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This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.-- Full list of authors: Espinoza, Néstor; Pallé, Enric; Kemmer, Jonas; Luque, Rafael; Caballero, José A.; Cifuentes, Carlos; Herrero, Enrique; Sánchez Béjar, Víctor J.; Stock, Stephan; Molaverdikhani, Karan; Morello, Giuseppe; Kossakowski, Diana; Schlecker, Martin; Amado, Pedro J.; Bluhm, Paz; Cortés-Contreras, Miriam; Henning, Thomas; Kreidberg, Laura; Kürster, Martin; Lafarga, Marina; Lodieu, Nicolas; Morales, Juan Carlos; Oshagh, Mahmoudreza; Passegger, Vera M.; Pavlov, Alexey; Quirrenbach, Andreas; Reffert, Sabine; Reiners, Ansgar; Ribas, Ignasi; Rodríguez, Eloy; López, Cristina Rodríguez; Schweitzer, Andreas; Trifonov, Trifon; Chaturvedi, Priyanka; Dreizler, Stefan; Jeffers, Sandra V.; Kaminski, Adrian; López-González, María José; Lillo-Box, Jorge; Montes, David; Nowak, Grzegorz; Pedraz, Santos; Vanaverbeke, Siegfried; Zapatero Osorio, Maria R.; Zechmeister, Mathias; Collins, Karen A.; Girardin, Eric; Guerra, Pere; Naves, Ramon; Crossfield, Ian J. M.; Matthews, Elisabeth C.; Howell, Steve B.; Ciardi, David R.; Gonzales, Erica; Matson, Rachel A.; Beichman, Charles A.; Schlieder, Joshua E.; Barclay, Thomas; Vezie, Michael; Villaseñor, Jesus Noel; Daylan, Tansu; Mireies, Ismael; Dragomir, Diana; Twicken, Joseph D.; Jenkins, Jon; Winn, Joshua N.; Latham, David; Ricker, George; Seager, Sara., We report the discovery and characterization of TOI-1759 b, a temperate (400 K) sub-Neptune-sized exoplanet orbiting the M dwarf TOI-1759 (TIC 408636441). TOI-1759 b was observed by TESS to transit in Sectors 16, 17, and 24, with only one transit observed per sector, creating an ambiguity regarding the orbital period of the planet candidate. Ground-based photometric observations, combined with radial-velocity measurements obtained with the CARMENES spectrograph, confirm an actual period of 18.85019 ± 0.00014 days. A joint analysis of all available photometry and radial velocities reveals a radius of 3.17 ± 0.10 R⊕ and a mass of 10.8 ± 1.5 M⊕. Combining this with the stellar properties derived for TOI-1759 (R⋆ = 0.597 ± 0.015 R⊙; M⋆ = 0.606 ± 0.020 M⊙; Teff = 4065 ± 51 K), we compute a transmission spectroscopic metric (TSM) value of over 80 for the planet, making it a good target for transmission spectroscopy studies. TOI-1759 b is among the top five temperate, small exoplanets (Teq < 500 K, Rp < 4 R⊕) with the highest TSM discovered to date. Two additional signals with periods of 80 days and >200 days seem to be present in our radial velocities. While our data suggest both could arise from stellar activity, the later signal's source and periodicity are hard to pinpoint given the ∼200 days baseline of our radial-velocity campaign with CARMENES. Longer baseline radial-velocity campaigns should be performed in order to unveil the true nature of this long-period signal. © 2022. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society., CARMENES is an instrument at the Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán (CAHA) at Calar Alto (Almería, Spain), operated jointly by the Junta de Andalucía and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC). CARMENES was funded by the Max-Planck-Gesellschaft (MPG), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO), and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through projects FICTS-2011-02, ICTS-2017-07-CAHA-4, and CAHA16-CE-3978, and the members of the CARMENES Consortium (Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, Landessternwarte Königstuhl, Institut de Ciëncies de l'Espai, Institut für Astrophysik Göttingen, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Thüringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg, Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Hamburger Sternwarte, Centro de Astrobiología, and Centro Astronómico Hispano-Alemán), with additional contributions by the MINECO, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through the Major Research Instrumentation Programme and Research Unit FOR2544 "Blue Planets around Red Stars," the Klaus Tschira Stiftung, the states of Baden-Württemberg and Niedersachsen, and by the Junta de Andalucía. This work was based on data from the CARMENES data archive at CAB (CSIC-INTA). We acknowledge financial support from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades and the ERDF through projects PID2019-109522GB-C5[1:4], PGC2018-098153-B-C33, AYA2018-84089, PID2019-107061GB-C64, PID2019-110689RB-100, AYA2016-79425-C3-1/2/3-P, and BES-2017-080769, and the Centre of Excellence "Severo Ochoa" and "María de Maeztu" awards to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (CEX2019-000920-S), Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709), and Centro de Astrobiología (MDM-2017-0737), NASA (NNX17AG24G), and the Generalitat de Catalunya/CERCA program. Data were partly collected with the 90 cm telescope at the Sierra Nevada Observatory (SNO) operated by the Instituto de Astrofí fica de Andalucí a (IAA, CSIC). We acknowledge the telescope operators from the Sierra Nevada Observatory for their support. G.M. has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 895525. This research has made use of the NASA Exoplanet Archive, which is operated by the California Institute of Technology, under contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under the Exoplanet Exploration Program. We acknowledge the use of public TESS data from pipelines at the TESS Science Office and at the TESS Science Processing Operations Center. Resources supporting this work were provided by the NASA High-End Computing (HEC) Program through the NASA Advanced Supercomputing (NAS) Division at Ames Research Center for the production of the SPOC data products.

