Wide Survey Research Articles

The Assembly of Black Hole Mass and Luminosity Functions of High-redshift Quasars via Multiple Accretion Episodes

The early evolution of the quasar luminosity function (QLF) and black hole mass function (BHMF) encodes key information on the physics determining the radiative and accretion processes of supermassive black holes (BHs) in high-z quasars. Although the QLF shape has been constrained by recent observations, it remains challenging to develop a theoretical model that explains its redshift evolution associated with BH growth self-consistently. In this study, based on a semianalytical model for the BH formation and growth, we construct the QLF and BHMF of the early BH population that experiences multiple accretion bursts, in each of which a constant Eddington ratio is assigned following a Schechter distribution function. Our best-fit model to reproduce the observed QLF and BHMF at z ≃ 6 suggests that several episodes of moderate super-Eddington accretion occur and each of them lasts for τ ≃ 20–30 Myr. The average duty cycle in super-Eddington phases is ≃15% for massive BHs that reach ≳108 M ⊙ by z ≃ 6, which is nearly twice that of the entire population. We find that the observed Eddington ratio distribution function is skewed to a lognormal shape owing to detection limits of quasar surveys. The predicted redshift evolution of the QLF and BHMF suggests a rapid decay of their number and mass density in a cosmic volume toward z ≳ 6. These results will be unveiled by future deep and wide surveys with the James Webb Space Telescope, Roman Space Telescope, and Euclid.

Accessing care during the pandemic: A UK wide survey of people with rheumatoid arthritis and adult juvenile inflammatory arthritis during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 drastically changed healthcare delivery models for rheumatology services. We sought to understand the impact of these changes for patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) and adult Juvenile Inflammatory Arthritis (AJIA) in established patients and those newly diagnosed during the pandemic. RESULTS: Of the 316 participants, a significant proportion regularly used analgesics (45.4%, n=119), corticosteroids (17.9%, n=47) and Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs [(NSAIDs) (36.6%, n=96)]. Two thirds of participants (66.5%, n=210) did not know their Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28). Of the remaining third, moderate disease activity (12%, n=38) was most reported. We found that 16.8% (n=53) felt their condition was managed well during the pandemic. The remainder felt more negatively. For the newly diagnosed cohort, 34.5% (n=10) delayed seeking GP help because of COVID-19 concerns. Once assessed, a quarter (24.1%, n=7) were referred to rheumatology after 4 or more consultations. We found 47% (n=77) expressed positive opinions on remote consultations, whereas 36% (n=59) had concerns. The lack of clinical examination (42.5%, n=25) was flagged. Changing the dynamic from health worker to a patient centred approach was the most wished for improvement (20.3%, n=64). CONCLUSIONS: Most participants did not know their disease activity status, which is of concern. With a push towards patient-centred and patient-led care, education and supported self-management is critically important. There is high use of NSAIDs and corticosteroids. Pathways of care underwent change with subsequent delays in specialist assessment. The introduction of patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) and virtual consultations further distances healthcare professionals from patients and could affect outcomes.

Local Group dwarf galaxy detection limit in the CSST survey

ABSTRACT We predict the dwarf galaxy detection limits for the upcoming Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST) survey that will cover 17 500 ${\rm \, deg}^{2}$ of the sky with a wide field of view of 1.1 deg2. The point-source depth reaches 26.3 mag in the g band and 25.9 mag in the i band. Constructing mock survey data based on the designed photometric bands, we estimate the recovery rate of artificial dwarf galaxies from mock point-source photometric catalogues. The detection of these artificial dwarf galaxies is strongly dependent on their distance, magnitude, and size, in agreement with searches in current surveys. We expect CSST to enable the detection of dwarf galaxies with MV = −3.0 and μ250 = 32.0 mag arcsec−2 (surface brightness limit for a system of half-light radius rh = 250 ${\rm \, pc}$) at $400 {\rm \, kpc}$, and MV = −4.9 and μ250 = 30.5 mag arcsec−2 around the Andromeda galaxy. Beyond the Local Group, the CSST survey will achieve MV = −5.8, and μ250 = 29.7 mag arcsec−2 in the distance range of 1–2 Mpc, opening up an exciting discovery space for faint field dwarf galaxies. With its optical bands, wide survey footprint, and space resolution, CSST will undoubtedly expand our knowledge of low-mass dwarf galaxies to an unprecedented volume.

