We present the Pilot Survey Phase 2 data release for the Wide-field ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind surveY (WALLABY), carried-out using the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP). We present 1760 H i detections (with a default spatial resolution of 30′′) from three pilot fields including the NGC 5044 and NGC 4808 groups as well as the Vela field, covering a total of $\sim 180$ deg$^2$ of the sky and spanning a redshift up to $z \simeq 0.09$. This release also includes kinematic models for over 126 spatially resolved galaxies. The observed median rms noise in the image cubes is 1.7 mJy per 30′′ beam and 18.5 kHz channel. This corresponds to a 5$\sigma$ H i column density sensitivity of $\sim 9.1\times10^{19}(1 + z)^4$ cm$^{-2}$ per 30′′ beam and $\sim 20$ km s$^{-1}$ channel and a 5$\sigma$ H i mass sensitivity of $\sim 5.5\times10^8 (D/100$ Mpc)$^{2}$ M$_{\odot}$ for point sources. Furthermore, we also present for the first time 12′′ high-resolution images (“cut-outs”) and catalogues for a sub-sample of 80 sources from the Pilot Survey Phase 2 fields. While we are able to recover sources with lower signal-to-noise ratio compared to sources in the Public Data Release 1, we do note that some data quality issues still persist, notably, flux discrepancies that are linked to the impact of side lobes associated with the dirty beams due to inadequate deconvolution. However, in spite of these limitations, the WALLABY Pilot Survey Phase 2 has already produced roughly a third of the number of HIPASS sources, making this the largest spatially resolved H i sample from a single survey to date.

Avoidable disasters are both saddening and baffling. In 2022, 159 people, mostly in their 20s, and 30s were crushed to death in Itaewon’s narrow alleyway amid South Korea’s first pandemic-restrictions-free Halloween celebration. What is particularly sobering about this tragedy is that although many people called police hotlines as crowds became cramped and static, their calls went unheeded for hours. Rather than order independent investigations into the catastrophe (as of January 2024), the President of South Korea at the time focused on superficial issues such as asking the public to refer to the disaster as an “accident” (which it was not, it was an avoidable disaster) and the casualties as “the dead” (who are casualties indeed, instead of victims of a preventable tragedy). In this paper, we examine how officials’ complacency about public health and safety dangers, ineffective disaster prevention, and preparedness systems, as well as the government’s chronic lack of prioritization of public health and safety may have contributed to the disaster. Furthermore, we discuss the importance of creating integrated public health and safety protection systems to prevent similar tragedies from happening.

The influence of organics on the crystallization of Al precipitates has been well documented. However, the effects of organics and ageing on the transformation and structural configuration of Al precipitates in relation to their surface and charge properties are not fully understood. This study investigated the structural, microporous and surface properties of Al precipitates formed under the influence of tannate and ageing. The Al precipitates were synthesized at an initial Al concentration of 7 × 10−3 M, an OH/Al molar ratio (MR) of 3.0, and initial tannate/Al MRs of 0, 0.001, 0.01 and 0.1, and aged for 1, 10 and 40 days. As indicated by a decrease in gibbsite and bayerite and an increase in the oxalate-extractable Al contents, the non-crystalline precipitates increased with the increase of the initial tannate/Al MR. This observation is in accord with the X-ray diffraction and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) data. The impact of tannic acid on the nature of the Al precipitates is also reflected in the increase of the contents of the pyrophosphate-extractable Al, which is indicative of organically bound Al. This observation is in agreement with the increase in the intensity of characteristic FTIR absorption bands of tannate and the organic C and adsorbed water contents. The decrease in the crystallinity of Al precipitates with increase in the tannate/Al MR resulted in the development of microporosity, increase in BET specific surface area and decrease of the average pore diameter and point of zero salt effect (PZSE). The FTIR absorption bands characteristic of tannate of the Al precipitates became weaker with ageing, in accord with the ageing-induced decrease in the contents of organic C and pyrophosphate-extractable Al. Ageing drastically decreased the BET specific surface area of the Al precipitates formed in the absence of tannate but this effect was less conspicuous for the products formed at the tannate/Al molar ratio of 0.1. The ageing-induced change in the PZSE of the Al precipitates formed both in the absence and presence of tannate was not significant. The results accomplished in this study are of fundamental significance to our understanding of the combined effects of organics and ageing on structural configuration of hydrolytic precipitates of Al in relation to their microporosity, surface and charge properties in the environment.