Ten days of commissioning data (Quarter 0) and thirty-three days of science data (Quarter 1) yield instrumental flux timeseries of ~150,000 stars that were combed for transit events, termed Threshold Crossing Events (TCE), each having a total detection statistic above 7.1-sigma. TCE light curves are modeled as star+planet systems. Those returning a companion radius smaller than 2R_J are assigned a KOI (Kepler Object of Interest) number. The raw flux, pixel flux, and flux-weighted centroids of every KOI are scrutinized to assess the likelihood of being an astrophysical false-positive versus the likelihood of a being a planetary companion. This vetting using Kepler data is referred to as data validation. Herein, we describe the data validation metrics and graphics used to identify viable planet candidates amongst the KOIs. Light curve modeling tests for a) the difference in depth of the odd- versus even-numbered transits, b) evidence of ellipsoidal variations, and c) evidence of a secondary eclipse event at phase=0.5. Flux-weighted centroids are used to test for signals correlated with transit events with a magnitude and direction indicative of a background eclipsing binary. Centroid timeseries are complimented by analysis of images taken in-transit versus out-of-transit, the difference often revealing the pixel contributing the most to the flux change during transit. Examples are shown to illustrate each test. Candidates passing data validation are submitted to ground-based observers for further false-positive elimination or confirmation/characterization., submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters

The Kepler Mission is a photometric space mission that will continuously observe a single 100 square degree field of view (FOV) of the sky of more than 100,000 stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years with a precision of 14 parts per million (ppm) for a 6.5 hour integration including shot noise for a twelfth magnitude star. The primary goal of the mission is to detect Earth-size planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. In the process, many eclipsing binaries (EB) will also be detected. Prior to launch, the stellar characteristics will have been determined for all the stars in the FOV with K < 14.5. As part of the verification process, stars with transits (about 5%) will need to have follow-up radial velocity observations performed to determine the component masses and thereby separate grazing eclipses caused by stellar companions from transits caused by planets. The result will be a rich database on EBs. The community will have access to the archive for uses such as for EB modeling of the high-precision light curves. A guest observer program is also planned for objects not already on the target list.

TheKepler Missionis a space-based photometric mission with a differential photometric precision of 14 ppm (atV= 12 for a 6.5 hour transit). It is designed to continuously observe a single field of view (FOV) of greater then 100 square degrees in the Cygnus-Lyra region for four or more years. The primary goal of the mission is to monitor more than one-hundred thousand stars for transits of Earth-size and smaller planets in the habitable zone of solar-like stars. In the process, many eclipsing binaries (EB) will also be detected and light curves produced. To enhance and optimize the mission results, the stellar characteristics for all the stars in theKeplerFOV withV< 16 will have been determined prior to launch. As part of the verification process, stars with transit candidates will have radial-velocity follow-up observations performed to determine the component masses and thereby separate eclipses caused by stellar companions from transits caused by planets. The result will be a rich database on EBs. The community will have access to the archive for further analysis, such as, for EB modeling of the high-precision light curves. A guest observer program is also planned to allow for photometric observations of objects not on the target list but within the FOV.

The Kepler mission has discovered over 2500 exoplanet candidates in the first two years of spacecraft data, with approximately 40% of them in candidate multi-planet systems. The high rate of multiplicity combined with the low rate of identified false-positives indicates that the multiplanet systems contain very few false-positive signals due to other systems not gravitationally bound to the target star (Lissauer, J. J., et al., 2012, ApJ 750, 131). False positives in the multi- planet systems are identified and removed, leaving behind a residual population of candidate multi-planet transiting systems expected to have a false-positive rate less than 1%. We present a sample of 340 planetary systems that contain 851 planets that are validated to substantially better than the 99% confidence level; the vast majority of these have not been previously verified as planets. We expect ~2 unidentified false-positives making our sample of planet very reliable. We present fundamental planetary properties of our sample based on a comprehensive analysis of Kepler light curves and ground-based spectroscopy and high-resolution imaging. Since we do not require spectroscopy or high-resolution imaging for validation, some of our derived parameters for a planetary system may be systematically incorrect due to dilution from light due to additional stars in the photometric aperture. None the less, our result nearly doubles the number of verified exoplanets., Comment: 138 pages, 8 Figures, 5 Tables. Accepted for publications in the Astrophysical Journal

The IAF Methods Database has 455 as of 29 August reported techniques used by facilitators divided into 3 levels: Applications, Methods and Models, and Interventions. Methods and Models are the same level of abstraction as ThinkLets. We use the ThinkLet pattern language to define requirements for a redesign of the database. We also discuss the implications for collaboration engineering and examine requirements for other levels of abstraction at the intervention and application level.