Assessment of trace element content throughout the white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farming cycle

Environmental context Intensive aquaculture is the main source of fisheries products. Thus, investigating the food safety of these products and the environmental impacts of the farms on mangroves is necessary. A shrimp productive cycle was evaluated with a focus on trace element accumulation in shrimps and effluent. The results revealed secure levels of elements in the final product; however, the effluent produced in farms is an important source of contamination to mangrove environment. Rationale Aquaculture systems have increased in the last years due to the high demand for seafood consumption, this could impact the environment and subject fisheries to accumulation of toxic elements. To understand some parameters of food safety and environmental impact, the present study evaluated the concentration of trace elements (Al, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Mo, Pb, Se, V and Zn) throughout the production cycle of shrimp. Methodology About 50 shrimps per cycle were collected in a shrimp farm in Brazil and their trace element contents were determined by inductively coupled plasma–tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) and microwave-induced plasma–optical emission spectroscopy (MIP-OES). Results At their final lifecycle stage, shrimp samples present a content (mg g−1) of elements following the trend: Cu (102 ± 12) > Al (20.06 ± 4.24) > Zn (14.82 ± 2.46) > Mn (6.24 ± 0.94) > As (2.65 ± 0.42) > Se (0.932 ± 0.140) > Co (0.380 ± 0.05) > Mo (0.254 ± 0.03) > V (0.204 ± 0.02). Discussion The content of Cd and Pb are in allowance with Brazil and USA legislation for crustaceans, however, the content of As is 3–4-fold higher than that allowed by guidelines in all stages of the growth of the shrimp. The final effluent of the shrimp’s pond into the mangroves shows a high mass fraction of Zn and Mn that could be a source of contamination. Some correlations between some elements in the shrimp samples were found, such as As–Se, Se–Co and Se–V. This study was a scoping experiment to study the content of trace elements throughout the farming cycle of shrimps, encouraging the researcher to undergo a wide survey to evaluate the environmental impact of aquaculture shrimp farming.

Territorial reform of areas with concentrated residence of minorities within decentralization policy under polyethnicity in Ukraine

The ethnic problem is of particular importance with neighboring states, which, as kin-states, seek to protect their diaspora in Ukraine. The purpose of the article is to analyze the results of territorial transformations in the areas of concentrared residence of ethnic minorities in Ukraine and their impact on the current ethno-political balance. To examine the territorial transformations in Ukraine various methods were used - statistical analysis and survey method to generalize the attitude of the population to territorial transformations in the areas of ethnic groups settlements; documentary method to analyse international and Ukraine documents on territorial forming; observation to reveal the minorities moods; content analysis of local governments documents etc. Being based on situational and comparative approaches, on statistical data, the peculiarities of the settlement and administrative structure in areas of concentrated residence of minorities in Ukraine were examined both before the reform of the territorial structure and after the corresponding changes in 2020. On the basis of a wide expert survey, the problematic issues of territorial reform in areas of concentrated residence of minorities were identified, and ways of their solution were proposed. After the analysis of the index of ethnic tolerance in areas of concentrated residence of minorities, a forecast was made about the stability of the territorial structure in areas of concentrated residence of minorities (Romanians and Moldovans), including the mixed (multi-ethnic) municipalities and raions (territorial districts).

Gravitational lensing modification of the high-redshift galaxy luminosity function

ABSTRACT The bright end of the rest-frame ultraviolet luminosity function (UVLF) of high-redshift galaxies is modified by gravitational lensing magnification bias. Motivated by recent discoveries of very high-z galaxies with JWST, we study the dependence of magnification bias on the finite size of sources at 6 < z < 14. We calculate the magnification probability distributions and use these to calculate the magnification bias assuming a rest-frame Schechter UVLF for galaxies at redshift 6 < z < 14. We find that the finite size of bright high-redshift galaxies together with lens ellipticity significantly suppresses magnification bias, producing an observed bright end which declines more sharply than the power law resulting from assumption of point sources. By assuming a luminosity–size relation for the source population and comparing with the observed z = 6 galaxy luminosity function from Harikane et al. (2022), we show that the UVLF can be used to set mild constraints on the galaxies intrinsic size, favouring smaller galaxies compared to the fiducial luminosity–size relation. In the future, wide surveys using Euclid and Roman Space Telescope will place stronger constraints. We also tabulate the maximum magnification possible as a function of source size and lens ellipticity.