Background: Lower socioeconomic status is associated with worse outcomes after stroke. We evaluated the differences in acute revascularization treatments in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) who were materially deprived compared to those who were not. Methods: In a population-based cohort study, we used linked administrative data to identify community-dwelling adults hospitalized for AIS between 2017-2022 in Ontario, Canada. The main exposure was neighborhood-level material deprivation quintiles. Multivariable logistic regression was used to obtain the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of receiving revascularization treatments (thrombolysis or thrombectomy) for patients in each deprivation quintile compared to the least deprived quintile. Results: We identified 57,709 patients (median age 74 years; 45.9% female). Compared to patients in the least deprived quintile, those with higher deprivation were younger and more likely to have hypertension and diabetes, but less likely to have atrial fibrillation. Compared to patients in the least deprived quintile, fewer patients in the very deprived quintile (17.9% vs 19.6%, aOR 0.88, 95%CI [0.82,0.95]) and in the most deprived quintile (16.6% vs 19.6%, 0.77 [0.71,0.83]) received revascularization treatments. Conclusions: Our results suggest disparities in the use of acute ischemic stroke revascularization treatments by socioeconomic status despite access to universal health care.

We report the results of a 7-year monitoring program using the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) for the 9.9 GHz class I methanol maser in G331.13-0.24 where a periodic class II methanol maser is present. The great deal of the project was to control systematics at an unprecedented level. Although no periodic flux variation was found, the maser shows a very stable decline of 166±7 μJy/day. The radial velocity of the maser is stable down to 1 m/s level. We also report a marginal periodic signal in radial velocity (comparable to the level of systematics) of about 20±7 cm/s with the period of 475±22 days, close to that of the 6.7-GHz maser in the source. No hyperfine split was detected which suggests preferential excitation of a single hyperfine transition.

We report the experimental results of the commissioning phase in the 10 PW laser beamline of the Shanghai Superintense Ultrafast Laser Facility (SULF). The peak power reaches 2.4 PW on target without the last amplifying during the experiment. The laser energy of 72 ± 9 J is directed to a focal spot of approximately 6 μm diameter (full width at half maximum) in 30 fs pulse duration, yielding a focused peak intensity around 2.0 × 1021 W/cm2. The first laser-proton acceleration experiment is performed using plain copper and plastic targets. High-energy proton beams with maximum cut-off energy up to 62.5 MeV are achieved using copper foils at the optimum target thickness of 4 μm via target normal sheath acceleration. For plastic targets of tens of nanometers thick, the proton cut-off energy is approximately 20 MeV, showing ring-like or filamented density distributions. These experimental results reflect the capabilities of the SULF-10 PW beamline, for example, both ultrahigh intensity and relatively good beam contrast. Further optimization for these key parameters is underway, where peak laser intensities of 1022–1023 W/cm2 are anticipated to support various experiments on extreme field physics.

The building of online atomic and molecular databases for astrophysics and for other research fields started with the beginning of the internet. These databases have encompassed different forms: databases of individual research groups exposing their own data, databases providing collected data from the refereed literature, databases providing evaluated compilations, databases providing repositories for individuals to deposit their data, and so on. They were, and are, the replacement for literature compilations with the goal of providing more complete and in particular easily accessible data services to the users communities. Such initiatives involve not only scientific work on the data, but also the characterization of data, which comes with the “standardization” of metadata and of the relations between metadata, as recently developed in different communities. This contribution aims at providing a representative overview of the atomic and molecular databases ecosystem, which is available to the astrophysical community and addresses different issues linked to the use and management of data and databases. The information provided in this paper is related to the keynote lecture “Atomic and Molecular Databases: Open Science for better science and a sustainable world” whose slides can be found at DOI : doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6979352 on the Zenodo repository connected to the “cb5-labastro” Zenodo Community (https://zenodo.org/communities/cb5-labastro).

This paper investigates potential biodiversity valuation tools which actuaries could use in their work. It is an initial research paper into a selection of UK-based biodiversity valuation tools identified by the Department for Environment and Rural Affairs in its publication “Enabling a Natural Capital Approach Guidance”. The “Enabling a Natural Capital Approach Guidance” publication is seen as a comprehensive practical guide to natural capital and therefore is determined a sensible starting point on which to base this research. This research paper is not intended to be an exhaustive exploration of all biodiversity tools available, but rather is intended to identify a selection of tools which may be candidates for further research into their actuarial use case. We conclude that there are tools which merit additional research, and we recommend that these tools be further investigated to understand (i) the specific actuarial use case(s), (ii) whether the tools are applicable to direct infrastructure investments only or a broad range of asset classes, and (iii) whether their scope can be extended beyond the UK.