A search of the Hipparcos satellite photometry data for the star HD 209458 reveals evidence for a planetary transit signature consistent with the planetary properties reported by Henry et al. and Charbonneau et al. and allows further refinement of the planet's orbital period. The long time baseline (about 2926 days or 830 periods) from the best Hipparcos transit-like event to the latest transit reported by Henry et al. for the night of 1999 November 15 (UT) allows for an orbital period determination of 3.524736 days with an uncertainty of 0.000045 days (3.9 s). The transit events observed by Charbonneau et al. fall at the interim times expected to within the errors of this newly derived period. A series of statistical tests was performed to assess the likelihood of these events occurring by chance. This was crucial given the ill-conditioned problem presented by the sparse sampling of the light curve and the non-Gaussian distribution of the points. Monte Carlo simulations using bootstrap methods with the actual Hipparcos HD 209458 data set indicate that the transit-like signals of the depth observed would only be produced by chance in 21 out of 1 million trials. The transit durations and depths obtained from the Hipparcos data are also consistent with those determined by Charbonneau et al. and Henry et al. within the limitations of the sampling intervals and photometric precision of the Hipparcos data.

Ten days of photometric data were obtained during the commissioning phase of the Kepler mission, including data for the previously known giant transiting exoplanet HAT-P-7b. The data for HAT-P-7b show a smooth rise and fall of light from the planet as it orbits its star, punctuated by a drop of 130 +/- 11 parts per million in flux when the planet passes behind its star. We interpret this as the phase variation of the dayside thermal emission plus reflected light from the planet as it orbits its star and is occulted. The depth of the occultation is similar in photometric precision to the detection of a transiting Earth-size planet for which the mission was designed.

Peer-To-Peer (P2P) systems have made an enormous impact on the Internet, directly affecting its performance and security. The litigation against P2P file sharing has led some designers to opt for purely decentralized P2P models. The latter have quickly become attractive to Internet users, who often consider pure P2P as more "secure" than hybrid systems (i.e. with some central entity).In this paper, we concentrate on some relevant security threats and performance inefficiencies in the Gnutella P2P network, which is worldwide the most popular fully decentralized system. We present the results we obtain from the analysis of spurious content circulating in the network. We observe a significant propagation of unwanted and unrelated query replies, systematically taking place. This leads to the transfer of junk or unsafe files, potentially resulting in hosts' security violations and Denial of Service attacks. The analysis of IP addresses shows that peers responsible for spreading these files are recurrent over time and over specific network segments. They also share a specific pattern of common features, clearly suggesting the use of modified versions of Gnutella applications. Typically these peers run as super-nodes (ultrapeers), which represent the highest level of control of the Gnutella system.In spite of many different solutions proposed in the past to integrate security mechanisms into Gnutella, none of them have been adopted in practice. We discuss the necessary trade-offs of these proposed solutions and we also analyze the (unofficial) hypothesis that some entities, having commercial convenience in polluting the Gnutella network, may be involved. We propose solutions that help mitigating some of the problems, while still preserving the basic structure of the Gnutella protocol.

Waste Management Technology Ltd (WMT) has developed the optimal process for immobilizing a solid waste contaminated with thorium dioxide (thoria). The physical and chemical characteristics of the waste present challenges to producing a wasteform acceptable for disposal. Also, high-energy radiation from thorium’s decay progeny requires a treatment plant with shielding and remote handling facilities. Key points of the paper are as follows. 1. Treatment options were investigated and the best practicable means identified as intimate mixing of the waste with cementitious grout. 2. Samples were analysed for particle size and organic contamination. 3. Small-scale active mixes resulted in a single treatment formulation for all the waste. Leach tests confirmed that the organic material is adequately retained within the immobilised waste provided activated carbon is included in the formulation. 4. Active mixes at the two litre scale confirmed that the formulation is mixable and the product acceptable and consistent with expectations from the earlier work. 5. WMT is constructing a treatment plant at its Winfrith site, based on remote grouting in a 200 litre drum with a sacrificial mixer. Inactive full-scale trials with such 200 litre drums were carried out after selection of simulants with the appropriate physical properties.Copyright © 2007 by ASME

A genomic library of Chroomonas (Cryptophyceae) DNA has been constructed in lambda EMBL4. Using a synthetic oligomer as a hybridization probe, a clone containing a phycoerythrin alpha-subunit has been obtained and sequenced. The principal alpha 1- and alpha 2-subunits of the holoprotein have been partially sequenced by sequential Edman degradation and differ from the DNA derived sequence, providing evidence for at least 3 alpha-subunit genes. The nucleotide sequence of the alpha-subunit gene is GC rich and encodes an N-terminal extension which is putatively thylakoid-lumen directing.