Star Formation in the Gulf of Mexico

We present an optical/infrared study of the dense molecular cloud, L935, dubbed "The Gulf of Mexico", which separates the North America and the Pelican nebulae, and we demonstrate that this area is a very active star forming region. A wide-field imaging study with interference filters has revealed 35 new Herbig-Haro objects in the Gulf of Mexico. A grism survey has identified 41 Halpha emission-line stars, 30 of them new. A small cluster of partly embedded pre-main sequence stars is located around the known LkHalpha 185-189 group of stars, which includes the recently erupting FUor HBC 722.Comment: Submitted to A&A, 14 pages, 18 figure

Ab Initio Treatment of Collective Correlations and the Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of 48^{48}Ca

Working with Hamiltonians from chiral effective field theory, we develop a novel framework for describing arbitrary deformed medium-mass nuclei by combining the in-medium similarity renormalization group with the generator coordinate method. The approach leverages the ability of the first method to capture dynamic correlations and the second to include collective correlations without violating symmetries. We use our scheme to compute the matrix element that governs the neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{48}$Ca to $^{48}$Ti, and find it to have the value $0.61$, near or below the predictions of most phenomenological methods. The result opens the door to ab initio calculations of the matrix elements for the decay of heavier nuclei such as $^{76}$Ge, $^{130}$Te, and $^{136}$Xe.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures and 1 table. supplementary material included. version to be publishe

Toward Integration of mHealth in Primary Care in the Netherlands: A Qualitative Analysis of Stakeholder Perspectives

Background: There is a growing need to structurally change the way chronic illness care is organized as health systems struggle to meet the demand for chronic care. mHealth technologies can alter traditional approaches to health care provision by stimulating self-management of chronically ill patients. The aim of this study was to understand the complex environment related to the introduction of mHealth solutions into primary care for chronic disease management while considering health system functioning and stakeholder views. Methods: A transdisciplinary approach was used informed by the Interactive Learning and Action (ILA) methodology. Exploratory interviews (n = 5) were held with representatives of stakeholder groups to identify and position key stakeholders. Subsequently, professionals and chronically ill patients were consulted separately to elaborate on the barriers and facilitators in integration, using semi-structured interviews (n = 17) and a focus group (n = 6). Follow-up interviews (n = 5) were conducted to discuss initial findings of the stakeholder analysis. Results: Most stakeholders, in particular primary care practitioners and patients, seem to have a supporting or mixed attitude toward integration of mHealth. On the other hand, several powerful stakeholders, including primary care information system developers and medical specialists are likely to show resistance or a lack of initiative toward mHealth integration. Main barriers to mHealth integration were a lack of interoperability with existing information systems; difficulties in financing mHealth implementation; and limited readiness in general practices to change. Potential enablers of integration included co-design of mHealth solutions and incentives for pioneers. Conclusion: Stakeholders acknowledge the benefits of integrating mHealth in primary care. However, important barriers perceived by end-users prevent them to fully adopt and use mHealth. This study shows that the complexity of introducing mHealth into primary care calls for strategies encouraging collaboration between multiple stakeholders to enhance successful implementation

Preliminary investigation of water and nitrogen use efficiency in Mango

The aims of this preliminary investigation were to identify if natural abundance carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) stable isotopes reflect the dynamics of carbon and nitrogen between mango varieties, canopy function and management practices (fertilization and/or irrigation). This preliminary investigation has identified factors that increase water use efficiency, nitrogen efficiency and tree productivity. The natural abundance of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen show promise as new tools to study the drivers of mango productivity efficiency and will be useful in studying mango orchard systems and in selecting and evaluating breeding parents and progeny in mango breeding programs. Measurement of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) in three mango varieties grown under similar irrigation and environmental conditions (in Summer 2015) have shown significantly different WUE between the varieties. These findings were supported by traditional gas exchange analysis, taken during winter 2016 and foliar N concentrations in these varieties. There were significant relationships, between WUE and foliar N concentrations, in both the heredity and crop load experiments indicating an effect of both genotype and terminal function on terminal WUE and foliar N concentration. Results from the gas exchange assessments supported δ13C heredity results indicating greater WUE in the Keitt variety when compared to Calypso variety. The methods used in this project can help us better understand the integrated carbon and nitrogen dynamics of tree canopies and how nitrogen allocation is influenced by nitrogen nutrition. They also help us understand the photosynthetic components that influence light harvesting and electron transport efficiencies and hence contribute to growth and productivity. The report also discuss how gas exchange characteristics between varieties may be used to evaluate the productivity and canopy efficiency of different mango varieties growing in different planting configurations with varying light and shading characteristics. Finally, when measurements in trees with varying crop load from three sites data where pooled together, the δ15N was able to identify nitrogen dynamics in high and low nitrogen sites. This preliminary investigation of the use of stable isotopes of carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) to identify water use efficiency and productivity efficiency’s in mango has been successful and has potential application in studying orchard systems and in mango breeding. Application of these methods in future projects would enhance current studies of mango canopy architecture efficiency in the Small tree High productivity initiative and provide a new way of assessing mango breeding lines for production efficiency

Herschel observations of the Sgr B2 cores: Hydrides, warm CO, and cold dust

Sagittarius B2 (Sgr B2) is one of the most massive and luminous star-forming regions in the Galaxy and shows chemical and physical conditions similar to those in distant extragalactic starbursts. We present large-scale far-IR/submm photometric images and spectroscopic maps taken with the PACS and SPIRE instruments onboard Herschel. The spectra towards the Sgr B2 star-forming cores, B2(M) and B2(N), are characterized by strong CO line emission, emission lines from high-density tracers (HCN, HCO+, and H2S), [N II] 205 um emission from ionized gas, and absorption lines from hydride molecules (OH+, H2O+, H2O, CH+, CH, SH+, HF, NH, NH2, and NH3). The rotational population diagrams of CO suggest the presence of two gas temperature components: an extended warm component, which is associated with the extended envelope, and a hotter component, which is seen towards the B2(M) and B2(N) cores. As observed in other Galactic Center clouds, the gas temperatures are significantly higher than the dust temperatures inferred from photometric images. We determined far-IR and total dust masses in the cores. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium models of the CO excitation were used to constrain the averaged gas density in the cores. A uniform luminosity ratio is measured along the extended envelope, suggesting that the same mechanism dominates the heating of the molecular gas at large scales. The detection of high-density molecular tracers and of strong [N II] 205 um line emission towards the cores suggests that their morphology must be clumpy to allow UV radiation to escape from the inner HII regions. Together with shocks, the strong UV radiation field is likely responsible for the heating of the hot CO component. At larger scales, photodissociation regions models can explain both the observed CO line ratios and the uniform L(CO)/LFIR luminosity ratios