Search

Autorzy: Abe K., Adrich P., Aihara H., Akutsu, R., Alekseev I., Ali A. , Ameli F., Anghel I., Anthony L. H. V., Antonova M. , Araya A., Asaoka Y., Ashida Y., Aushev V., Ballester F., Bandac I., Barbi M., Barker G. J., Barr G., Batkiewicz-Kwasniak M., Bellato M., Berardi V., Bergevin M., Bernard L., Bernardini E., Berns L., Bhadra S., Bian J., Blanchet A., Blaszczyk F. d. M., Blonde A., Boiano A., Bolognesi S., Bonavera L., Booth N., Borjabad S., Boschi, T., Bose D., Boyd S . B., Bozza C., Bravar A., Bravo-Berguño D., Bronner C., Brown L., Bubak Arkadiusz, Buchowicz A., Buizza Avanzini M., Cafagna F. S., Calabria N. F., Calvo-Mozota J. M., Cao S., Cartwright S.L., Carroll A., Catanesi M. G., Cebriàn, S., Chabera M., Chakraborty, S., Checchia C., Choi J.H., Choubey S., Cicerchia M., Coleman J., Collazuol G., Cook L., Cowan G., Cuen-Rochin, S., Danilov M., Díaz López G., De la Fuente E., de Perio P., De Rosa G., Dealtry T., Densham C. J., Dergacheva A., Deshmukh N., Devi M. M., Di Lodovico F., Di Meo, P., Di Palma I., Doyle T. A., Drakopoulou E., Drapier O., Dumarchez J., Dunne P., Dziewiecki M., Eklund L., El Hedri S., Ellis J., Emery S., Esmaili A., Esteve R., Evangelisti A., Feely M., Fedotov S., Feng J., Fernandez P., Fernández-Martinez E., Ferrario P., Ferrazzi,B., Feusels T., Finch A., Finley C., Fiorentini A., Fiorillo G., Fitton M., Frankiewicz K., Friend M., Fujii Y., Fukuda Y., Galinski G., Gao J., Garde C., Garfagnini A., Garode S., Gialanella L., Giganti C., Gomez-Cadenas J.J., Gonin M., González-Nuevo J., Gorin A., Gornea R., Gousy-Leblanc V. Gramegna F. Grassi M. Grella G. Guigue M. Gumplinger P. Hadley D.R. Harada M., Hartfiel B., Hartz M., Hassani S., Hastings N.C., Hayato Y., Hernando-Morata J.A., Herrero V., Hill J., Hiraide K., Hirota S., Holin A., Horiuchi S., Hoshina K., Hultqvist K., Iacob F., Ichikawa A.K., Idrissi Ibnsalih W., Iijima T., Ikeda M., Inomoto M., Inoue K., Insler J., Ioannisian A., Ishida T., Ishidoshiro K., Ishino H., Ishitsuka M., Ito H., Ito S., Itow Y., Iwamoto K., Izmaylov A., Izumi N., Izumiyama S., Jakkapu M., Jamieson B., Jang H.I., Jang J.S., Jenkins S.J., Jeon S.H., Jiang M., Jo H.S., Jonsson P., Joo K.K., Kajita T., Kakuno H., Kameda J., Kano Y., Kalaczynski P., Karlen D., Kasperek J., Kataoka Y., Kato A., Katori T., Kazarian N., Kearns E., Khabibullin M., Khotjantsev A., Kikawa T., Kekic M., Kim J.H., Kim J.Y., Kim S.B., Kim S.Y., King S., Kinoshita T., Kisiel Jan, Klekotko A., Kobayashi T., Koch L., Koga M., Koerich L., Kolev N., Konaka A., Kormos L.L., Koshio Y., Korzenev A., Kotsar Y., Kouzakov K.A., Kowalik K.L., Kravchuk L., Kryukov A.P., Kudenko Y., Kumita T., Kurjata R., Kutter T., Kuze M., Kwak K., La Commara M., Labarga L., Lagoda J., Lamers James J., Lamoureux M., Laveder M., Lavitola L., Lawe M., Learned J.G., Lee J., Leitner R., Lezaun V., Lim I.T., Lindner T., Litchfield R.P., Long K.R., Longhin A., Loverre P., Lu X., Ludovici L., Maekawa Y., Magaletti L., Magar K., Mahn K., Makida Y., Malek M., Malinský M., Marchi T., Maret L., Mariani C., Marinelli A., Martens K., Marti L., Martin J.F. Martin D., Marzec J., Matsubara T., Matsumoto R., Matsuno S., Matusiak M., Mazzucato E., McCarthy M., McCauley N., McElwee J., McGrew C., Mefodiev A., Medhi A., Mehta P., Mellet L., Menjo H., Mermod P., Metelko C., Mezzetto M., Migenda J., Migliozzi P., Mijakowski P., Miki S., Miller E.W., Minakata H., Minamino A., Mine S., Mineev O., Mitra A., Miura M., Moharana R., Mollo C.M., Mondal T., Mongelli M., Monrabal F., Moon D.H., Moon C.S., Mora F.J., Moriyama S., Mueller Th.A., Munteanu L., Murase K., Nagao Y., Nakadaira T., Nakagiri K., Nakahata M., Nakai S., Nakajima Y., Nakamura K., Nakamura KI., Nakamura H., Nakano Y., Nakaya T., Nakayama S., Nakayoshi K., Nascimento Machado L., Naseby C.E.R., Navarro-Garcia B., Needham M., Nicholls T., Niewczas K., Nishimura Y., Noah E., Nova F., Nugent J.C., Nunokawa H., Obrebski W., Ochoa-Ricoux J.P., O’Connor E., Ogawa N., Ogitsu T., Ohta K., Okamoto K., O’Keeffe H.M., Okumura K., Onishchuk Y., Orozco-Luna F., Oshlianskyi A., Ospina N., Ostrowski M., O’Sullivan E., O’Sullivan L., Ovsiannikova T., Oyama Y., Ozaki H., Pac M.Y., Paganini P., Palladino V., Paolone V., Pari M., Parsa S., Pasternak J., Pastore C., Pastuszak G., Patel D.A., Pavin M., Payne D., Peña-Garay C., Pidcott C., Pinzon Guerra E., Playfer S., Pointon B.W., Popov A., Popov B., Porwit Kamil, Posiadala-Zezula M., Poutissou J.M., Pozimski J., Pronost G., Prouse N.W., Przewlocki P., Quilain B., Quiroga A.A., Radicioni E., Radics B., Rajda P.J., Renner J., Rescigno M., Retiere F., Ricciardi G., Riccio C., Richards B., Rondio E., Rose H.J., Roskovec B., Roth S., Rott C., Rountree S.D., Rubbia A., Ruggeri A.C., Ruggles C., Russo S., Rychter A., Ryu D., Sakashita K., Samani S., Sánchez F., Sánchez M.L., Sanchez M.C., Sano S., Santos J.D., Santucci G., Sarmah P., Sashima I., Sato K., Scott M., Seiya Y., Sekiguchi T., Sekiya H., Seo J.W., Seo S.H., Sgalaberna D., Shaikhiev A., Shan Z., Shaykina A., Shimizu I., Shin C.D., Shinoki M., Shiozawa M., Sinnis G., Skrobova N., Skwarczynski K., Smy M.B., Sobczyk J., Sobel H.W., Soler F. J. P., Sonoda Y., Spina R., Spisso B., Spradlin B., Stankevich K.L., Stawarz L., Stellacci S.M., Stopa K., Studenikin A.I., Suárez Gómez S.L., Suganuma T., Suvorov S., Suwa Y., Suzuki A.T., Suzuki S.Y., Suzuki Y., Svirida D., Svoboda R., Taani M., Tada M., Takeda A., Takemoto Y., Takenaka A., Taketa A., Takeuchi Y., Takhistov V., Tanaka H., Tanaka H.A., Tanaka H.I., Tanaka M., Tashiro T., Thiesse M., Thompson L.F., Toledo J., Tomatani-Sánchez A.K., Tortone G., Tsui K.M., Tsukamoto T., Tzanov M., Uchida Y., Vagins M.R., Valder S., Valentino V., Vasseur G., Vijayvargi A., Vilela C., Vinning W. G. S., Vivolo D., Vladisavljevic T., Vogelaar R.B., Vyalkov M.M., Wachala T., Walker J., Wark D., Wascko M.O., Wendell R.A., Wilkes R.J., Wilking M.J., Wilson M.R., Wronka S., Xia J., Xie Z., Xin T., Yamaguchi Y., Yamamoto K., Yanagisawa C., Yano T., Yen S., Yershov N., Yeum D.N., Yokoyama M., Yonenaga M., Yoo J., Yu I., Yu M., Zakrzewski T., Zaldivar B., Zalipska J., Zaremba K., Zarnecki G., Ziembicki M., Zietara K., Zito M., Zsoldos S., Core-collapse supernovae are among the most magnificent events in the observable universe. They produce many of the chemical elements necessary for life to exist and their remnants-neutron stars and black holes-are interesting astrophysical objects in their own right. However, despite millennia of observations and almost a century of astrophysical study, the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae is not yet well understood. Hyper-Kamiokande is a next-generation neutrino detector that will be able to observe the neutrino flux from the next galactic core-collapse supernova in unprecedented detail. We focus on the first 500 ms of the neutrino burst, corresponding to the accretion phase, and use a newly-developed, high-precision supernova event generator to simulate Hyper-Kamiokandeʼs response to five different supernova models. We show that Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to distinguish between these models with high accuracy for a supernova at a distance of up to 100 kpc. Once the next galactic supernova happens, this ability will be a powerful tool for guiding simulations toward a precise reproduction of the explosion mechanism observed in nature.