Worldwide Survey on the Treatment of Peripheral Vestibular Disorders (P3-9.002)

<h3>Objective:</h3> The aim of this world wide survey was to evaluate the currently used treatment options of the six most frequent peripheral vestibular disorders: benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), acute unilateral vestibulopathy (AUVP)/vestibular neuritis, Menière’s disease, bilateral vestibulopathy (BVP), vestibular paroxysmia and superior canal deshiscence syndrome (SCDS). <h3>Background:</h3> For the therapy of vestibular disorders, there are basically four treatment options: physiotherapy (liberatory maneuvers or balance training), pharmacotherapy, surgery and psychotherapy. Since there are very few state-of-the-art RCTs, the treatment of vestibular disorders is so far not standardized and various methods are applied with heterogeneous efficacy. <h3>Design/Methods:</h3> A web-based standardized survey questionnaire on the treatment of the six most frequent peripheral vestibular disorders was used to collect data. <h3>Results:</h3> 234 replies from five continents, 47 countries, 162 cities and 188 centers were received: (% from all 234 replies; multiple answers possible): BPPV: posterior canal: 71% Epley, 40% Sémont, and 12% others. Horizontal canal BPPV canalithiasis: 58% roll-maneuver, 33% Gufoni, 7% prolonged rest, and 9% others. Horizontal canal cupulolithiasis: 35% Gufoni, 27% roll-maneuver, 9% Zuma, and 7% head shaking: AUVP: 79% pharmacotherapy, namely 47% glucocorticoids, 39% antiemetics, and 24% betahistine; 67% physiotherapy. Menière’s disease: 85% pharmacotherapy, namely 65% betahistine, 21% diuretics, 20% steroids, 16% antiemetics, 14% gentamicin; 37% surgery. Vestibular paroxysmia: 65% pharmacotherapy, namely 57% anticonvulsants; 7% surgery. BVP: 77% physiotherapy. SCDS: 50% Surgery, namely 19% canal plugging, 12% capping, and 8% resurfacing. <h3>Conclusions:</h3> In this world wide survey with 234 replies from 188 centers widely heterogeneous applied treatment options were reported for the six most frequent peripheral vestibular disorders. For example, medication use is often not supported by evidence. Namely in AUVP, Menière’s disease and vestibular paroxysmia well designed controlled trials are needed with clinically meaningful endpoints are needed. <b>Disclosure:</b> Dr. Strupp has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as a Consultant for IntraBio. Dr. Strupp has received personal compensation in the range of $0-$499 for serving as a Consultant for AurisMedical. Dr. Strupp has received personal compensation in the range of $10,000-$49,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Springer. Dr. Strupp has received personal compensation in the range of $5,000-$9,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for Frontiers. Dr. Strupp has stock in IntraBio. Mr. Kern has nothing to disclose. Prof. Laurell has nothing to disclose. Eva Grill has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as an Editor, Associate Editor, or Editorial Advisory Board Member for ELSEVIER. The institution of Eva Grill has received research support from German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The institution of Eva Grill has received research support from AOK Bayern. Eva Grill has received personal compensation in the range of $500-$4,999 for serving as a Speaker with Apothekerkammer Bayern. Ralf Strobl has nothing to disclose.

Prediction of recital characteristics of a CI diesel engine operated by bio-fuel extracts from cotton seed oil, linseed oil and mahua seed oil using ANN metho

In the wide survey, it is explored that the potential of artificial neural network is used to foretell the recital (performance) characteristics of a four stroke single cylinder diesel engine using the biofuel obtained from cottonseed, linseed and Mahua seed. The test engine was powered with diesel and biofuel with its blends from cotton seed, linseed and Mahua seed separately. Experimental results of the cotton seed oil, linseed oil and mahua oil as a substitute for diesel revealed that linseed oil provides the better engine performance nearly equal to diesel. The ANN is used to compute the performance characteristics such as Indicated power, Brake power, Friction power, Thermal efficiency, brake mean effective pressure, brake thermal efficiency, Brake specific fuel consumption, Indicated thermal efficiency, indicated mean effective pressure, Mechanical efficiency, Indicated specific fuel consumption, volumetric efficiency and combustion characteristics as compression ratio at different conditions of torque, speed, water flow , air rate and fuel rate. An ANN sculpt was developed with 80% of training data and 20% of testing data from experimental values. In this model, back propagation feed forward neural network with five inputs and eleven outputs has been used. The ANN model result accuracy was found to agree nearly with the experimental results with the regression coefficient value approximately equal to one and low mean square error value. Thus, the proposed ANN model was legitimate tool for predicting the combustion and performance of diesel engine.

