Reyes, J., Barragán-Trinidad, M., & Buitrón, G. (2016). Biological pretreatments of microalgal biomass for gaseous biofuel production and the potential use of rumen microorganisms: A review. Algal Research, 18, 341-351. doi:10.1016/j.algal.2016.07.004Chen, C., Ming, J., Yoza, B. A., Liang, J., Li, Q. X., Guo, H., … Wang, Q. (2019). Characterization of aerobic granular sludge used for the treatment of petroleum wastewater. Bioresource Technology, 271, 353-359. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.132Cheng, W., Chen, H., Yan, S., & Su, J. (2014). Illumina sequencing-based analyses of bacterial communities during short-chain fatty-acid production from food waste and sewage sludge fermentation at different pH values. World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 30(9), 2387-2395. doi:10.1007/s11274-014-1664-6Colzi Lopes, A., Valente, A., Iribarren, D., & González-Fernández, C. (2018). Energy balance and life cycle assessment of a microalgae-based wastewater treatment plant: A focus on alternative biogas uses. Bioresource Technology, 270, 138-146. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.005Córdova, O., Chamy, R., Guerrero, L., & Sánchez-Rodríguez, A. (2018). Assessing the Effect of Pretreatments on the Structure and Functionality of Microbial Communities for the Bioconversion of Microalgae to Biogas. Frontiers in Microbiology, 9. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.01388Correa, D. F., Beyer, H. L., Fargione, J. E., Hill, J. D., Possingham, H. P., Thomas-Hall, S. R., & Schenk, P. M. (2019). Towards the implementation of sustainable biofuel production systems. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 107, 250-263. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2019.03.005Crutchik, D., Frison, N., Eusebi, A. L., & Fatone, F. (2018). Biorefinery of cellulosic primary sludge towards targeted Short Chain Fatty Acids, phosphorus and methane recovery. Water Research, 136, 112-119. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2018.02.047De Vrieze, J., Christiaens, M. E. R., & Verstraete, W. (2017). The microbiome as engineering tool: Manufacturing and trading between microorganisms. New Biotechnology, 39, 206-214. doi:10.1016/j.nbt.2017.07.001De Vrieze, J., Pinto, A. J., Sloan, W. T., & Ijaz, U. Z. (2018). The active microbial community more accurately reflects the anaerobic digestion process: 16S rRNA (gene) sequencing as a predictive tool. Microbiome, 6(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-018-0449-9Dodsworth, J. A., Blainey, P. C., Murugapiran, S. K., Swingley, W. D., Ross, C. A., Tringe, S. G., … Hedlund, B. P. (2013). Single-cell and metagenomic analyses indicate a fermentative and saccharolytic lifestyle for members of the OP9 lineage. Nature Communications, 4(1). doi:10.1038/ncomms2884Dojka, M. A., Harris, J. K., & Pace, N. R. (2000). Expanding the Known Diversity and Environmental Distribution of an Uncultured Phylogenetic Division of Bacteria. Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 66(4), 1617-1621. doi:10.1128/aem.66.4.1617-1621.2000Farag, I. F., Davis, J. P., Youssef, N. H., & Elshahed, M. S. (2014). Global Patterns of Abundance, Diversity and Community Structure of the Aminicenantes (Candidate Phylum OP8). PLoS ONE, 9(3), e92139. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0092139Fontana, A., Kougias, P. G., Treu, L., Kovalovszki, A., Valle, G., Cappa, F., … Campanaro, S. (2018). Microbial activity response to hydrogen injection in thermophilic anaerobic digesters revealed by genome-centric metatranscriptomics. Microbiome, 6(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-018-0583-4Garrido-Cardenas, J. A., Manzano-Agugliaro, F., Acien-Fernandez, F. G., & Molina-Grima, E. (2018). Microalgae research worldwide. Algal Research, 35, 50-60. doi:10.1016/j.algal.2018.08.005González-Camejo, J., Jiménez-Benítez, A., Ruano, M. V., Robles, A., Barat, R., & Ferrer, J. (2019). Optimising an outdoor membrane photobioreactor for tertiary sewage treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 245, 76-85. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.05.010Gonzalez-Fernandez, C., Sialve, B., & Molinuevo-Salces, B. (2015). Anaerobic digestion of microalgal biomass: Challenges, opportunities and research needs. Bioresource Technology, 198, 896-906. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2015.09.095Gonzalez-Fernandez, C., Barreiro-Vescovo, S., de Godos, I., Fernandez, M., Zouhayr, A., & Ballesteros, M. (2018). Biochemical methane potential of microalgae biomass using different microbial inocula. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 11(1). doi:10.1186/s13068-018-1188-7González-González, L. M., Correa, D. F., Ryan, S., Jensen, P. D., Pratt, S., & Schenk, P. M. (2018). Integrated biodiesel and biogas production from microalgae: Towards a sustainable closed loop through nutrient recycling. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 82, 1137-1148. doi:10.1016/j.rser.2017.09.091Greses, S., Gaby, J. C., Aguado, D., Ferrer, J., Seco, A., & Horn, S. J. (2017). Microbial community characterization during anaerobic digestion of Scenedesmus spp. under mesophilic and thermophilic conditions. Algal Research, 27, 121-130. doi:10.1016/j.algal.2017.09.002Greses, S., Zamorano-López, N., Borrás, L., Ferrer, J., Seco, A., & Aguado, D. (2018). Effect of long residence time and high temperature over anaerobic biodegradation of Scenedesmus microalgae grown in wastewater. Journal of Environmental Management, 218, 425-434. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2018.04.086Herrmann, C., Kalita, N., Wall, D., Xia, A., & Murphy, J. D. (2016). Optimised biogas production from microalgae through co-digestion with carbon-rich co-substrates. Bioresource Technology, 214, 328-337. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2016.04.119Ju, F., Lau, F., & Zhang, T. (2017). Linking Microbial Community, Environmental Variables, and Methanogenesis in Anaerobic Biogas Digesters of Chemically Enhanced Primary Treatment Sludge. Environmental Science & Technology, 51(7), 3982-3992. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b06344Kadnikov, V. V., Mardanov, A. V., Beletsky, A. V., Karnachuk, O. V., & Ravin, N. V. (2019). Genome of the candidate phylum Aminicenantes bacterium from a deep subsurface thermal aquifer revealed its fermentative saccharolytic lifestyle. Extremophiles, 23(2), 189-200. doi:10.1007/s00792-018-01073-5Klassen, V., Blifernez-Klassen, O., Wobbe, L., Schlüter, A., Kruse, O., & Mussgnug, J. H. (2016). Efficiency and biotechnological aspects of biogas production from microalgal substrates. Journal of Biotechnology, 234, 7-26. doi:10.1016/j.jbiotec.2016.07.015Klassen, V., Blifernez-Klassen, O., Wibberg, D., Winkler, A., Kalinowski, J., Posten, C., & Kruse, O. (2017). Highly efficient methane generation from untreated microalgae biomass. Biotechnology for Biofuels, 10(1). doi:10.1186/s13068-017-0871-4Leng, L., Yang, P., Singh, S., Zhuang, H., Xu, L., Chen, W.-H., … Lee, P.-H. (2018). A review on the bioenergetics of anaerobic microbial metabolism close to the thermodynamic limits and its implications for digestion applications. Bioresource Technology, 247, 1095-1106. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.09.103Li, R., Duan, N., Zhang, Y., Liu, Z., Li, B., Zhang, D., & Dong, T. (2017). Anaerobic co-digestion of chicken manure and microalgae Chlorella sp.: Methane potential, microbial diversity and synergistic impact evaluation. Waste Management, 68, 120-127. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2017.06.028Li, R., Duan, N., Zhang, Y., Liu, Z., Li, B., Zhang, D., … Dong, T. (2017). Co-digestion of chicken manure and microalgae Chlorella 1067 grown in the recycled digestate: Nutrients reuse and biogas enhancement. Waste Management, 70, 247-254. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2017.09.016Mahdy, A., Mendez, L., Ballesteros, M., & González-Fernández, C. (2015). Algaculture integration in conventional wastewater treatment plants: Anaerobic digestion comparison of primary and secondary sludge with microalgae biomass. Bioresource Technology, 184, 236-244. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2014.09.145Mansfeldt, C., Achermann, S., Men, Y., Walser, J.-C., Villez, K., Joss, A., … Fenner, K. (2019). Microbial residence time is a controlling parameter of the taxonomic composition and functional profile of microbial communities. The ISME Journal, 13(6), 1589-1601. doi:10.1038/s41396-019-0371-6McIlroy, S. J., Kirkegaard, R. H., Dueholm, M. S., Fernando, E., Karst, S. M., Albertsen, M., & Nielsen, P. H. (2017). Culture-Independent Analyses Reveal Novel Anaerolineaceae as Abundant Primary Fermenters in Anaerobic Digesters Treating Waste Activated Sludge. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01134Nakamura, K., Iizuka, R., Nishi, S., Yoshida, T., Hatada, Y., Takaki, Y., … Funatsu, T. (2016). Culture-independent method for identification of microbial enzyme-encoding genes by activity-based single-cell sequencing using a water-in-oil microdroplet platform. Scientific Reports, 6(1). doi:10.1038/srep22259Pachés, M., Romero, I., Hermosilla, Z., & Martinez-Guijarro, R. (2012). PHYMED: An ecological classification system for the Water Framework Directive based on phytoplankton community composition. Ecological Indicators, 19, 15-23. doi:10.1016/j.ecolind.2011.07.003Peces, M., Astals, S., Jensen, P. D., & Clarke, W. P. (2018). Deterministic mechanisms define the long-term anaerobic digestion microbiome and its functionality regardless of the initial microbial community. Water Research, 141, 366-376. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2018.05.028Qiao, J.-T., Qiu, Y.-L., Yuan, X.-Z., Shi, X.-S., Xu, X.-H., & Guo, R.-B. (2013). Molecular characterization of bacterial and archaeal communities in a full-scale anaerobic reactor treating corn straw. Bioresource Technology, 143, 512-518. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.06.014Rinke, C. (2018). Single-Cell Genomics of Microbial Dark Matter. Microbiome Analysis, 99-111. doi:10.1007/978-1-4939-8728-3_7Rivière, D., Desvignes, V., Pelletier, E., Chaussonnerie, S., Guermazi, S., Weissenbach, J., … Sghir, A. (2009). Towards the definition of a core of microorganisms involved in anaerobic digestion of sludge. The ISME Journal, 3(6), 700-714. doi:10.1038/ismej.2009.2Robles, Á., Ruano, M. V., Charfi, A., Lesage, G., Heran, M., Harmand, J., … Ferrer, J. (2018). A review on anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBRs) focused on modelling and control aspects. Bioresource Technology, 270, 612-626. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2018.09.049Sanz, J. L., Rojas, P., Morato, A., Mendez, L., Ballesteros, M., & González-Fernández, C. (2017). Microbial communities of biomethanization digesters fed with raw and heat pre-treated microalgae biomasses. Chemosphere, 168, 1013-1021. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.10.109Seco, A., Aparicio, S., González-Camejo, J., Jiménez-Benítez, A., Mateo, O., Mora, J. F., … Ferrer, J. (2018). Resource recovery from sulphate-rich sewage through an innovative anaerobic-based water resource recovery facility (WRRF). Water Science and Technology, 78(9), 1925-1936. doi:10.2166/wst.2018.492Sialve, B., Bernet, N., & Bernard, O. (2009). Anaerobic digestion of microalgae as a necessary step to make microalgal biodiesel sustainable. Biotechnology Advances, 27(4), 409-416. doi:10.1016/j.biotechadv.2009.03.001Skouteris, G., Hermosilla, D., López, P., Negro, C., & Blanco, Á. (2012). Anaerobic membrane bioreactors for wastewater treatment: A review. Chemical Engineering Journal, 198-199, 138-148. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2012.05.070Solden, L., Lloyd, K., & Wrighton, K. (2016). The bright side of microbial dark matter: lessons learned from the uncultivated majority. Current Opinion in Microbiology, 31, 217-226. doi:10.1016/j.mib.2016.04.020Solé-Bundó, M., Salvadó, H., Passos, F., Garfí, M., & Ferrer, I. (2018). Strategies to Optimize Microalgae Conversion to Biogas: Co-Digestion, Pretreatment and Hydraulic Retention Time. Molecules, 23(9), 2096. doi:10.3390/molecules23092096Solé-Bundó, M., Garfí, M., Matamoros, V., & Ferrer, I. (2019). Co-digestion of microalgae and primary sludge: Effect on biogas production and microcontaminants removal. Science of The Total Environment, 660, 974-981. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.01.011Stämmler, F., Gläsner, J., Hiergeist, A., Holler, E., Weber, D., Oefner, P. J., … Spang, R. (2016). Adjusting microbiome profiles for differences in microbial load by spike-in bacteria. Microbiome, 4(1). doi:10.1186/s40168-016-0175-0Vanwonterghem, I., Jensen, P. D., Dennis, P. G., Hugenholtz, P., Rabaey, K., & Tyson, G. W. (2014). Deterministic processes guide long-term synchronised population dynamics in replicate anaerobic digesters. The ISME Journal, 8(10), 2015-2028. doi:10.1038/ismej.2014.50Wang, Y., Hammes, F., De Roy, K., Verstraete, W., & Boon, N. (2010). Past, present and future applications of flow cytometry in aquatic microbiology. Trends in Biotechnology, 28(8), 416-424. doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2010.04.006Weinrich, S., Koch, S., Bonk, F., Popp, D., Benndorf, D., Klamt, S., & Centler, F. (2019). Augmenting Biogas Process Modeling by Resolving Intracellular Metabolic Activity. Frontiers in Microbiology, 10. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.01095Widder, S., Allen, R. J., Pfeiffer, T., Curtis, T. P., Wiuf, C., … Soyer, O. S. (2016). Challenges in microbial ecology: building predictive understanding of community function and dynamics. The ISME Journal, 10(11), 2557-2568. doi:10.1038/ismej.2016.45Xie, B., Gong, W., Tian, Y., Qu, F., Luo, Y., Du, X., … Liang, H. (2018). Biodiesel production with the simultaneous removal of nitrogen, phosphorus and COD in microalgal-bacterial communities for the treatment of anaerobic digestion effluent in photobioreactors. Chemical Engineering Journal, 350, 1092-1102. doi:10.1016/j.cej.2018.06.032Zamalloa, C., De Vrieze, J., Boon, N., & Verstraete, W. (2011). Anaerobic digestibility of marine microalgae Phaeodactylum tricornutum in a lab-scale anaerobic membrane bioreactor. Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology, 93(2), 859-869. doi:10.1007/s00253-011-3624-5Zamorano-López, N., Borrás, L., Giménez, J. B., Seco, A., & Aguado, D. (2019). Acclimatised rumen culture for raw microalgae conversion into biogas: Linking microbial community structure and operational parameters in anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR). Bioresource Technology, 290, 121787. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2019.121787Zamorano-López, N., Greses, S., Aguado, D., Seco, A., & Borrás, L. (2019). Thermophilic anaerobic conversion of raw microalgae: Microbial community diversity in high solids retention systems. Algal Research, 41, 101533. doi:10.1016/j.algal.2019.101533Zou, Y., Xu, X., Li, L., Yang, F., & Zhang, S. (2018). Enhancing methane production from U. lactuca using combined anaerobically digested sludge (ADS) and rumen fluid pre-treatment and the effect on the solubilization of microbial community structures. Bioresource Technology, 254, 83-90. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.054Lv, Z., Chen, Z., Chen, X., Liang, J., Jiang, J., & Loake, G. J. (2019). Effects of various feedstocks on isotope fractionation of biogas and microbial community structure during anaerobic digestion. Waste Management, 84, 211-219. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2018.11.04

