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- Fomalont, E. B., et al.
(author)
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THE 2014 ALMA LONG BASELINE CAMPAIGN: AN OVERVIEW
- 2015
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In: Astrophysical Journal Letters. - : American Astronomical Society. - 2041-8213 .- 2041-8205. ; 808:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A major goal of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is to make accurate images with resolutions of tens of milliarcseconds, which at submillimeter (submm) wavelengths requires baselines up to similar to 15 km. To develop and test this capability, a Long Baseline Campaign (LBC) was carried out from 2014 September to late November, culminating in end-to-end observations, calibrations, and imaging of selected Science Verification (SV) targets. This paper presents an overview of the campaign and its main results, including an investigation of the short-term coherence properties and systematic phase errors over the long baselines at the ALMA site, a summary of the SV targets and observations, and recommendations for science observing strategies at long baselines. Deep ALMA images of the quasar 3C 138 at 97 and 241 GHz are also compared to VLA 43 GHz results, demonstrating an agreement at a level of a few percent. As a result of the extensive program of LBC testing, the highly successful SV imaging at long baselines achieved angular resolutions as fine as 19 mas at similar to 350 GHz. Observing with ALMA on baselines of up to 15 km is now possible, and opens up new parameter space for submm astronomy.
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2. |
- Harsono, D., et al.
(author)
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Evidence for the start of planet formation in a young circumstellar disk
- 2018
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In: Nature Astronomy. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2397-3366. ; 2:8, s. 646-651
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- © 2018, The Author(s). The growth of dust grains in protoplanetary disks is a necessary first step towards planet formation1. This growth has been inferred from observations of thermal dust emission2towards mature protoplanetary systems (age >2 million years) with masses that are, on average, similar to Neptune3. In contrast, the majority of confirmed exoplanets are heavier than Neptune4. Given that young protoplanetary disks are more massive than their mature counterparts, this suggests that planet formation starts early, but evidence for grain growth that is spatially and temporally coincident with a massive reservoir in young disks remains scarce. Here, we report observations on a lack of emission of carbon monoxide isotopologues within the inner ~15 au of a very young (age ~100,000 years) disk around the solar-type protostar TMC1A. By using the absence of spatially resolved molecular line emission to infer the gas and dust content of the disk, we conclude that shielding by millimetre-size grains is responsible for the lack of emission. This suggests that grain growth and millimetre-size dust grains can be spatially and temporally coincident with a mass reservoir sufficient for giant planet formation. Hence, planet formation starts during the earliest, embedded phases in the life of young stars.
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3. |
- Keogan, Katharine, et al.
(author)
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Global phenological insensitivity to shifting ocean temperatures among seabirds
- 2018
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In: Nature Climate Change. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1758-678X .- 1758-6798. ; 8:4, s. 313-318
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Reproductive timing in many taxa plays a key role in determining breeding productivity(1), and is often sensitive to climatic conditions(2). Current climate change may alter the timing of breeding at different rates across trophic levels, potentially resulting in temporal mismatch between the resource requirements of predators and their prey(3). This is of particular concern for higher-trophic-level organisms, whose longer generation times confer a lower rate of evolutionary rescue than primary producers or consumers(4). However, the disconnection between studies of ecological change in marine systems makes it difficult to detect general changes in the timing of reproduction(5). Here, we use a comprehensive meta-analysis of 209 phenological time series from 145 breeding populations to show that, on average, seabird populations worldwide have not adjusted their breeding seasons over time (-0.020 days yr(-1)) or in response to sea surface temperature (SST) (-0.272 days degrees C-1) between 1952 and 2015. However, marked between-year variation in timing observed in resident species and some Pelecaniformes and Suliformes (cormorants, gannets and boobies) may imply that timing, in some cases, is affected by unmeasured environmental conditions. This limited temperature-mediated plasticity of reproductive timing in seabirds potentially makes these top predators highly vulnerable to future mismatch with lower-trophic-level resources(2).
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4. |
- Sichien, Dorine, et al.
