Spatial and temporal variation of satellite-derived phytoplankton biomass and production in the California Current System off Punta Eugenia, during 1997-2012

The great biodiversity of the California Current System area off Punta Eugenia is supported by high phytoplankton production (PP) caused by coastal upwelling. Satellite imagery was used to characterize the sea surface temperature (SST), phytoplankton biomass (Chlsat), and PP variation in this area during 1997-2012, and to generate a first approximation to its climatology, or an average year. Chlsat and PP had higher values inshore (0-120 km from shore) than offshore. SST had minima inshore and maxima offshore from January through October, with a gradient reversal at the end of autumn. SST often presented spatial distributions with minima and maxima suggesting mesoscale phenomena, such as meanders and eddies. These affected Chlsat and PP inshore. In general, inshore Chlsat and PP were high in March-August (up to >5 mg m-3, and >3.5 g C m-2 d-1), and low in September-February (up to ~1.2 mg m-3, and ~1.2 g C m-2 d-1). Offshore (120-240 km), Chlsat and PP presented similar and relatively low values throughout the whole year, ~0.3 mg m-3 and ~0.5 g C m-2 d-1. Most Chlsat and PP variation was in the annual and interannual periods. Chlsat data from 1998 (El Niño year) and those of 2000 presented significant differences for the inshore region. But, when comparing other El Niño years, there were no significant differences, suggesting that the local impact of ENSO events depend on the type of El Niño, the Pacific decadal oscillation phase, and the incidence of mesoscale phenomena such as meanders and eddies.The great biodiversity of the California Current System area off Punta Eugenia is supported by high phytoplankton production (PP) caused by coastal upwelling. Satellite imagery was used to characterize the sea surface temperature (SST), phytoplankton biomass (Chlsat), and PP variation in this area during 1997-2012, and to generate a first approximation to its climatology, or an average year. Chlsat and PP had higher values inshore (0-120 km from shore) than offshore. SST had minima inshore and maxima offshore from January through October, with a gradient reversal at the end of autumn. SST often presented spatial distributions with minima and maxima suggesting mesoscale phenomena, such as meanders and eddies. These affected Chlsat and PP inshore. In general, inshore Chlsat and PP were high in March-August (up to >5 mg m-3, and >3.5 g C m-2 d-1), and low in September-February (up to ~1.2 mg m-3, and ~1.2 g C m-2 d-1). Offshore (120-240 km), Chlsat and PP presented similar and relatively low values throughout the whole year, ~0.3 mg m-3 and ~0.5 g C m-2 d-1. Most Chlsat and PP variation was in the annual and interannual periods. Chlsat data from 1998 (El Niño year) and those of 2000 presented significant differences for the inshore region. But, when comparing other El Niño years, there were no significant differences, suggesting that the local impact of ENSO events depend on the type of El Niño, the Pacific decadal oscillation phase, and the incidence of mesoscale phenomena such as meanders and eddies

Lightcurves of Type Ia Supernovae from Near the Time of Explosion

We present a set of 11 type Ia supernova (SN Ia) lightcurves with dense, pre-maximum sampling. These supernovae (SNe), in galaxies behind the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), were discovered by the SuperMACHO survey. The SNe span a redshift range of z = 0.11 - 0.35. Our lightcurves contain some of the earliest pre-maximum observations of SNe Ia to date. We also give a functional model that describes the SN Ia lightcurve shape (in our VR-band). Our function uses the "expanding fireball" model of Goldhaber et al. (1998) to describe the rising lightcurve immediately after explosion but constrains it to smoothly join the remainder of the lightcurve. We fit this model to a composite observed VR-band lightcurve of three SNe between redshifts of 0.135 to 0.165. These SNe have not been K-corrected or adjusted to account for reddening. In this redshift range, the observed VR-band most closely matches the rest frame V-band. Using the best fit to our functional description of the lightcurve, we find the time between explosion and observed VR-band maximum to be 17.6+-1.3(stat)+-0.07(sys) rest-frame days for a SN Ia with a VR-band Delta m_{-10} of 0.52mag. For the redshifts sampled, the observed VR-band time-of-maximum brightness should be the same as the rest-frame V-band maximum to within 1.1 rest-frame days.Comment: 35 pages, 18 figures, 15 tables; Higher quality PDF available at http://ctiokw.ctio.noao.edu/~sm/sm/SNrise/index.html; AJ accepte

Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Nine High-Redshift ESSENCE Supernovae

We present broad-band light curves of nine supernovae ranging in redshift from 0.5 to 0.8. The supernovae were discovered as part of the ESSENCE project, and the light curves are a combination of Cerro Tololo 4-m and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) photometry. On the basis of spectra and/or light-curve fitting, eight of these objects are definitely Type Ia supernovae, while the classification of one is problematic. The ESSENCE project is a five-year endeavor to discover about 200 high-redshift Type Ia supernovae, with the goal of tightly constraining the time average of the equation-of-state parameter [w = p/(rho c^2)] of the "dark energy." To help minimize our systematic errors, all of our ground-based photometry is obtained with the same telescope and instrument. In 2003 the highest-redshift subset of ESSENCE supernovae was selected for detailed study with HST. Here we present the first photometric results of the survey. We find that all but one of the ESSENCE SNe have slowly declining light curves, and the sample is not representative of the low-redshift set of ESSENCE Type Ia supernovae. This is unlikely to be a sign of evolution in the population. We attribute the decline-rate distribution of HST events to a selection bias at the high-redshift edge of our sample and find that such a bias will infect other magnitude-limited SN Ia searches unless appropriate precautions are taken.Comment: 62 pages, 18 numbered figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa

Spectroscopy of High-Redshift Supernovae from the ESSENCE Project: The First Two Years

We present the results of spectroscopic observations of targets discovered during the first two years of the ESSENCE project. The goal of ESSENCE is to use a sample of ~200 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at moderate redshifts (0.2 < z < 0.8) to place constraints on the equation of state of the Universe. Spectroscopy not only provides the redshifts of the objects, but also confirms that some of the discoveries are indeed SNe Ia. This confirmation is critical to the project, as techniques developed to determine luminosity distances to SNe Ia depend upon the knowledge that the objects at high redshift are the same as the ones at low redshift. We describe the methods of target selection and prioritization, the telescopes and detectors, and the software used to identify objects. The redshifts deduced from spectral matching of high-redshift SNe Ia with low-redshift SNe Ia are consistent with those determined from host-galaxy spectra. We show that the high-redshift SNe Ia match well with low-redshift templates. We include all spectra obtained by the ESSENCE project, including 52 SNe Ia, 5 core-collapse SNe, 12 active galactic nuclei, 19 galaxies, 4 possibly variable stars, and 16 objects with uncertain identifications.Comment: 38 pages, 9 figures (many with multiple parts), submitted to A

Using Line Profiles to Test the Fraternity of Type Ia Supernovae at High and Low Redshifts

Using archival data of low-redshift (z < 0.01) Type Ia supernovae (SN Ia) and recent observations of high-redshift (0.16 < z <0.64; Matheson et al. 2005) SN Ia, we study the "uniformity'' of the spectroscopic properties of nearby and distant SN Ia. We find no difference in the measures we describe here. In this paper, we base our analysis solely on line-profile morphology, focusing on measurements of the velocity location of maximum absorption (vabs) and peak emission (vpeak). We find that the evolution of vabs and vpeak for our sample lines (Ca II 3945, Si II 6355, and S II 5454, 5640) is similar for both the low- and high-redshift samples. We find that vabs for the weak S II 5454, 5640 lines, and vpeak for S II 5454, can be used to identify fast-declining [dm15 > 1.7] SN Ia, which are also subluminous. In addition, we give the first direct evidence in two high-z SN Ia spectra of a double-absorption feature in Ca II 3945, an event also observed, though infrequently, in low-redshift SN Ia spectra (6/22 SN Ia in our local sample). We report for the first time the unambiguous and systematic intrinsic blueshift of peak emission of optical P-Cygni line profiles in Type Ia spectra, by as much as 8000 km/s. All the high-z SN Ia analyzed in this paper were discovered and followed up by the ESSENCE collaboration, and are now publicly available.Comment: 28 pages (emulateapj), 15 figures; accepted for publication in A