An acute gastroenteritis (AGE) outbreak caused by a norovirus occurred at a hospital in Shanghai, China, was studied for molecular epidemiology, host susceptibility and serological roles. Rectal and environmental swabs, paired serum samples and saliva specimens were collected. Pathogens were detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing. Histo-blood group antigens (HBGA) phenotypes of saliva samples and their binding to norovirus protruding proteins were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The HBGA-binding interfaces and the surrounding region were analysed by the MegAlign program of DNAstar 7.1. Twenty-seven individuals in two care units were attacked with AGE at attack rates of 9.02 and 11.68%. Eighteen (78.2%) symptomatic and five (38.4%) asymptomatic individuals were GII.6/b norovirus positive. Saliva-based HBGA phenotyping showed that all symptomatic and asymptomatic cases belonged to A, B, AB or O secretors. Only four (16.7%) out of the 24 tested serum samples showed low blockade activity against HBGA-norovirus binding at the acute phase, whereas 11 (45.8%) samples at the convalescence stage showed seroconversion of such blockade. Specific blockade antibody in the population played an essential role in this norovirus epidemic. A wide HBGA-binding spectrum of GII.6 supports a need for continuous health attention and surveillance in different settings.

Gravitational waves from coalescing neutron stars encode information about nuclear matter at extreme densities, inaccessible by laboratory experiments. The late inspiral is influenced by the presence of tides, which depend on the neutron star equation of state. Neutron star mergers are expected to often produce rapidly rotating remnant neutron stars that emit gravitational waves. These will provide clues to the extremely hot post-merger environment. This signature of nuclear matter in gravitational waves contains most information in the 2–4 kHz frequency band, which is outside of the most sensitive band of current detectors. We present the design concept and science case for a Neutron Star Extreme Matter Observatory (NEMO): a gravitational-wave interferometer optimised to study nuclear physics with merging neutron stars. The concept uses high-circulating laser power, quantum squeezing, and a detector topology specifically designed to achieve the high-frequency sensitivity necessary to probe nuclear matter using gravitational waves. Above 1 kHz, the proposed strain sensitivity is comparable to full third-generation detectors at a fraction of the cost. Such sensitivity changes expected event rates for detection of post-merger remnants from approximately one per few decades with two A+ detectors to a few per year and potentially allow for the first gravitational-wave observations of supernovae, isolated neutron stars, and other exotica.

Introduction: As the availability of Computed Tomography Pulmonary Angiography (CTPA) to rule out pulmonary embolism (PE) increases, so too does its utilization, and consequent overutilization. A variety of evidence-based algorithms and decision rules using clinical criteria and D-Dimer testing have been proposed as instruments to allow physicians to safely rule out a PE in low-risk patients. However, studies have shown mixed results with respect to both physician uptake of these decision rules and their impact on improving ordering practices among physicians. The objective of this study is to describe the prevalence of D-Dimer utilization among ED physicians and its impact on positive yield rates of CTPAs in a community setting. Methods: Data was collected on all CTPA studies ordered by ED physicians at two very high-volume community hospitals and an affiliated urgent care centre during the 2-year period between January 1, 2016 and December 31, 2017. For each CTPA, we determined if 1) a D-Dimer had been ordered prior to CTPA, if 2) the D-Dimer was positive, and if 3) the CTPA was positive for a PE. Using a chi-square test, we compared the diagnostic yield for those patients who had a D-Dimer prior to their CTPA and those who did not. Results: A total of 2,811 CTPAs were included in the analysis. Of these, 964 CTPAs (34.3%) were ordered without a D-Dimer. Of those 1,847 patients who underwent D-Dimer testing prior to the CTPA, 343 (18.7%) underwent a CTPA despite a negative D-Dimer. When compared as a group, those CTPAs preceded by a D-Dimer showed no significant difference in positive yields when compared to those CTPAs ordered without a prior D-Dimer (9.9% versus 11.3%, p = 0.26). Conclusion: The findings of this study present a complicated picture of the impact of D-Dimer utilization on CTPA ordering patterns. There is evidence of suboptimal uptake of routine D-Dimer ordering, and adherence to guidelines in terms of forgoing CTPAs in low-risk patients with negative D-Dimers. While this study design leaves unanswered the question of how many CTPAs were avoided as a result of a negative D-Dimer, the finding of a similar positive yield among those patients who had a D-Dimer ordered versus those who did not is interesting, and illustrative of the issues arising from the high false-positive rates associated with D-Dimer screening.

