Nowadays, atom-based quantum sensors are leaving the laboratory towards field applications requiring compact and robust laser systems. Here we describe the realization of a compact laser system for ...atomic gravimetry. Starting with a single diode laser operating at 780 nm and adding only one fiber electro-optical modulator, one acousto-optical modulator and one laser amplifier we produce laser beams at all the frequencies required for a Rb-87 atomic gravimeter. Furthermore, we demonstrate that an atomic fountain configuration can also be implemented with our laser system. The modulated system reported here represents a substantial advance in the simplification of the laser source for transportable atom-based quantum sensors that can be adapted to other sensors such as atomic clocks, accelerometers, gyroscopes or magnetometers with minor modifications.
For many years, cow's milk has been considered as an essential food because of its nutritional value. However, the demand for plant-based milk alternatives (PBMAs) increased over recent years due to ...lactose intolerance and allergies, as well as different lifestyles. This review aims to provide updated information on the main raw materials used in PBMAs, as well as the production processes, technological functionality, nutritional composition, current consumption, benefits, sensory characteristics, and challenges in the development of PBMAs. Alternatives to formulate PBMAs are growing since traditional seeds or nuts are being rescued from endemic uses. Environmental benefits of PBMA over cow's milk is still unclear since carbon footprint, eutrophication, and water consumption depend on geographic location. PBMAs are inadequate to cover the nutrimental profile of cow's milk; however, the enrichment using additives and PBMAs blends are investigated to enhance their composition. Most PBMA physicochemical properties have close values to cow's milk. However, PBMAs technological uses need improvements since gel formation, water holding capacity, texture, and viscoelastic properties of derived products are poor. Main challenges in PBMA are related to enhance their stabilization, reduced their antinutrients, off-flavors, and allergens. The treatment of PBMAs using emerging technologies seems to help overcome these challenges.
The Sunrise balloon-borne solar observatory, consisting of a 1 m aperture telescope that provides a stabilized image to a UV filter imager and an imaging vector polarimeter, carried out its second ...science flight in 2013 June. It provided observations of parts of active regions at high spatial resolution, including the first high-resolution images in the Mg ii k line. The obtained data are of very high quality, with the best UV images reaching the diffraction limit of the telescope at 3000 after Multi-Frame Blind Deconvolution reconstruction accounting for phase-diversity information. Here a brief update is given of the instruments and the data reduction techniques, which includes an inversion of the polarimetric data. Mainly those aspects that evolved compared with the first flight are described. A tabular overview of the observations is given. In addition, an example time series of a part of the emerging active region NOAA AR 11768 observed relatively close to disk center is described and discussed in some detail. The observations cover the pores in the trailing polarity of the active region, as well as the polarity inversion line where flux emergence was ongoing and a small flare-like brightening occurred in the course of the time series. The pores are found to contain magnetic field strengths ranging up to 2500 G, and while large pores are clearly darker and cooler than the quiet Sun in all layers of the photosphere, the temperature and brightness of small pores approach or even exceed those of the quiet Sun in the upper photosphere.
ABSTRACT The Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator (GIADA) instrument on board ESA's Rosetta mission is constraining the origin of the dust particles detected within the coma of comet 67 ...P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (67P). The collected particles belong to two families: (i) compact particles (ranging in size from 0.03 to 1 mm), witnessing the presence of materials that underwent processing within the solar nebula and (ii) fluffy aggregates (ranging in size from 0.2 to 2.5 mm) of sub-micron grains that may be a record of a primitive component, probably linked to interstellar dust. The dynamics of the fluffy aggregates constrain their equivalent bulk density to kg m−3. These aggregates are charged, fragmented, and decelerated by the spacecraft negative potential and enter GIADA in showers of fragments at speeds m s−1. The density of such optically thick aggregates is consistent with the low bulk density of the nucleus. The mass contribution of the fluffy aggregates to the refractory component of the nucleus is negligible and their coma brightness contribution is less than 15%.
Background
Smoking at the time of surgery is associated with postoperative complications. Quitting smoking before surgery is linked to fewer complications during the hospital stay. This work analysed ...whether a smoking cessation intervention before surgery is economically worthwhile when funded by the National Health System (NHS) in Spain.