(author)
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IRF8 Transcription Factor Controls Survival and Function of Terminally Differentiated Conventional and Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells, Respectively
- 2016
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In: Immunity. - : Elsevier BV. - 1074-7613. ; 45:3, s. 626-640
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Interferon regulatory factor-8 (IRF8) has been proposed to be essential for development of monocytes, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) and type 1 conventional dendritic cells (cDC1s) and remains highly expressed in differentiated DCs. Transcription factors that are required to maintain the identity of terminally differentiated cells are designated “terminal selectors.” Using BM chimeras, conditional Irf8fl/fl mice and various promotors to target Cre recombinase to different stages of monocyte and DC development, we have identified IRF8 as a terminal selector of the cDC1 lineage controlling survival. In monocytes, IRF8 was necessary during early but not late development. Complete or late deletion of IRF8 had no effect on pDC development or survival but altered their phenotype and gene-expression profile leading to increased T cell stimulatory function but decreased type 1 interferon production. Thus, IRF8 differentially controls the survival and function of terminally differentiated monocytes, cDC1s, and pDCs.
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5. |
- Taquet, V., et al.
(author)
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Linking interstellar and cometary O2: A deep search for 16O18O in the solar-Type protostar IRAS 16293b-2422
- 2018
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In: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 618
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Recent measurements carried out at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P) with the Rosetta probe revealed that molecular oxygen, O2, is the fourth most abundant molecule in comets. Models show that O2 is likely of primordial nature, coming from the interstellar cloud from which our solar system was formed. However, gaseous O2 is an elusive molecule in the interstellar medium with only one detection towards quiescent molecular clouds, in the ρ Oph A core. We perform a deep search for molecular oxygen, through the 21-01 rotational transition at 234 GHz of its 16O18O isotopologue, towards the warm compact gas surrounding the nearby Class 0 protostar IRAS 16293-2422 B with the ALMA interferometer. We also look for the chemical daughters of O2, HO2, and H2O2. Unfortunately, the H2O2 rotational transition is dominated by ethylene oxide c-C2H4O while HO2 is not detected. The targeted 16O18O transition is surrounded by two brighter transitions at ± 1 km s-1 relative to the expected 16O18O transition frequency. After subtraction of these two transitions, residual emission at a 3σ level remains, but with a velocity offset of 0.3-0.5 km s-1 relative to the source velocity, rendering the detection "tentative". We derive the O2 column density for two excitation temperatures Tex of 125 and 300 K, as indicated by other molecules, in order to compare the O2 abundance between IRAS 16293 and comet 67P. Assuming that 16O18O is not detected and using methanol CH3OH as a reference species, we obtain a [O2]/[CH3OH] abundance ratio lower than 2-5, depending on the assumed Tex, a three to four times lower abundance than the [O2]/[CH3OH] ratio of 5-15 found in comet 67P. Such a low O2 abundance could be explained by the lower temperature of the dense cloud precursor of IRAS 16293 with respect to the one at the origin of our solar system that prevented efficient formation of O2 in interstellar ices.
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6. |
- Thomas, Maud, 1986, et al.
(author)
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Applications of Extreme Value Theory in Public Health
- 2016
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In: PLoS ONE. - : Public Library of Science (PLoS). - 1932-6203. ; 11:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objectives We present how Extreme Value Theory (EVT) can be used in public health to predict future extreme events. We applied EVT to weekly rates of Pneumonia and Influenza (P&I) deaths over 1979-2011. We further explored the daily number of emergency department visits in a network of 37 hospitals over 2004-2014. Maxima of grouped consecutive observations were fitted to a generalized extreme value distribution. The distribution was used to estimate the probability of extreme values in specified time periods. An annual P&I death rate of 12 per 100,000 (the highest maximum observed) should be exceeded once over the next 30 years and each year, there should be a 3% risk that the P&I death rate will exceed this value. Over the past 10 years, the observed maximum increase in the daily number of visits from the same weekday between two consecutive weeks was 1133. We estimated at 0.37% the probability of exceeding a daily increase of 1000 on each month. The EVT method can be applied to various topics in epidemiology thus contributing to public health planning for extreme events.
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