EROSITA Final Equatorial-Depth Survey (eFEDS)

We constructed the eROSITA X-ray catalog of radio galaxies discovered by the WERGS survey, made by cross-matching the wide area Subaru/Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) optical survey and VLA/FIRST 1.4 GHz radio survey. We report finding 393 eROSITA detected radio galaxies in the 0.5−2 keV band in the eFEDS field covering 140 deg2. Thanks to the wide and medium depth eFEDS X-ray survey down to f0.5 − 2 keV = 6.5 × 10−15 erg s−1 cm−2, the sample contains the rare and most X-ray luminous radio galaxies above the knee of the X-ray luminosity function, spanning 44 &lt; log(L0.5−2 keV(abs,corr)/erg s−1) &lt; 46.5 at 1 &lt; z &lt; 4. The sample also contains the sources around and below the knee for the sources 41 &lt; log(L0.5−2 keV(abs,corr)/erg s−1) &lt; 45 at z &lt; 1. Based on the X-ray properties obtained by the spectral fitting, 37 sources show obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN) signatures with log(NH/cm−2) &gt; 22. These obscured and radio AGN reside in 0.4 &lt; z &lt; 3.2, indicating that they are obscured counterparts of the radio-loud quasar, which were missed in the previous optical quasar surveys. By combining radio and X-ray luminosities, we also investigated the jet production efficiency ηjet = ηradPjet/LAGN,bol by utilizing the jet power of Pjet. We find that there are 14 sources with extremely high jet production efficiency at ηjet ≈ 1. This high ηjet value might be a result of the decreased radiation efficiency of ηrad &lt; 0.1, due to the low accretion rate for those sources, and/or of the boosting due to the decline of LAGN,bol by a factor of 10−100 by keeping Pjet constant in the previous Myr, indicating the experience of the AGN feedback. Finally, inferring the BH masses from the stellar mass, we find that X-ray luminous sources show the excess of the radio emission with respect to the value estimated from the fundamental plane. This radio emission excess cannot be explained by the Doppler boosting alone, and therefore the disk–jet connection of X-ray luminous eFEDS-WERGS is fundamentally different from the conventional fundamental plane which mainly covers the low-accretion regime.

HIV Testing by Gender Identity Among Sexually Active Transgender-, Intersex-, and Hijra Individuals Reached Online in India.

Online outreach may be an important strategy to reach Indian gender minority (GM) populations for HIV testing. However, little is known about Indian GM populations reached online who are sexually active and their HIV testing behaviors.We conducted a secondary analysis of an India wide online cross-sectional survey to assess HIV testing and identify associated factors. The 467 GM respondents identified their gender as transgender women (29.6%), Hijra (5.1%), intersex (37%), or gender non-binary (28.3%). Overall, almost half (47.5%) had never been tested for HIV; among respondents having condomless anal sex, half (50%) reported never testing for HIV. A decreased odds of ever HIV testing was associated with being unsure how to access free testing (compared to being easy; AOR = 0.36, 95%CI 0.20, 0.63) and unaware of comfortable testing sites (AOR = 0.32, 95% CI 0.20, 0.63). Increased odds of testing were associated with identifying as Hijra (compared to transgender women; AOR = 4.07, 95%CI 1.18-16.92) and disclosing sexual behaviors to a doctor (AOR = 3.20, 95% CI 1.91, 5.46). In this GM sample recruited online, HIV testing rates were low. Online interventions are needed to engage individuals with diverse GM identities in India for linkage to accessible and acceptable HIV testing options.

