Abstract We present an implementation of a Bayesian mixture model using Hamiltonian Monte Carlo techniques to search for the spatial separation of Galactic dust populations. Utilizing intensity ...measurements from the Planck High Frequency Instrument, we apply this model to high-latitude Galactic dust emission. Our analysis reveals a strong preference for a spatially varying two-population dust model over a one-population dust model, when the latter must capture the total variance in the sky. Each dust population is well characterized by a single-component spectral energy distribution (SED) and accommodates small variations. These populations could signify two distinct components or may originate from a one-component model with different temperatures resulting in different SED scalings. While no spatial information is built into the likelihood, our investigation unveils large-scale spatially coherent structures with high significance, pointing to a physical origin for the observed spatial variation. These results are robust to our choice of likelihood and input data. Furthermore, this spatially varying two-population model is the most favored from Bayesian evidence calculations. Incorporating IRAS 100 μ m to constrain the Wein side of the blackbody function, we find the dust populations differ at the 2.5 σ level in the spectral index ( β d ) versus temperature ( T d ) plane. The presence of multiple dust populations has implications for component separation techniques frequently employed in the recovery of the cosmic microwave background.
Reclamation of wastewater (WW) for irrigation, after treatment represents a challenge that could alleviate pressure on water resources and address the increasing demand for agriculture. However, the ...risks to human health must be assessed, particularly those related to human enteric viruses that resist standard treatments in most wastewater treatment plants (WWTP). The risks associated with exposure to viral bioaerosols near WWTP and near agricultural plots irrigated with WW are poorly documented. The objectives of this study were to 1) better characterize human enteric viruses found in bioaerosols near a “standard WWTP” and over fields irrigated with treated WW and 2) propose a numeric model to assess the health risk to populations located close to the irrigated areas, with particular attention to norovirus, which is responsible for most viral gastroenteritis in France. Water and air samples were collected at various locations in the largest French WW-irrigated site near Clermont-Ferrand, at the WWTP entrance and after treatment, in the air above activated sludge basins, and above fields irrigated with WW. Various enteric viruses were found in the water samples collected both before and after treatment. Norovirus was the most abundant with >10e4 genome copies/l (GC/L) before treatment and ~10e3 GC/L after treatment. Low quantities (<10e3GC/m3) were detected in the air above active sludge pools and irrigated plots. Hepatitis E virus was detected in all sampled compartments. A quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) approach, including a simplified atmospheric dispersion model, allowed assessment of norovirus infection risk. The Bayesian QMRA approach considered wind speed measurements over 21years, and the variability and uncertainty of all measurements throughout the chain up to the risk. The probability of infection within one year for the most exposed WWTP employees was >10e-4 for strong wind speed (≥3m/s) and a constant emission rate of 8e3 GC/m3/s. This probability decreases by 3 log when the distance to the emission source is doubled. This information can aid development of safe water reuse policies in terms of local setback distance and wind conditions for wastewater reuse.
Display omitted
•Enteric viruses were measured in water and in air near a WW treatment plant and fields irrigated with WW•Noroviruses were the most abundant in raw water (>10e4 GC/L); low quantities of airborne viruses were detected (£10e3 GC/m3)•The health risk of inhaled norovirus was assessed using a Bayesian QMRA approach that included an atmospheric dispersion model•The annual probability of infection at the 95th percentile is >10^-4 for strong wind speeds and a constant virus emission rate•This probability decreases by 3 log when the distance to the emission source is doubled.
This is a report on the status and prospects of the quantification of neutrino properties through the cosmological neutrino background for the Cosmic Frontier of the Division of Particles and Fields ...Community Summer Study long-term planning exercise. Experiments planned and underway are prepared to study the cosmological neutrino background in detail via its influence on distance-redshift relations and the growth of structure. The program for the next decade described in this document, including upcoming spectroscopic galaxy surveys eBOSS and DESI and a new Stage-IV CMB polarization experiment CMB-S4, will achieve σ(σmν)=16meV and σ(Neff)=0.020. Such a mass measurement will produce a high significance detection of non-zero σmν, whose lower bound derived from atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation data is about 58meV. If neutrinos have a minimal normal mass hierarchy, this measurement will definitively rule out the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, shedding light on one of the most puzzling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics — the origin of mass. This precise a measurement of Neff will allow for high sensitivity to any light and dark degrees of freedom produced in the big bang and a precision test of the standard cosmological model prediction that Neff=3.046.
Abstract SuperBIT was a 0.5 m near-UV to near-infrared wide-field telescope that launched on a NASA superpressure balloon into the stratosphere from New Zealand for a 45-night flight. SuperBIT ...acquired multiband images of galaxy clusters to study the properties of dark matter using weak gravitational lensing. We provide an overview of the instrument and its various subsystems. We then present the instrument performance from the flight, including the telescope and image stabilization system, the optical system, the power system, and the thermal system. SuperBIT successfully met the instrument’s technical requirements, achieving a telescope pointing stability of 0.″34 ± 0.″10, a focal plane image stability of 0.″055 ± 0.″027, and a point-spread function FWHM of ∼0.″35 over 5-minute exposures throughout the 45-night flight. The telescope achieved a near-diffraction-limited point-spread function in all three science bands ( u , b , and g ). SuperBIT served as a pathfinder to the GigaBIT observatory, which will be a 1.34 m near-UV to near-infrared balloon-borne telescope.