Methods
The economic analysis considered costs and benefits of the intervention to the NHS for the year 2016. The population who would benefit comprised adult smokers who were ready to quit and for whom surgery requiring admission to hospital was planned. The intervention, a combination of medical counselling and use of a smoking cessation drug which should occur 12 weeks before surgery, considered one attempt only to quit smoking. Benefits were costs avoided by averting postoperative complications if cessation was successful. The analysis compared the net economic outcome (benefit minus cost of intervention) and the return on investment, for intervention funded by the NHS versus the current situation without funding.
Results
Smoking cessation increased by 21·7 per cent with funding; the rate was 32·5 per cent when funded versus 10·7 per cent without funding, producing 9611 extra quitters. The cost per averted smoker was €1753 with a benefit of €503, achieving a net economic benefit of €4·8 million per year. Given the annual cost of the intervention (€17·4 million, of which €5·6 million (32·5 per cent) represents drugs), the return on investment was 28·7 per cent annually, equivalent to €1·29 per €1 of investment.
Conclusion
From the perspective of the Spanish NHS, the benefit of funding smoking cessation before surgery, in terms of healthcare cost savings, appears to greatly outweigh the costs.
Antecedentes
Ser fumador activo hasta el momento de la cirugía se asocia con complicaciones postoperatorias. Se ha descrito una disminución de las complicaciones durante la hospitalización al abandonar el hábito de fumar antes de la cirugía. Este trabajo analizó si una intervención preoperatoria para dejar de fumar es económicamente beneficiosa cuando se financia por el Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS) en España.
Métodos
En el análisis económico se consideraron tantos los costes como los beneficios de la intervención para el SNS, en euros, correspondientes al año 2016. La población que se beneficiaría eran fumadores adultos dispuestos a dejar de fumar, en los que se programase una intervención quirúrgica con hospitalización. La intervención, una combinación de asesoramiento médico y tratamiento farmacológico para dejar de fumar, se llevó a cabo a las 12 semanas antes de la cirugía, considerando únicamente un intento para dejar de fumar. Los beneficios fueron los costes evitados por una reducción en la tasa de complicaciones postoperatorias en los casos en los que se hubiese conseguido la eliminación del hábito. El análisis comparó el resultado económico neto (beneficio menos coste de la intervención) y el retorno de la inversión (return on investment, ROI), cuando la intervención era financiada por el SNS en comparación con la situación actual sin financiamiento público.
Resultados
La tasa de abandono del hábito tabáquico aumentó en un 21,8%; 32,5% cuando se financiaba frente al 10,7% sin financiación, consiguiendo un extra de 9.611 personas que dejaron de fumar. El coste por fumador rescatado fue de €1753 con un beneficio de €503, por lo que el beneficio económico neto conseguido fue de €4,8 millones por año. Dado que el coste anual de la intervención (€17,4 millones, de los cuales €5,6 millones corresponden a fármacos (32%)), el ROI anual fue del 28,7% con un beneficio de €1,29 por cada €1 de inversión.
Conclusión
Desde la perspectiva del SNS español, los beneficios de financiar el abandono del hábito de fumar en el preoperatorio de los pacientes, en términos de ahorro de costes parecen ser muy superiores a los costes de la intervención.
Smoking at the time of surgery is associated with postoperative complications. Quitting smoking before surgery is linked to fewer complications during the hospital stay. This work analysed whether a smoking cessation intervention before surgery is worthwhile economically when funded by the National Health System in Spain. The benefit of funding smoking cessation before surgery, in terms of healthcare cost savings, greatly outweighed the costs, with a substantial return on investment.
Benefits from funding smoking cessation
The cleaning (H
2S removal) and upgrading (CO
2/CH
4 ratio adjustment for syngas synthesis) of biogas by pressure swing adsorption (PSA) with thermal desorption using two synthetic molecular sieves ...(5A and 13X) and a natural zeolite (Clinoptilolite) as adsorbent materials have been studied. Prior to use, zeolites were activated according to literature methods and supplier recommendations in order to dispose of adsorbed gases and soluble impurities which may compete with H
2S and CO
2 for the active sites of the zeolites. The behaviours of the zeolites have been compared by using three basic parameters: selectivity, capacity and regenerability. The experimental results indicate that Clinoptilolite is the best material choice because it is simultaneously suitable both for the purification and upgrading of biogas. For a CH
4/CO
2/H
2S biogas molar composition of 59.95/39.95/0.10, the breakthrough capacity of Clinoptilolite at 1
cm/s biogas feeding velocity, 7
bar and 25
°C is 1.39
mgH
2S/g Clinoptilolite, twice the adsorption capacity of the synthetic molecular sieves subjected to study. The high CO
2 adsorption capacity observed (173.9
mg CO
2/g Clinoptilolite) makes the adjusting of CH
4/CO
2 ratio in the biogas possible. Additionally, Clinoptilolite is completely regenerable and stable through several adsorption–desorption cycles which, together with its abundance and low cost, make this process highly attractive from an economical standpoint. Finally, this study demonstrates the importance of the selection of the optimal activation method of natural zeolites in order to offset variable composition and low purity often responsible for poorer separation performance compared to synthetic zeolites.