Study question Is the embryo scoring function based on deep learning of specific time-lapse systems clinically useful for classifying human blastocyst? Summary answer Blastocyst grading according to iDAScore® is directly associated with conventional morphology and implantation potential, at least in treatments without preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidy (PGT-A). What is known already The conventional approach of embryo evaluation in the time-lapse systems is for embryologists to manually annotate a number of morphological and/or morphokinetic parameters. These values are then used in models of clinical outcome prediction. Embryo selection can be automated by using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict morphokinetic and morphology parameters. In this case, AI is employed in an indirect way to optimize the daily workflow based on existing traditional parameters. Finally, the most innovative approach is the use of AI to directly predict pregnancy, implantation or even live birth by using only time-lapse images. Study design, size, duration A retrospective cohort study including 518 patients who underwent IVF treatments and whose embryos (n = 3,406) were cultured in EmbryoScope Plus® time-lapse systems. Blastocysts were routinely evaluated by senior embryologists according to the ASEBIR morphological criteria. Then, embryos were scored using the iDAScore algorithm whose values range from 1 to 9.9. Participants/materials, setting, methods Embryo evaluation was performed automatically by iDAScore with the use of deep learning and a neural network. The algorithm was developed considering the entire embryo development to rank embryos according to likelihood of implantation. Embryo score was compared with conventional morphological quality, euploidy rate and the subsequent implantation outcome of 567 single blastocyst transfers. Then, we quantified the contribution of the automatic embryo score to implantation with multivariate logistic regression analysis in different patient populations. Main results and the role of chance The comparison between the embryo score provided by the iDAScore and the morphological category (A, B, C or D) assigned by embryologists showed a direct association*. The mean and standard deviation was 9.2 ± 0.4 for A; 8.2 ± 1.2 for B; 6.9 ± 1.6 for C and 4.0 ± 1.8 for D. The euploidy rate increased when embryos showed higher automatic scores*: 45.9% for score ≤ 8.0 (n = 354), 55.6% for score 8.1-8.8 (n = 169) and 62.8% for score >8.8 (n = 180). The implantation rate increased as the embryo score improved*: 37.8% for score ≤ 7.8 (n = 127), 50.9% for score 7.9-8.9 (n = 163), 65.7% for score >8.9 (n = 277). The logistic regression analysis of iDAScore took into account possible confounding factors: oocyte origin (donated vs. autologous); type of embryo transfer (fresh vs. frozen); oocyte age; patient body mass index; PGT-A (tested vs. non-tested embryos) and day of embryo transfer (fifth vs. sixth day of embryo development). iDAScore value was related to the odds of implantation in the oocyte donation program (OR = 1.61; 95%CI [1.19-2.19]; p *p Limitations, reasons for caution This study is limited by its retrospective nature. The single-center design should be taken into account when considering the universal application of the model. Although our clinic was not involved in the development of iDAScore, and therefore this study should be considered as an external validation. Wider implications of the findings Our findings confirm that embryo evaluation can be performed automatically allowing embryologists to utilize their time more efficiently in other tasks of the IVF process that are more complex and require high precision and attention. Trial registration number This research has been funded by a grant from The Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities FIS (PI21/00283) awarded to M.M.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) is an excellent diffuse reflector widely used in light collection systems for particle physics experiments. In noble element systems, it is often coated with tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) to allow detection of vacuum ultraviolet scintillation light. In this work this dependence is investigated for PTFE coated with TPB in air for light of wavelengths of 200 nm, 260 nm, and 450 nm. The results show that TPB-coated PTFE has a reflectance of approximately 92% for thicknesses ranging from 5 mm to 10 mm at 450 nm, with negligible variation as a function of thickness within this range. A cross-check of these results using an argon chamber supports the conclusion that the change in thickness from 5 mm to 10 mm does not affect significantly the light response at 128 nm. Our results indicate that pieces of TPB-coated PTFE thinner than the typical 10 mm can be used in particle physics detectors without compromising the light signal.