Abstract
The Superpressure Balloon-borne Imaging Telescope (
SuperBIT
) is a diffraction-limited, wide-field, 0.5 m, near-infrared to near-ultraviolet observatory designed to exploit the ...stratosphere’s space-like conditions.
SuperBIT
’s 2023 science flight will deliver deep, blue imaging of galaxy clusters for gravitational lensing analysis. In preparation, we have developed a weak-lensing measurement pipeline with modern algorithms for PSF characterization, shape measurement, and shear calibration. We validate our pipeline and forecast
SuperBIT
survey properties with simulated galaxy cluster observations in
SuperBIT
’s near-UV and blue bandpasses. We predict imaging depth, galaxy number (source) density, and redshift distribution for observations in
SuperBIT
’s three bluest filters; the effect of lensing sample selections is also considered. We find that, in three hours of on-sky integration,
SuperBIT
can attain a depth of
b
= 26 mag and a total source density exceeding 40 galaxies per square arcminute. Even with the application of lensing-analysis catalog selections, we find
b
-band source densities between 25 and 30 galaxies per square arcminute with a median redshift of
z
= 1.1. Our analysis confirms
SuperBIT
’s capability for weak gravitational lensing measurements in the blue.
Objectives: To highlight clinical features and outcome of acute fulminant myocarditis (AFM) in children. Methods: Diagnostic criteria were (1) the presence of severe and acute heart failure; (2) left ...ventricular dysfunction on echocardiography; (3) recent history of viral illness; and (4) no history of cardiomyopathy. Results: Eleven children were included between 1998 and 2003, at a median age of 1 (0 to 9) year. Their mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 22 (SD 9)% at presentation. A virus was identified in five patients: human parvovirus B19 (n = 2), Epstein–Barr (n = 1), varicella zoster (n = 1), and coxsackie (n = 1). The median intensive care unit course was 13 (2–34) days. Intravenous inotropic support was required by nine patients and eight were mechanically ventilated. All patients received corticosteroid, associated with intravenous immunoglobulin in seven. Five patients experienced cardiocirculatory arrest that was successfully resuscitated in four. At a median follow up of 58.7 (33.8–83.1) months, the 10 survivors are asymptomatic with normalised LVEF. Conclusion: Despite a severe presentation, the outcome of AFM is favourable. Aggressive symptomatic management is warranted and heart transplantation should be considered only when maximal supportive therapy does not lead to improvement.
To assess the health-related quality of life (QoL) in children with congenital heart diseases (CHD) with a validated questionnaire in comparison with control children. We prospectively recruited 282 ...children with CHD aged from 8 to 18 years in two tertiary care centers (France and Belgium) and 180 same-age controls in randomly selected French schools. Children’s QoL was self-reported with the KIDSCREEN-52 questionnaire and reported by parents with the KIDSCREEN-27. QoL scores of each dimension were compared between CHD and controls and between the classes of disease severity. Both centers were comparable for most demographic and clinical data. Age- and gender-adjusted self-reported QoL scores were lower in CHD children than in controls for physical well-being (mean ± SEM 45.97 ± 0.57 vs 50.16 ± 0.71,
p
< 0.0001), financial resources (45.72 ± 0.70 vs 48.85 ± 0.87,
p
= 0.01), peers/social support (48.01 ± 0.72 vs 51.02 ± 0.88,
p
= 0.01), and autonomy in the multivariate analysis (47.63 ± 0.69 vs 49.28 ± 0.85,
p
= 0.04). Parents-reported scores were lower in CHD children for physical (
p
< 0.0001), psychological well-being (
p
= 0.04), peers/social support (
p
< 0.0001), and school environment (
p
< 0.0001) dimensions. Similarly, the disease severity had an impact on physical well-being (
p
< 0.001), financial resources (
p
= 0.05), and peers/social support (
p
= 0.01) for self-reported dimensions, and on physical well-being (
p
< 0.001), psychological well-being (
p
< 0.01), peers/social support (
p
< 0.001), and school environment (
p
< 0.001) for parents-reported dimensions. However, in multivariate analysis on self-reported QoL, disease severity was significantly associated with the self-perception dimension only. Self-reported QoL of CHD children was similar to that of same-age healthy children in seven of 10 dimensions, but parents-reported QoL was impaired in four of five dimensions.
Fluctuations in the intensity and polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the large-scale distribution of matter in the universe each contain clues about the nature of the earliest ...moments of time. The next generation of CMB and large-scale structure (LSS) experiments are poised to test the leading paradigm for these earliest moments—the theory of cosmic inflation—and to detect the imprints of the inflationary epoch, thereby dramatically increasing our understanding of fundamental physics and the early universe. A future CMB experiment with sufficient angular resolution and frequency coverage that surveys at least 1% of the sky to a depth of 1 uK-arcmin can deliver a constraint on the tensor-to-scalar ratio that will either result in a 5σ measurement of the energy scale of inflation or rule out all large-field inflation models, even in the presence of foregrounds and the gravitational lensing B-mode signal. LSS experiments, particularly spectroscopic surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, will complement the CMB effort by improving current constraints on running of the spectral index by up to a factor of four, improving constraints on curvature by a factor of ten, and providing non-Gaussianity constraints that are competitive with the current CMB bounds.
PDF