The remarkable fish diversity in the Caribbean rivers of north‐western South America evolved under the influences of the dramatic environmental changes of neogene northern South America, including ...the Quechua Orogeny and Pleistocene climate oscillations. Although this region is not the richest in South America, endemism is very high. Fish assemblage structure is unique to each of the four aquatic systems identified (rivers, streams, floodplain lakes and reservoirs) and community dynamics are highly synchronized with the mono‐modal or bi‐modal flooding pulse of the rainy seasons. The highly seasonal multispecies fishery is based on migratory species. Freshwater fish conservation is a challenge for Colombian environmental institutions because the Caribbean trans‐Andean basins are the focus of the economic development of Colombian society, so management measures must be directed to protect aquatic habitat and their connectivity. These two management strategies are the only way for helping fish species conservation and sustainable fisheries.
With the application of a homogenization theory, based on the Fourier formalism (which provides efficient and exact formulas by which to determine all the components of the effective stiffness and ...mass density tensors, valid in the regime of large wavelengths), a new approach to calculate the effective quasi-static response in three-dimensional solid-solid phononic crystals is reported. The formulas derived in this work for calculating the effective elastic parameters show a dependence, in terms of summations over the vectors, of the reciprocal lattice by the discretization of the volume of the inclusion in small parts (e.g., small cubes), to obtain a system of equations from which we define the effective response. In particular, we present the numerical results calculated for several cubic lattices with solid constituents and different shapes of inclusions in the unit cell versus the filling fraction, as well as for fixed values of it. By this means, we analyzed the effect of the type of Bravais lattice of the materials, and the geometry of the inclusions that constitute the three-dimensional phononic array, on the resulting effective anisotropy. Finally, our theory confirms other well-known results with previous homogenization theories as a particular case study. In this regard, the examples and results shown here can be useful for the design of metamaterials with predetermined elastic properties.
Prognostication in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) requires reliable markers. While cellular indices such as neutrophil‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet‐to‐lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and systemic ...immune‐inflammation index (SII) appear promising, their utility in PE prognostication needs further exploration. We utilized data from the RIETE registry and the Loyola University Medical Center (LUMC) to assess the prognostic value of NLR, PLR, and SII in acute PE, using logistic regression models. The primary outcome was 30‐day all‐cause mortality. We compared their prognostic value versus the simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI) alone. We included 10 085 patients from RIETE and 700 from the LUMC. Thirty‐day mortality rates were 4.6% and 8.3%, respectively. On multivariable analysis, an elevated NLR (>7.0) was associated with increased mortality (adjusted odds ratio aOR: 3.46; 95% CI: 2.60–4.60), outperforming the PLR > 220 (aOR: 2.36; 95% CI: 1.77–3.13), and SII > 1600 (aOR: 2.52; 95% CI: 1.90–3.33). The c‐statistic for NLR in patients with low‐risk PE was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.69–0.86). Respective numbers were 0.66 (95% CI: 0.63–0.69) and 0.68 (95% CI: 0.59–0.76) for intermediate‐risk and high‐risk patients. These findings were mirrored in the LUMC cohort. Among 9810 normotensive patients in RIETE, those scoring 0 points in sPESI and with an NLR ≤ 7.0 (35% of the population) displayed superior sensitivity (97.1%; 95% CI: 95.5–98.7) and negative predictive value (99.7%; 95% CI: 99.5–99.8) than sPESI alone (87.1%; 95% CI: 83.9–90.3, and 98.7%; 95% CI: 98.4–99.1, respectively) for 30‐day mortality. The NLR is a significant prognostic marker for 30‐day mortality in PE patients, especially useful to identify patients with very low‐risk PE.
PDF
