| 1. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2014
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE. - 9780819496126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Large Observatory For x-ray Timing (LOFT) was studied within ESA M3 Cosmic Vision framework and participated in the final downselection for a launch slot in 2022-2024. Thanks to the unprecedented combination of effective area and spectral resolution of its main instrument, LOFT will study the behaviour of matter under extreme conditions, such as the strong gravitational field in the innermost regions of accretion flows close to black holes and neutron stars, and the supranuclear densities in the interior of neutron stars. The science payload is based on a Large Area Detector (LAD, 10 m2 effective area, 2-30 keV, 240 eV spectral resolution, 1° collimated field of view) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM, 2-50 keV, 4 steradian field of view, 1 arcmin source location accuracy, 300 eV spectral resolution). The WFM is equipped with an on-board system for bright events (e.g. GRB) localization. The trigger time and position of these events are broadcast to the ground within 30 s from discovery. In this paper we present the status of the mission at the end of its Phase A study.
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| 2. |
- Feroci, M., et al.
(författare)
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LOFT - The large observatory for x-ray timing
- 2012
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 9780819491442 ; , s. 84432D-
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The LOFT mission concept is one of four candidates selected by ESA for the M3 launch opportunity as Medium Size missions of the Cosmic Vision programme. The launch window is currently planned for between 2022 and 2024. LOFT is designed to exploit the diagnostics of rapid X-ray flux and spectral variability that directly probe the motion of matter down to distances very close to black holes and neutron stars, as well as the physical state of ultradense matter. These primary science goals will be addressed by a payload composed of a Large Area Detector (LAD) and a Wide Field Monitor (WFM). The LAD is a collimated (<1 degree field of view) experiment operating in the energy range 2-50 keV, with a 10 m2 peak effective area and an energy resolution of 260 eV at 6 keV. The WFM will operate in the same energy range as the LAD, enabling simultaneous monitoring of a few-steradian wide field of view, with an angular resolution of <5 arcmin. The LAD and WFM experiments will allow us to investigate variability from submillisecond QPO's to yearlong transient outbursts. In this paper we report the current status of the project.
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| 3. |
- Bentham, James, et al.
(författare)
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A century of trends in adult human height
- 2016
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Ingår i: eLIFE. - : eLife Sciences Publications Ltd. - 2050-084X. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Being taller is associated with enhanced longevity, and higher education and earnings. We reanalysed 1472 population-based studies, with measurement of height on more than 18.6 million participants to estimate mean height for people born between 1896 and 1996 in 200 countries. The largest gain in adult height over the past century has occurred in South Korean women and Iranian men, who became 20.2 cm (95% credible interval 17.5–22.7) and 16.5 cm (13.3– 19.7) taller, respectively. In contrast, there was little change in adult height in some sub-Saharan African countries and in South Asia over the century of analysis. The tallest people over these 100 years are men born in the Netherlands in the last quarter of 20th century, whose average heights surpassed 182.5 cm, and the shortest were women born in Guatemala in 1896 (140.3 cm; 135.8– 144.8). The height differential between the tallest and shortest populations was 19-20 cm a century ago, and has remained the same for women and increased for men a century later despite substantial changes in the ranking of countries.
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| 4. |
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| 5. |
- Palmer, Nicholette D, et al.
(författare)
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A genome-wide association search for type 2 diabetes genes in African Americans.
- 2012
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Ingår i: PloS one. - San Francisco : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 7:1, s. e29202-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- African Americans are disproportionately affected by type 2 diabetes (T2DM) yet few studies have examined T2DM using genome-wide association approaches in this ethnicity. The aim of this study was to identify genes associated with T2DM in the African American population. We performed a Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS) using the Affymetrix 6.0 array in 965 African-American cases with T2DM and end-stage renal disease (T2DM-ESRD) and 1029 population-based controls. The most significant SNPs (n = 550 independent loci) were genotyped in a replication cohort and 122 SNPs (n = 98 independent loci) were further tested through genotyping three additional validation cohorts followed by meta-analysis in all five cohorts totaling 3,132 cases and 3,317 controls. Twelve SNPs had evidence of association in the GWAS (P<0.0071), were directionally consistent in the Replication cohort and were associated with T2DM in subjects without nephropathy (P<0.05). Meta-analysis in all cases and controls revealed a single SNP reaching genome-wide significance (P<2.5×10(-8)). SNP rs7560163 (P = 7.0×10(-9), OR (95% CI) = 0.75 (0.67-0.84)) is located intergenically between RND3 and RBM43. Four additional loci (rs7542900, rs4659485, rs2722769 and rs7107217) were associated with T2DM (P<0.05) and reached more nominal levels of significance (P<2.5×10(-5)) in the overall analysis and may represent novel loci that contribute to T2DM. We have identified novel T2DM-susceptibility variants in the African-American population. Notably, T2DM risk was associated with the major allele and implies an interesting genetic architecture in this population. These results suggest that multiple loci underlie T2DM susceptibility in the African-American population and that these loci are distinct from those identified in other ethnic populations.
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| 6. |
- Ariga, T., et al.
(författare)
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Measuring GBAR with emulsion detector
- 2014
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Ingår i: International Journal of Modern Physics, Conference Series. - : World Scientific. - 2010-1945. ; 30
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 7. |
- Aghion, S., et al.