A Comunicação entre dispositivos quânticos vem avançando em direção a redes de topologias complexas e de longa distâncias. No entanto, limitações intrínsecas dos sinais quânticos fazem com que eles não possam ser replicados ou amplificados, dificultando a adoção das técnicas tradicionais de roteamento. Além disso, a heterogeneidade de tecnologias e diferentes implementações de hardware, e a falta de um modelo de pilha de rede de Internet bem definido abrem diversos desafios para se realizar plenamente a comunicação entre dispositivos quânticos. Assim, este artigo apresenta os principais desafios no desenvolvimento de algoritmos e protocolos de roteamento para redes quânticas e discute possíveis alternativas que estão sendo desenvolvidas.

NEXT Collaboration: et al., Radio-frequency (RF) carpets with ultra-fine pitches are examined for ion transport in gases at atmospheric pressures and above. We develop new analytic and computational methods for modeling RF ion transport at densities where dynamics are strongly influenced by buffer gas collisions. An analytic description of levitating and sweeping forces from phased arrays is obtained, then thermodynamic and kinetic principles are used to calculate ion loss rates in the presence of collisions. This methodology is validated against detailed microscopic SIMION simulations. We then explore a parameter space of special interest for neutrinoless double beta decay experiments: transport of barium ions in xenon at pressures from 1 to 10 bar. Our computations account for molecular ion formation and pressure dependent mobility as well as finite temperature effects. We discuss the challenges associated with achieving suitable operating conditions, which lie beyond the capabilities of existing devices, using presently available or near-future manufacturing techniques., The University of Texas at Arlington NEXT group is supported by the Department of Energy, USA under Early Career Award number DE-SC0019054 (BJPJ), by Department of Energy, USA Award DE-SC0019223 (DRN), the National Science Foundation, USA under award number NSF CHE 2004111 (FWF), and the Robert A Welch Foundation, Y-2031-20200401 (FWF). The NEXT Collaboration acknowledges support from the following agencies and institutions: the European Research Council (ERC) under the Advanced Grant 339787-NEXT; the European Union’s Framework Programme for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 (2014–2020) under the Grant Agreements No. 674896, 690575 and 740055; the Ministerio de Economía Competitividad and the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación Universidades of Spain under grants FIS2014-53371-C04, RTI2018-095979, the Severo Ochoa Program grants SEV-2014-0398 and CEX2018-000867-S, and the María de Maeztu Program MDM-2016-0692; from Fundacion Bancaria la Caixa (ID 100010434), grant code LCF/BQ/PI19/11690012; the Generalitat Valenciana of Spain under grants PROMETEO/2016/120 and SEJI/2017/011; the Portuguese FCT under project PTDC/FIS-NUC/2525/2014 and under projects UID/FIS/04559/2020 to fund the activities of LIBPhys-UC; the Pazy Foundation (Israel) under grants 877040 and 877041; the US Department of Energy under contracts number DE-AC02-06CH11357 (Argonne National Laboratory, USA), DE-AC02-07CH11359 (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), DE-FG02-13ER42020 (Texas A&M). DGD acknowledges support from the Ramón y Cajal program (Spain) under contract number RYC-2015-18820. JM-A acknowledges support from Fundación Bancaria la Caixa (ID 100010434), grant code LCF/BQ/PI19/11690012, and from the Plan GenT program of the Generalitat Valenciana , grant code CIDEGENT/2019/049.