Epigenetic Transcriptional Regulation of the Growth Arrest-Specific gene 1 (Gas1) in Hepatic Cell Proliferation at Mononucleosomal Resolution

BACKGROUND: Gas1 (growth arrest-specific 1) gene is known to inhibit cell proliferation in a variety of models, but its possible implication in regulating quiescence in adult tissues has not been examined to date. The knowledge of how Gas1 is regulated in quiescence may contribute to understand the deregulation occurring in neoplastic diseases. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Gas1 expression has been studied in quiescent murine liver and during the naturally synchronized cell proliferation after partial hepatectomy. Chromatin immunoprecipitation at nucleosomal resolution (Nuc-ChIP) has been used to carry out the study preserving the in vivo conditions. Transcription has been assessed at real time by quantifying the presence of RNA polymerase II in coding regions (RNApol-ChIP). It has been found that Gas1 is expressed not only in quiescent liver but also at the cell cycle G(1)/S transition. The latter expression peak had not been previously reported. Two nucleosomes, flanking a nucleosome-free region, are positioned close to the transcription start site. Both nucleosomes slide in going from the active to the inactive state and vice versa. Nuc-ChIP analysis of the acquisition of histone epigenetic marks show distinctive features in both active states: H3K9ac and H3K4me2 are characteristic of transcription in G(0) and H4R3me2 in G(1)/S transition. Sequential-ChIP analysis revealed that the "repressing" mark H3K9me2 colocalize with several "activating" marks at nucleosome N-1 when Gas1 is actively transcribed suggesting a greater plasticity of epigenetic marks than proposed until now. The recruitment of chromatin-remodeling or modifying complexes also displayed distinct characteristics in quiescence and the G(1)/S transition. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The finding that Gas1 is transcribed at the G(1)/S transition suggests that the gene may exert a novel function during cell proliferation. Transcription of this gene is modulated by specific "activating" and "repressing" epigenetic marks, and by chromatin remodeling and histone modifying complexes recruitment, at specific nucleosomes in Gas1 promoter