(författare)
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A moiré deflectometer for antimatter
- 2014
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 2041-1723. ; 5
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The precise measurement of forces is one way to obtain deep insight into the fundamental interactions present in nature. In the context of neutral antimatter, the gravitational interaction is of high interest, potentially revealing new forces that violate the weak equivalence principle. Here we report on a successful extension of a tool from atom optics—the moiré deflectometer—for a measurement of the acceleration of slow antiprotons. The setup consists of two identical transmission gratings and a spatially resolving emulsion detector for antiproton annihilations. Absolute referencing of the observed antimatter pattern with a photon pattern experiencing no deflection allows the direct inference of forces present. The concept is also straightforwardly applicable to antihydrogen measurements as pursued by the AEgIS collaboration. The combination of these very different techniques from high energy and atomic physics opens a very promising route to the direct detection of the gravitational acceleration of neutral antimatter.
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| 8. |
- Walford, G. A., et al.
(författare)
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Genome-wide association study of the modified stumvoll insulin sensitivity index identifies BCL2 and FAM19A2 as novel insulin sensitivity loci
- 2016
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Ingår i: Diabetes. - : American Diabetes Association. - 0012-1797 .- 1939-327X. ; 65:10, s. 3200-3211
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have found few common variants that influence fasting measures of insulin sensitivity. We hypothesized that a GWAS of an integrated assessment of fasting and dynamic measures of insulin sensitivity would detect novel common variants. We performed a GWAS of the modified Stumvoll Insulin Sensitivity Index (ISI) within the Meta-Analyses of Glucose and Insulin-Related Traits Consortium. Discovery for genetic association was performed in 16,753 individuals, and replication was attempted for the 23 most significant novel loci in 13,354 independent individuals. Association with ISI was tested in models adjusted for age, sex, and BMI and in a model analyzing the combined influence of the genotype effect adjusted for BMI and the interaction effect between the genotype and BMI on ISI (model 3). In model 3, three variants reached genome-wide significance: Rs13422522 (NYAP2; P = 8.87 × 10-11), rs12454712 (BCL2; P = 2.7 × 10-8), and rs10506418 (FAM19A2; P = 1.9 × 10-8). The association at NYAP2 was eliminated by conditioning on the known IRS1 insulin sensitivity locus; the BCL2 and FAM19A2 associations were independent of known cardiometabolic loci. In conclusion, we identified two novel loci and replicated known variants associated with insulin sensitivity. Further studies are needed to clarify the causal variant and function at the BCL2 and FAM19A2 loci. © 2016 by the American Diabetes Association.
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| 9. |
- Benz, A. O., et al.
(författare)
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Hydrides in young stellar objects : Radiation tracers in a protostar-disk-outflow system
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L35-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Context. Hydrides of the most abundant heavier elements are fundamental molecules in cosmic chemistry. Some of them trace gas irradiated by UV or X-rays. Aims: We explore the abundances of major hydrides in W3 IRS5, a prototypical region of high-mass star formation. Methods: W3 IRS5 was observed by HIFI on the Herschel Space Observatory with deep integration (≃2500 s) in 8 spectral regions. Results: The target lines including CH, NH, H3O+, and the new molecules SH+, H2O+, and OH+ are detected. The H2O+ and OH+ J = 1-0 lines are found mostly in absorption, but also appear to exhibit weak emission (P-Cyg-like). Emission requires high density, thus originates most likely near the protostar. This is corroborated by the absence of line shifts relative to the young stellar object (YSO). In addition, H2O+ and OH+ also contain strong absorption components at a velocity shifted relative to W3 IRS5, which are attributed to foreground clouds. Conclusions: The molecular column densities derived from observations correlate well with the predictions of a model that assumes the main emission region is in outflow walls, heated and irradiated by protostellar UV radiation. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by a European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendix (page 5) is only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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| 10. |
- Kristensen, L. E., et al.
(författare)
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Water in low-mass star-forming regions with Herschel . HIFI spectroscopy of NGC 1333
- 2010
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 521, s. L30-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- “Water In Star-forming regions with Herschel” (WISH) is a key programme dedicated to studying the role of water and related species during the star-formation process and constraining the physical and chemical properties of young stellar objects. The Heterodyne Instrument for the Far-Infrared (HIFI) on the Herschel Space Observatory observed three deeply embedded protostars in the low-mass star-forming region NGC 1333 in several H_216O, H_218O, and CO transitions. Line profiles are resolved for five H_216O transitions in each source, revealing them to be surprisingly complex. The line profiles are decomposed into broad (>20 km s-1), medium-broad (~5-10 km s-1), and narrow (<5 km s-1) components. The H_218O emission is only detected in broad 110-101 lines (>20 km s-1), indicating that its physical origin is the same as for the broad H_216O component. In one of the sources, IRAS4A, an inverse P Cygni profile is observed, a clear sign of infall in the envelope. From the line profiles alone, it is clear that the bulk of emission arises from shocks, both on small (⪉1000 AU) and large scales along the outflow cavity walls (~10 000 AU). The H2O line profiles are compared to CO line profiles to constrain the H2O abundance as a function of velocity within these shocked regions. The H2O/CO abundance ratios are measured to be in the range of ~0.1-1, corresponding to H2O abundances of ~10-5-10-4 with respect to H2. Approximately 5-10% of the gas is hot enough for all oxygen to be driven into water in warm post-shock gas, mostly at high velocities. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Tables 2 and 3 (page 6) are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
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