The present study was designed to detect three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located on 22q11 that was thought as being of particularly importance for genetic research into schizophrenia. We recruited a total of 176 Chinese family trios of Han descent, consisting of mothers, fathers and affected offspring with schizophrenia for the genetic analysis. The transmission disequilibrium test (TDT) showed that of three SNPs, rs10314 in the 3′-untranslated region of the CLDN5 locus was associated with schizophrenia (χ2 = 4.75, P = 0.029). The other two SNPs, rs1548359 present in the CDC45L locus centromeric of rs10314 and rs739371 in the 5′-flanking region of the CLDN5 locus, did not show such an association. The global chi-square (χ2) test showed that the 3-SNP haplotype system was not associated with schizophrenia although the 1-df test for individual haplotypes showed that the rs1548359(C)-rs10314(G)-rs739371(C) haplotype was excessively non-transmitted (χ2 = 5.32, P = 0.02). Because the claudin proteins are a major component for barrier-forming tight junctions that could play a crucial role in response to changing natural, physiological and pathological conditions, the CLDN5 association with schizophrenia may be an important clue leading to look into a meeting point of genetic and environmental factors.

The COllaborative project of Development of Anthropometrical measures in Twins (CODATwins) project is a large international collaborative effort to analyze individual-level phenotype data from twins in multiple cohorts from different environments. The main objective is to study factors that modify genetic and environmental variation of height, body mass index (BMI, kg/m2) and size at birth, and additionally to address other research questions such as long-term consequences of birth size. The project started in 2013 and is open to all twin projects in the world having height and weight measures on twins with information on zygosity. Thus far, 54 twin projects from 24 countries have provided individual-level data. The CODATwins database includes 489,981 twin individuals (228,635 complete twin pairs). Since many twin cohorts have collected longitudinal data, there is a total of 1,049,785 height and weight observations. For many cohorts, we also have information on birth weight and length, own smoking behavior and own or parental education. We found that the heritability estimates of height and BMI systematically changed from infancy to old age. Remarkably, only minor differences in the heritability estimates were found across cultural–geographic regions, measurement time and birth cohort for height and BMI. In addition to genetic epidemiological studies, we looked at associations of height and BMI with education, birth weight and smoking status. Within-family analyses examined differences within same-sex and opposite-sex dizygotic twins in birth size and later development. The CODATwins project demonstrates the feasibility and value of international collaboration to address gene-by-exposure interactions that require large sample sizes and address the effects of different exposures across time, geographical regions and socioeconomic status.

A new generation of high power laser facilities will provide laser pulses with extremely high powers of 10 petawatt (PW) and even 100 PW, capable of reaching intensities of $10^{23}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ in the laser focus. These ultra-high intensities are nevertheless lower than the Schwinger intensity $I_{S}=2.3\times 10^{29}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$ at which the theory of quantum electrodynamics (QED) predicts that a large part of the energy of the laser photons will be transformed to hard Gamma-ray photons and even to matter, via electron–positron pair production. To enable the investigation of this physics at the intensities achievable with the next generation of high power laser facilities, an approach involving the interaction of two colliding PW laser pulses is being adopted. Theoretical simulations predict strong QED effects with colliding laser pulses of ${\geqslant}10~\text{PW}$ focused to intensities ${\geqslant}10^{22}~\text{W}/\text{cm}^{2}$.

Prenatal maternal stress (PNMS) has been associated with postnatal behavioral alterations that may be partly explained by interactions between the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic–pituitary–gonadal (HPG) axes. Yet it remains unclear whether PNMS leads to enduring HPA–HPG alterations in the offspring, and whether HPA–HPG interactions can impact behavior during development, in particular levels of aggression in childhood. Here we investigated the relationship between a marker for HPG axis function (baseline testosterone) and a marker for HPA axis response (cortisol area under the curve) in 11½-year-olds whose mothers were exposed to the 1998 Quebec ice storm during pregnancy (n = 59 children; 31 boys, 28 girls). We examined (a) whether the degree of objective or subjective PNMS regulates the testosterone–cortisol relationship at age 11½, and (b) whether this testosterone–cortisol relationship is associated with differences in aggressive behavior. We found that, at lower levels of subjective PNMS, baseline testosterone and cortisol reactivity were positively correlated; in contrast, there was no relationship between these hormones at higher levels of subjective PNMS. Cortisol response moderated the relationship between testosterone and aggression. These results support the notion PNMS may explain variance in fetal HPA–HPG interactions, and that these interactions may be associated with aggressive behavior in late childhood.