Para trocar dados a longas distâncias, em redes com topologias complexas, construída com tecnologias heterogêneas e gerenciadas por organizações independentes, são necessários métodos que permitam que protocolos quânticos se conectem às implementações de hardware subjacentes de forma transparente. No entanto, os sinais quânticos são frágeis e não podem ser copiados ou amplificados. Atualmente, apenas versões preliminares de pilhas de rede para uma Internet quântica foram propostas e apenas alguns elementos básicos foram sugeridos. Para viabilizar plenamente a comunicação quântica, novos desafios e problemas em aberto precisam ser enfrentados. Este artigo apresenta os principais desafios para se viabilizar uma Internet quântica e discute possíveis alternativas que estão sendo desenvolvidas.

This work presents the evaluation of a practical experience on noise pollution based on the use of smartphones to check if it helps students to better understand the concepts related to this phenomenon. This evaluation has been done with a pre-post design in which 112 students, enrolled in the “Physics and Chemistry” course of the 1st year of non-compulsory high school, have first filled in a diagnostics questionnaire with 5 free response questions about their knowledge on the topic and then a pre-post questionnaire with 4 free response questions. The results show that the proposed practical experience is effective since a statistically significant improvement is obtained both globally and in each of the questions of the questionnaire. The practical experience has also been highly valued by 38 students enrolled in the “Physics and Chemistry” specialisation of the Master in Secondary Education Teaching.

The most destructive wildfire experienced in Spain since 2004 occurred close to Valencia in summer 2012. A total of 48.500ha were affected by two wildfires, which were mostly active during 29-30 June. The fresh smoke plume was detected at the Burjassot measurement station simultaneously to a severe dust episode. We propose an empirical method to evaluate the dust and smoke mixing and its impact on the microphysical and optical properties. For this, we combine direct-sun measurements with a Cimel CE-318 sun-photometer with an inversion methodology, and the Mie theory to derive the column-integrated size distribution, single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry parameter (g). The mixing of dust and smoke greatly increased the aerosol load and modified the background aerosol properties. Mineral dust increased the aerosol optical depth (AOD) up to 1, while the smoke plume caused an extreme AOD peak of 8. The size distribution of the mixture was bimodal, with a fine and coarse modes dominated by the smoke particles and mineral dust, respectively. The SSA and g for the dust-smoke mixture show a marked sensitivity on the smoke mixing-ratio, mainly at longer wavelengths. Mineral dust and smoke share a similar SSA at 440nm (~0.90), but with opposite spectral dependency. A small dust contribution to the total AOD substantially affects the SSA of the mixture, and also SSA at 1020nm increases from 0.87 to 0.95. This leads to a different spectral behaviour of SSA that changes from positive (smoke plume) to negative (dust), depending on the dust and smoke mixing-ratio.

Dedicated model simulations by four general circulation and chemistry-transport models are used to establish a matrix of specific radiative forcing, defined as the radiative forcing per unit change in mass emitted, as a function of the near-term climate forcer emitted, its source region, and the season of emission. Emissions of eight near-term climate forcers are reduced: sulphur dioxide, the precursor to sulphate aerosols; black carbon aerosols; organic carbon aerosols; ammonia, a precursor to nitrate aerosols; methane; and nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and volatile organic compounds, the precursors to ozone and to secondary organic aerosols. The focus is on two source regions, Europe and East Asia, but the shipping sector and global averages are also included. Emission reductions are applied over two time periods: May–Oct and Nov–Apr. Models generally agree on the sign and ranking of specific radiative forcing for different emitted species, but disagree quantitatively. Black carbon aerosols, methane, and carbon monoxide exert positive specific radiative forcings. Black carbon exerts the strongest specific radiative forcing, even after accounting for rapid adjustments from the semi-direct effect, and is most efficient in local summer. However, although methane and carbon monoxide are less efficient in a specific sense, the potential for decreasing the mass emitted is larger. Organic carbon aerosols, sulphur dioxide, ammonia, and emissions by the shipping sector exert negative specific radiative forcings, with local summer emission changes being again more efficient. Ammonia is notable for its weak specific radiative forcing. For aerosols, specific radiative forcing exerted by European emissions is stronger than for East Asia, because the European baseline is less polluted. Radiative forcing of European and East Asian emission reductions is mainly exerted in the mid-latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere, but atmospheric transport yields sizeable radiative forcings in neighbouring regions, such as the Arctic. Models disagree on the sign of the net radiative forcing exerted by reductions in the emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds, because those reductions trigger complex changes in the oxidising capacity of the atmosphere, translating into radiative forcings by aerosols, methane, and ozone of different signs. The response of nitrate aerosols to nitrogen oxide reductions is particularly important in determining the sign of the corresponding radiative forcing. Model diversity comes from different modelled lifetimes, different unperturbed baselines, and different numbers of species and radiative forcing mechanisms represented. The strength of the aerosol-chemistry coupling is also diverse, translating into aerosol responses to perturbations of ozone precursors of different magnitudes.