Medios de comunicación y derecho a la información en Jalisco 2013

En el primer apartado, dedicado al sistema de medios en general, se presentan tres artículos: “Nuevos medios de comunicación en Jalisco”, “c7 ¿medio público o vocero del gobierno?” y “Réquiem por un ombudsman”. El segundo apartado está dedicado al tema de la libertad de expresión; se presentan aquí dos textos: “La vulnerabilidad en un ambiente de cambio. Los ataques a los medios de comunicación en Jalisco durante el año” y “Violaciones a la libertad de expresión de periodistas y trabajadores de medios en Jalisco, 1995-2013”. En el apartado “Derecho a la información, comunicación y política” se ofrecen cuatro textos de índole muy diversa: “La estrategia de comunicación del Gobierno del Estado”, “Diálogos públicos: la discusión de una nueva ley de transparencia para Jalisco”, “Cuando un niño desaparece, el peor enemigo es el tiempo…”, sobre la alerta Amber, y “2013: un año marcado por despidos en diversos periódicos de Guadalajara”. En la sección “Los que se fueron” se presenta la semblanza de Felipe Vicencio. Y en el apartado de “La investigación del observatorio de medios” se comparten los resultados de un trabajo sobre los columnistas de opinión jaliscienses que escriben en la prensa local.ITESO, A.C

Diagnosis of Genetic White Matter Disorders by Singleton Whole-Exome and Genome Sequencing Using Interactome-Driven Prioritization

Background and Objectives Genetic white matter disorders (GWMD) are of heterogeneous origin, with >100 causal genes identified to date. Classic targeted approaches achieve a molecular diagnosis in only half of all patients. We aimed to determine the clinical utility of singleton whole-exome sequencing and whole-genome sequencing (sWES-WGS) interpreted with a phenotype- and interactome-driven prioritization algorithm to diagnose GWMD while identifying novel phenotypes and candidate genes. Methods A case series of patients of all ages with undiagnosed GWMD despite extensive standard-of-care paraclinical studies were recruited between April 2017 and December 2019 in a collaborative study at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL) and neurology units of tertiary Spanish hospitals. We ran sWES and WGS and applied our interactome-prioritization algorithm based on the network expansion of a seed group of GWMD-related genes derived from the Human Phenotype Ontology terms of each patient. Results We evaluated 126 patients (101 children and 25 adults) with ages ranging from 1 month to 74 years. We obtained a first molecular diagnosis by singleton WES in 59% of cases, which increased to 68% after annual reanalysis, and reached 72% after WGS was performed in 16 of the remaining negative cases. We identified variants in 57 different genes among 91 diagnosed cases, with the most frequent being RNASEH2B, EIF2B5, POLR3A, and PLP1, and a dual diagnosis underlying complex phenotypes in 6 families, underscoring the importance of genomic analysis to solve these cases. We discovered 9 candidate genes causing novel diseases and propose additional putative novel candidate genes for yet-to-be discovered GWMD. Discussion Our strategy enables a high diagnostic yield and is a good alternative to trio WES/WGS for GWMD. It shortens the time to diagnosis compared to the classical targeted approach, thus optimizing appropriate management. Furthermore, the interactome-driven prioritization pipeline enables the discovery of novel disease-causing genes and phenotypes, and predicts novel putative candidate genes, shedding light on etiopathogenic mechanisms that are pivotal for myelin generation and maintenance