The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations

Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Beijing, China, August 201

A search for point sources of EeV photons

Measurements of air showers made using the hybrid technique developed with the fluorescence and surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory allow a sensitive search for point sources of EeV photons anywhere in the exposed sky. A multivariate analysis reduces the background of hadronic cosmic rays. The search is sensitive to a declination band from -85{\deg} to +20{\deg}, in an energy range from 10^17.3 eV to 10^18.5 eV. No photon point source has been detected. An upper limit on the photon flux has been derived for every direction. The mean value of the energy flux limit that results from this, assuming a photon spectral index of -2, is 0.06 eV cm^-2 s^-1, and no celestial direction exceeds 0.25 eV cm^-2 s^-1. These upper limits constrain scenarios in which EeV cosmic ray protons are emitted by non-transient sources in the Galaxy.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Reconstruction of inclined air showers detected with the Pierre Auger Observatory

We describe the method devised to reconstruct inclined cosmic-ray air showers with zenith angles greater than $60^\circ$ detected with the surface array of the Pierre Auger Observatory. The measured signals at the ground level are fitted to muon density distributions predicted with atmospheric cascade models to obtain the relative shower size as an overall normalization parameter. The method is evaluated using simulated showers to test its performance. The energy of the cosmic rays is calibrated using a sub-sample of events reconstructed with both the fluorescence and surface array techniques. The reconstruction method described here provides the basis of complementary analyses including an independent measurement of the energy spectrum of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using very inclined events collected by the Pierre Auger Observatory.Comment: 27 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (JCAP

The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays. It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic

MEGARA, the new intermediate-resolution optical IFU and MOS for GTC: getting ready for the telescope

MEGARA (Multi-Espectrógrafo en GTC de Alta Resolución para Astronomía) is an optical Integral-Field Unit (IFU) and Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) designed for the GTC 10.4m telescope in La Palma that is being built by a Consortium led by UCM (Spain) that also includes INAOE (Mexico), IAA-CSIC (Spain), and UPM (Spain). The instrument is currently finishing AIV and will be sent to GTC on November 2016 for its on-sky commissioning on April 2017. The MEGARA IFU fiber bundle (LCB) covers 12.5x11.3 arcsec2 with a spaxel size of 0.62 arcsec while the MEGARA MOS mode allows observing up to 92 objects in a region of 3.5x3.5 arcmin2 around the IFU. The IFU and MOS modes of MEGARA will provide identical intermediate-to-high spectral resolutions (RFWHM~6,000, 12,000 and 18,700, respectively for the low-, mid- and high-resolution Volume Phase Holographic gratings) in the range 3700-9800ÅÅ. An x-y mechanism placed at the pseudo-slit position allows (1) exchanging between the two observing modes and (2) focusing the spectrograph for each VPH setup. The spectrograph is a collimator-camera system that has a total of 11 VPHs simultaneously available (out of the 18 VPHs designed and being built) that are placed in the pupil by means of a wheel and an insertion mechanism. The custom-made cryostat hosts a 4kx4k 15-μm CCD. The unique characteristics of MEGARA in terms of throughput and versatility and the unsurpassed collecting are of GTC make of this instrument the most efficient tool to date to analyze astrophysical objects at intermediate spectral resolutions. In these proceedings we present a summary of the instrument characteristics and the results from the AIV phase. All subsystems have been successfully integrated and the system-level AIV phase is progressing as expected

Country-level gender inequality is associated with structural differences in the brains of women and men

男女間の不平等と脳の性差 --男女間の不平等は脳構造の性差と関連する--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2023-05-10.Gender inequality across the world has been associated with a higher risk to mental health problems and lower academic achievement in women compared to men. We also know that the brain is shaped by nurturing and adverse socio-environmental experiences. Therefore, unequal exposure to harsher conditions for women compared to men in gender-unequal countries might be reflected in differences in their brain structure, and this could be the neural mechanism partly explaining women’s worse outcomes in gender-unequal countries. We examined this through a random-effects meta-analysis on cortical thickness and surface area differences between adult healthy men and women, including a meta-regression in which country-level gender inequality acted as an explanatory variable for the observed differences. A total of 139 samples from 29 different countries, totaling 7, 876 MRI scans, were included. Thickness of the right hemisphere, and particularly the right caudal anterior cingulate, right medial orbitofrontal, and left lateral occipital cortex, presented no differences or even thicker regional cortices in women compared to men in gender-equal countries, reversing to thinner cortices in countries with greater gender inequality. These results point to the potentially hazardous effect of gender inequality on women’s brains and provide initial evidence for neuroscience-informed policies for gender equality