The radiative effect of anthropogenic aerosols over Europe during the 2008 European Integrated Project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions Long Range Experiment (EUCAARI-LONGREX) campaign has been calculated using measurements collected by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 aircraft and radiative transfer modelling. The aircraft sampled anthropogenically perturbed air masses across north-western Europe under anticyclonic conditions with aerosol optical depths ranging from 0.047 to 0.357. For one specially designed “radiative closure” flight, simulated irradiances have been compared to radiation measurements for a case of aged European aerosol in order to explore the validity of model assumptions and the degree of radiative closure that can be attained given the spatial and temporal variability of the observations and their measurement uncertainties. Secondly, the diurnally averaged aerosol radiative effect throughout EUCAARI-LONGREX has been calculated. The surface radiative effect ranged between −3.9 and −22.8 W m−2 (mean −11 ± 5 W m−2), whilst top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) values were between −2.1 and −12.0 W m−2 (mean −5 ± 3 W m−2). We have quantified the uncertainties in our calculations due to the way in which aerosols and other parameters are represented in a radiative transfer model. The largest uncertainty in the aerosol radiative effect at both the surface and the TOA comes from the spectral resolution of the information used in the radiative transfer model (∼ 17 %) and the aerosol description (composition and size distribution) used in the Mie calculations of the aerosol optical properties included in the radiative transfer model (∼ 7 %). The aerosol radiative effect at the TOA is also highly sensitive to the surface albedo (∼ 12 %).

In-situ aerosol absorption properties measured in Valencia (Spain) for four years, from February 2011 to February 2015, have been analysed. Spectral absorption properties have been obtained using a seven-wavelength Aethalometer AE-31 which covers the range from UV (370 nm) to IR (950 nm). In order to obtain the absorption coefficients, compensation parameters have been calculated for the Aethalometer considering seasonal and spectral differences. For this multiyear measurement period, seasonal site-specific calibration parameters have been obtained. Furthermore, estimations of the absorption Angstrom Exponent (α abs ) have been calculated using the seven Aethalometer wavelengths. The averaged absorption coefficients (plus/minus the standard deviation) obtained for the seven channels range between 9 ± 4 Mm −1 at 950 nm and 33 ± 18 Mm −1 at 370 nm. These results are typical of a moderate polluted environment. The obtained absorption Angstrom Exponent (plus/minus the standard deviation) is 1.42 ± 0.08, which suggests the presence of brown carbon or black carbon coated by non-absorbing particles in our site. Seasonal and daily variations, together with the effect of both the boundary layer height and traffic, have been also studied. Strong seasonal differences in the absorption coefficient are found, mainly due to seasonal variation of the mixing layer height. On the opposite, the study of the diurnal variations of the absorption Angstrom Exponent proves that this parameter is more affected by traffic emissions than by the evolution of the mixing layer height.

An analysis of the broadband solar irradiation, IT, and the erythemal UV irradiation, IUVER, has been performed using the measurements made from 2013 to 2015 at three sites located at altitudes over 1000 m a.s.l. In Northwestern Argentina (Salta, El Rosal, and Tolar Grande). The main objective of this paper is to determine a relationship between IT and IUVER, which would allow to estimate IUVER from IT in places with few IUVER measurements available, and especially in those where is important to establish adequate photoprotection measures given their dense population and location at high altitude. The relationship between the daily values of IUVER and IT has been fitted to a linear regression (IUVER = m IT + n), showing good correlation in the three measurement sites (R2 ≥ 0.77). Besides, the IUVER/IT ratio shows an increase with altitude of 0.32 ± 0.03 units per km, indicating a more significant influence of altitude on IUVER than on IT. Total ozone column also attenuates more IUVER than IT. In order to reduce the local nature of the relationship between IUVER and IT, the clearness indices kT and kTUVER have been used to obtain a multivariable linear regression of kTUVER as a function of the solar zenith angle, θz, and kT, which shows good correlation (R2 ≥ 0.89) for the three measurement sites. Fil: Utrillas, M. P.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Marín, M. J.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Esteve, A. R.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Salazar, Germán Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional; Argentina Fil: Suárez, H.. Universidad Nacional de Salta; Argentina Fil: Gandía, S.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Martínez Lozano, J. A.. Universidad de Valencia; España

The aerosol optical depth (AOD) and Angstrom exponent (α) obtained from MODIS Terra and Aqua over the coastal urban site of Burjassot (Spain) during the period 2002–2011 have been compared with retrievals from AERONET (AErosol RObotic NETwork) and ESR (European Skynet Radiometers) in order to investigate the performance of MODIS algorithms over land and ocean, respectively. The comparison of the MODIS aerosol products C051 over both land and ocean has been performed for a window size of 50 km × 50 km centred on the monitoring site. The correlation coefficients obtained from the comparison of the AOD from MODIS with that from ground-based measurements are 0.85 and 0.87 over land for Terra and Aqua, respectively, and 0.90 over ocean for both satellites. For the comparison of α, the correlation coefficients are 0.25 and 0.30 over land and 0.73 and 0.66 over ocean for Terra and Aqua, respectively. Since our analysis shows that the MODIS algorithm over ocean characterizes better the aerosol parameters over the coastal urban site of Burjassot (Spain), this dataset has been used to perform a multi-year analysis of the aerosol properties in order to derive a local climatology over this site. The mean AOD at 550 nm is 0.16, with percentiles 25 and 75 of 0.07 and 0.21. These results indicate a relatively clear atmosphere in the area in spite of local anthropogenic and remote dust sources.

This work reports the use of a smartphone’s ambient light sensor as a valuable tool to study and characterize the efficiency of an optical source. Here, we have measured both luminous efficacy and efficiency of several optical sources (incandescent bulb and halogen lamp) as a function of the electric power consumed and the distance to the optical detector. The illuminance of LEDs as a function of the distance to the optical detector is characterized for different wavelength emissions. Analysis of the results confirms an inverse-square law of the illuminance with the detector–source distance and shows good agreement with values obtained by classical experiments. This experience will trigger awareness in students in terms of sustainability, light propagation and efficiency of different optical sources., The authors would like to thank the Institute of Education Sciences, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (Spain), for the support of the teaching innovation groups MOMA and e-MACAFI, and the financial support of Project PIME-2015-B18. The authors also acknowledge the financial support of project EDU2015-69701-P by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and the European Regional Development Fund. J A Sans acknowledges Ramon y Cajal fellowship program for financial support.

The daily values of UVB irradiation (290–315 nm), IUVB, and the broadband total irradiation (300–2800 nm), IT, measured on a horizontal plane have been correlated for the period 2000–2008 at 16 measurement sites in Spain. The results have been compared with the daily experimental values registered at the same sites during the period 2009–2011. The coefficients of determination R2 obtained by applying a linear regression are higher than 0.88 for all sites and increase to 0.94 when using a quadratic regression. When all data are considered together, the values of R2 are 0.91 and 0.97 for the linear and quadratic regressions, respectively. Three different clearness indices, which are dimensionless parameters, have been also used in order to reduce the uncertainties of the estimations and to reduce the local nature of the coefficients: (1) the UVB clearness index, kTUVB = IUVB/I0UVB; (2) the modified UVB clearness index, k′TUVB and (3) the estimated UVB clearness index, k*TUVB. The results show a strong dependence on the solar zenith angle. The bi-dimensional regression of kTUVB as a function of the solar zenith angle and the clearness index, kT, substantially improves the correlation, with R2 values higher than 0.81 for all sites. Finally, a formula relating kTUVB and kT, valid for latitudes between 36°N and 44°N, has been obtained: kTUVB = 0.064 kT – 0.0011 θz – 1.24 E-05 ϕ + 7.6 E-05 λ + 0.063, where θz represents the solar zenith angle (in degrees), ϕ is the latitude (in degrees) of the site and λ is the distance to the sea (in km). We have compared the experimental values for the period 2009–2011 with those estimated using this expression. For this, the coefficient of determination (R2) is 0.87, with a MBD of –3.4%, a RMSE of 21% and a NRMSE of 8.7%.

We present a flexible framework to calculate the optical properties of atmospheric aerosols at a given relative humidity based on their composition and size distribution. The similarity of this framework to climate model parameterisations allows rapid and extensive sensitivity tests of the impact of uncertainties in data or of new measurements on climate relevant aerosol properties. The data collected by the FAAM BAe-146 aircraft during the EUCAARI-LONGREX and VOCALS-REx campaigns have been used in a closure study to analyse the agreement between calculated and measured aerosol optical properties for two very different aerosol types. The agreement achieved for the EUCAARI-LONGREX flights is within the measurement uncertainties for both scattering and absorption. However, there is poor agreement between the calculated and the measured scattering for the VOCALS-REx flights. The high concentration of sulphate, which is a scattering aerosol with no absorption in the visible spectrum, made the absorption measurements during VOCALS-REx unreliable, and thus no closure study was possible for the absorption. The calculated hygroscopic scattering growth factor overestimates the measured values during EUCAARI-LONGREX and VOCALS-REx by ~30% and ~20%, respectively. We have also tested the sensitivity of the calculated aerosol optical properties to the uncertainties in the refractive indices, the hygroscopic growth factors and the aerosol size distribution. The largest source of uncertainty in the calculated scattering is the aerosol size distribution (~35%), followed by the assumed hygroscopic growth factor for organic aerosol (~15%), while the predominant source of uncertainty in the calculated absorption is the refractive index of organic aerosol (28-60%), although we would expect the refractive index of black carbon to be important for aerosol with a higher black carbon fraction. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd.

The aerosol radiative forcing for the period 2003–2011 has been analyzed in Burjassot, Spain, an urban coastal site on the western Mediterranean, using measurements of global solar irradiance and aerosol properties, as well as simulated data. The aerosol radiative forcing was calculated at 5 minute intervals, and then integrated over 24 h to obtain daily mean values for 200 complete days under cloud-free skies. The monthly mean values of the aerosol radiative forcing showed a clear variation during the year, associated to the annual variability of the aerosol optical depth at 500 nm, ranging from − 6 to − 29 Wm− 2 at the surface, and from − 1.5 to − 3.9 Wm− 2 at the top of the atmosphere, with mean values for the whole period of − 17 ± 10 Wm− 2 and − 2.2 ± 1.3 Wm− 2, respectively. The aerosol radiative forcing efficiency was found to be − 139 ± 3 Wm− 2 at the surface and − 19.2 ± 0.3 Wm− 2 at the top of the atmosphere. These negative values, which correspond to cooling effects, suggest a significant absorption of solar radiation by the atmosphere, showing the important role of atmospheric aerosols in this urban site of the Mediterranean.

This study analyzes the atmospheric particles concentration at ground level during a severe pollution event that took place in Valencia (Spain) from 7 to 12 February 2011. The episode was related to a subtropical anticyclone system that affected the Iberian Peninsula and western Europe. The dominant anticyclone imposed an extended low gradient pressure system and a low mixing layer height in the region that caused the accumulation of pollutants over the western Mediterranean. Moreover, the stagnant conditions led to the formation of the local sea breeze, accompanied by an increase of relative humidity and the decrease of ambient temperature. Our study is mainly focused on the analysis of particulate matter levels (PM10 and PM2.5) and the concentration of black carbon (BC) measured at the Burjassot station, Valencia (Spain). BC and PM levels were found to steadily increase during the event (from 3.2 μg/m 3 and 33 μg/m 3 before the event to 4.9 μg/m 3 and 61 μg/m 3 for BC and PM2.5, respectively) and abruptly decreased to 1.3 μg/m 3 and 14 μg/m 3 , respectively, after a cold front swept the Iberian Peninsula, bringing fresh air from the Atlantic and increasing the mixing layer height, thus ventilating and diluting the accumulated pollutants. As a consequence, the EU limit of 50 μg/m 3 for PM10 size fraction was exceeded during days 7 to 12 February 2011 at Valencia, Spain.

Measurements of ultraviolet erythemal radiation (UVER) made during two years at three sites located at altitudes over 1000 m a.s.l. in Northwestern Argentina (Salta, San Carlos, and El Rosal) have been used to estimate and analyze the UV Index (UVI) and the cumulative doses at these locations. For the UVER irradiance, data of January (maximum values) and June (minimum values) have been analyzed as representative of the year for all locations. The UVI reaches extreme (> 11) values in > 20% of the analyzed days in Salta (1190 m a.s.l.), while these are reached in San Carlos (1611 m a.s.l.) and El Rosal (3355 m a.s.l.) in > 40% of the analyzed days. Finally, the cumulative doses over an average year have also been studied for each location. The doses received during austral summer and autumn are of the same order, and represent one third of the annual dose, while the doses received during austral winter and spring represent one sixth of the annual dose approximately. Fil: Utrillas, M. P.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Marín Fernández, Maria J.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Esteve, Anna R.. Universidad de Valencia; España Fil: Salazar, Germán Ariel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional; Argentina Fil: Suarez, Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Salta. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Departamento de Física. Instituto de Investigaciones en Energía no Convencional; Argentina Fil: Castillo, Juan. Universidad Nacional de Salta. Facultad de Cs.exactas. Departamento de Física; Argentina Fil: Martinez Lozano, Jose A.. Universidad de Valencia; España

[EN] We investigate the potential of using deep learning techniques to reject background events in searches for neutrinoless double beta decay with high pressure xenon time projection chambers capable of detailed track reconstruction. The differences in the topological signatures of background and signal events can be learned by deep neural networks via training over many thousands of events. These networks can then be used to classify further events as signal or background, providing an additional background rejection factor at an acceptable loss of efficiency. The networks trained in this study performed better than previous methods developed based on the use of the same topological signatures by a factor of 1.2 to 1.6, and there is potential for further improvement., The NEXT Collaboration acknowledges support from the following agencies and institutions: the European Research Council (ERC) under the Advanced Grant 339787-NEXT; the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad of Spain and FEDER under grants CONSOLIDER-Ingenio 2010 CSD2008-0037 (CUP), FIS2014-53371-C04 and the Severo Ochoa Program SEV-2014-0398; GVA under grant PROMETEO/2016/120. Fermilab is operated by Fermi Research Alliance, LLC under Contract No. DE-AC02-07CH11359 with the United States Department of Energy. JR acknowledges support from a Fulbright Junior Research Award.

The radiative effect of anthropogenic aerosols over Europe during the 2008 European Integrated Project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions Long Range Experiment (EUCAARI-LONGREX) campaign has been calculated using measurements collected by the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe-146 aircraft and radiative transfer modelling. The aircraft sampled anthropogenically perturbed air masses across north-western Europe under anticyclonic conditions with aerosol optical depths ranging from 0.047 to 0.357. For one specially designed “radiative closure” flight, simulated irradiances have been compared to radiation measurements for a case of aged European aerosol in order to explore the validity of model assumptions and the degree of radiative closure that can be attained given the spatial and temporal variability of the observations and their measurement uncertainties. Secondly, the diurnally averaged aerosol radiative effect throughout EUCAARI-LONGREX has been calculated. The surface radiative effect ranged between −3.9 and −22.8 W m−2 (mean −11 ± 5 W m−2), whilst top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) values were between −2.1 and −12.0 W m−2 (mean −5 ± 3 W m−2). We have quantified the uncertainties in our calculations due to the way in which aerosols and other parameters are represented in a radiative transfer model. The largest uncertainty in the aerosol radiative effect at both the surface and the TOA comes from the spectral resolution of the information used in the radiative transfer model (∼ 17 %) and the aerosol description (composition and size distribution) used in the Mie calculations of the aerosol optical properties included in the radiative transfer model (∼ 7 %). The aerosol radiative effect at the TOA is also highly sensitive to the surface albedo (∼ 12 %).

The erythemal UV daily dose (EDD) and the local noon UV Index (UVI) obtained from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), on board NASA’s Aura satellite, have been validated for the period 2005-2013 using ground based measurements at 5 different sites in the Mediterranean coast: Murcia, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, Barcelona and Rome (where only measurements of the local noon UVI were available). Ground based measurements were made using YES UVB-1 radiometers in Murcia, Valencia, Palma de Mallorca and Barcelona, and a Brewer MKIV 067 spectrophotometer in Rome. The results of the validation showed good agreement between the satellite instrument and the ground based measurements, although the OMI values overestimate the ground based measurements, being the difference between both types of measurements maximum during the spring and summer, and minimum during autumn and winter. The evolution of the EDD shows a clear seasonal behavior for all measuring sites for both, ground based and satellite data, with maximum values in summer (June and July) and minimum values in winter (December and January). A high percentage of cases (>80%) showed minimum differences (0-1 UVI units) between the UVI obtained by OMI and the UVI obtained by ground based instruments for all measuring sites. In every measuring site, high (6-7) or very high (8-10) UVI values are reached for a high percentage of the days of the analyzed period, but very few extreme (≥11) UVI values are reached.

In this work, we present a simple model that allows us to easily obtain the character of the dominant air mass for any location in the Northern Hemisphere at any time. Specifically, in this article the model has been tested at Valencia, Spain, for the years from 2006 to 2009. The classification of the air masses is performed analysing their trajectories over pre-defined source regions in the Northern Hemisphere. Daily trajectories were simulated by the hybrid single-particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory model HYSPLIT and then classified by our model. In order to verify our classification results, those cases identified as African were compared with the Saharan dust intrusions reported for Valencia by the Ministerio de Medio Ambiente y Medio Rural y Marino MARM in collaboration with the Centro Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas CSIC. The model we present in this article can be applied in the selection of an optimum aerosol model for the atmospheric correction of remote sensing products.

This paper reports on investigation of the gate edge effect on the interface trap density characteristics of 3C–SiC MOS capacitors fabricated using four different gate materials and two SiO 2 oxide preparation methods. Non-uniform distribution of interface trap densities under the gate was demonstrated by the presence of the gate edge effect, i.e. the dependence of D it ( E ) on the ratio of gate perimeter to its area. The strength of the gate effect in different gate/oxide material combinations was studied and it was found that it depends on gate thermal expansion coefficient and adhesion of the gate layer to the oxide layer. The D it behaviour at shallow energy levels (0.25 eV) was attributed to the reaction of P b -centres to mechanical stress. The behaviour of D it at deeper levels was documented but could not be explained in this study.

Aerosol optical properties were measured by NOAA's Airborne Aerosol Observatory over Bondville, Illinois, during more than two years using a light aircraft. Measured properties included total light scattering, backscattering, and absorption, while calculated parameters included aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent, single-scattering albedo, hemispheric backscatter fraction, asymmetry parameter, and submicrometer mode fraction of scattering. The in-situ aircraft measurements are compared here with AERONET measurements and retrievals of the aerosol optical properties at the same location, although it is difficult to verify the AERONET retrieval algorithm at a site that is not highly polluted. The comparison reveals discrepancies between the aerosol properties retrieved from AERONET and from in-situ aircraft measurements. These discrepancies are smaller for the AOD, while the biggest discrepancies are for the other derived aerosol properties. Possible sources of discrepancy between the AOD measured by AERONET and the one calculated from the in-situ aircraft measurements are investigated. The largest portion of the AOD discrepancy is likely due to an incorrect adjustment to ambient RH of the scattering coefficient. Another significant part (along with uncertain nephelometer truncation corrections) may come from the possibility that there might be less aerosol below the lowest flight altitude or that the aircraft inlet excludes aerosol particles larger than 5–7 μm diameter.

Measurements of aerosol scattering properties obtained during the period from March 2006 to December 2010 at Valencia (Spain) have been analyzed. The total aerosol scattering (σsp) and backscattering (σbsp) coefficients were measured using a TSI Model 3563 three-wavelength integrating nephelometer. From the measurements of σsp and σbsp, it was possible to determine also the scattering Angstrom exponent (αs). For the entire measurement period, the mean values (±standard deviation) at 550 nm are: 80 ± 50 Mm−1 for σsp; 8 ± 5 Mm−1 for σbsp; and 1.6 ± 0.3 for αs. These results indicate a moderate polluted atmosphere characterized by fine particles. The daily variation for all seasons shows clear patterns in the scattering properties of the atmospheric aerosols, due to the traffic and the evolution of the boundary layer throughout the day. This influence of traffic was analyzed, observing different daily patterns for weekdays (Monday–Friday) and weekends (Saturday and Sunday).

UV erythemal irradiance (UVER) has been studied on a horizontal plane and on vertical surfaces with different orientations in Valencia, Spain. The evolution of the solar noon value and the maximum daily value over a year has been analysed from the instantaneous UVER taken every five minutes on the horizontal plane and on vertical surfaces with north, south, east and west orientations. The annual evolution of these values shows a sinusoidal form for all planes except for the vertical south plane with maxima in spring and autumn. The UV Index (UVI) on these planes was also determined. The percentage of coincidence of the UVI at solar noon and of the maximum daily UVER values, considering differences of 1 or 0 units, is 87% on the horizontal plane, 100% on the vertical north plane, 92% on the vertical south plane, 77% on the vertical east plane and 75% on the vertical west plane. We have compared the UVI of the vertical plane with the horizontal one by means of linear regressions. All planes show very good correlations except for the vertical south plane, which shows no correlation with the horizontal plane for the middle days of the year due to its particular geometry with respect to the Sun's apparent path. Finally, the annual cumulative UVER doses related to each phototype for the horizontal and vertical planes were calculated. It was noticed that the dose over a year on the horizontal plane doubles the dose on the vertical south plane, which is the one that receives the maximum dose. Copyright © 2011 Royal Meteorological Society

Low ozone level episodes (also known as mini-holes) have been analysed over Valencia, Spain, during the period from 1 January 2000 to 31 December 2007. In this study, 24 episodes, lasting 1 or 2 days each, were detected. Most of them can be explained dynamically by the existence of an anticyclone over the Azores, which sends air masses coming from the Caribbean over the Iberian Peninsula. A positive anomaly in the vertical temperature profile in the high troposphere and one negative anomaly in the medium and low stratosphere are also observed in most of the analysed episodes. The total ozone column decrease is accompanied by a rise in the UV erythemal radiation levels. This increase is quantified at 1.29 times the decrease in the total ozone column. This is known as the radiation amplification factor (RAF) of UV erythemal radiation. Copyright © 2010 Royal Meteorological Society