A cross-correlation analysis of CMB lensing and radio galaxy maps

Aims. The goal of this work is to clarify the origin of the seemingly anomalously large clustering signal detected at large angular separation in the wide TGSS radio survey and, in so doing, to investigate the nature and the clustering properties of the sources that populate the radio sky in the [0.15, 1.4] GHz frequency range. Methods. To achieve this goal, we cross-correlated the angular position of the radio sources in the TGSS and NVSS samples with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) lensing maps from the Planck satellite. A cross-correlation between two different tracers of the underlying mass density field has the advantage of being quite insensitive to possible systematic errors that may affect the two observables, provided that they are not correlated, which seems unlikely in our case. The cross-correlation analysis was performed in harmonic space and limited to relatively modest multipoles. These choices, together with that of binning the measured spectra, minimize the correlation among the errors in the measured spectra and allowed us to adopt the Gaussian hypothesis to perform the statistical analysis. Finally, we decided to consider the auto-angular power spectrum on top of the cross-spectrum since a joint analysis has the potential to improve the constraints on the radio source properties by lifting the degeneracy between the redshift distribution, N(z), and the bias evolution, b(z). Results. The angular cross-correlation analysis does not present the power excess at large scales for TGSS and provides a TGSS–CMB lensing cross-spectrum that is in agreement with the one measured using the NVSS catalog. This result strongly suggests that the excess found in TGSS clustering analyses can be due to uncorrected systematic effects in the data. However, we considered several cross-spectra models that rely on physically motivated combinations of N(z) and b(z) prescriptions for the radio sources and find that they all underestimate the amplitude of the measured cross-spectra on the largest angular scales considered in our analysis, ∼10°. This result is robust to the various potential sources of systematic errors, both of observational and theoretical nature, that may affect our analysis, including the uncertainties in the N(z) model. Having assessed the robustness of the results to the choice of N(z), we repeated the analysis using simpler bias models specified by a single free parameter, bg, namely, the value of the effective bias of the radio sources at redshift zero. This improves the goodness of the fit, although not even the best model, which assumes a non-evolving bias, quite matches the amplitude of the cross-spectrum at small multipoles. Moreover, the best fitting bias parameter, bg = 2.53 ± 0.11, appears to be somewhat large considering that it represents the effective bias of a sample that is locally dominated by mildly clustered star-forming galaxies and Fanaroff-Riley class I sources. Interestingly, it is the addition of the angular auto-spectrum that favors the constant bias model over the evolving one. Conclusions. The nature of the large cross-correlation signal between the radio sources and the CMB lensing maps found in our analysis at large angular scales is not clear. It probably indicates some limitation in the modeling of the radio sources, namely the relative abundance of the various populations, their clustering properties, and how these evolve with redshift. What our analysis does show is the importance of combining the auto-spectrum with the cross-spectrum, preferably obtained with unbiased tracers of the large-scale structure, such as CMB lensing, for answering these questions.

Euclid preparation

The European Space Agency's Euclid mission will provide high-quality imaging for about 1.5 billion galaxies. A software pipeline to automatically process and analyse such a huge amount of data in real time is being developed by the Science Ground Segment of the Euclid Consortium; this pipeline will include a model-fitting algorithm, which will provide photometric and morphological estimates of paramount importance for the core science goals of the mission and for legacy science. The Euclid Morphology Challenge is a comparative investigation of the performance of five model-fitting software packages on simulated Euclid data, aimed at providing the baseline to identify the best-suited algorithm to be implemented in the pipeline. In this paper we describe the simulated dataset, and we discuss the photometry results. A companion paper is focussed on the structural and morphological estimates. We created mock Euclid images simulating five fields of view of 0.48 deg2 each in the IE band of the VIS instrument, containing a total of about one and a half million galaxies (of which 350 000 have a nominal signal-to-noise ratio above 5), each with three realisations of galaxy profiles (single and double Sérsic, and 'realistic' profiles obtained with a neural network); for one of the fields in the double Sérsic realisation, we also simulated images for the three near-infrared YE, JE, and HE bands of the NISP-P instrument, and five Rubin/LSST optical complementary bands (u, g, r, i, and z), which together form a typical dataset for an Euclid observation. The images were simulated at the expected Euclid Wide Survey depths. To analyse the results, we created diagnostic plots and defined metrics to take into account the completeness of the provided catalogues, as well as the median biases, dispersions, and outlier fractions of their measured flux distributions. Five model-fitting software packages (DeepLeGATo, Galapagos-2, Morfometryka, ProFit, and SourceXtractor++) were compared, all typically providing good results. Of the differences among them, some were at least partly due to the distinct strategies adopted to perform the measurements. In the best-case scenario, the median bias of the measured fluxes in the analytical profile realisations is below 1% at a signal-to-noise ratio above 5 in IE, and above 10 in all the other bands; the dispersion of the distribution is typically comparable to the theoretically expected one, with a small fraction of catastrophic outliers. However, we can expect that real observations will prove to be more demanding, since the results were found to be less accurate for the most realistic realisation. We conclude that existing model-fitting software can provide accurate photometric measurements on Euclid datasets. The results of the challenge are fully available and reproducible through an online plotting tool.

Euclidpreparation

The variousEuclidimaging surveys will become a reference for studies of galaxy morphology by delivering imaging over an unprecedented area of 15 000 square degrees with high spatial resolution. In order to understand the capabilities of measuring morphologies fromEuclid-detected galaxies and to help implement measurements in the pipeline of the Organisational Unit MER of the Euclid Science Ground Segment, we have conducted the Euclid Morphology Challenge, which we present in two papers. While the companion paper focusses on the analysis of photometry, this paper assesses the accuracy of the parametric galaxy morphology measurements in imaging predicted from within the Euclid Wide Survey. We evaluate the performance of five state-of-the-art surface-brightness-fitting codes,DeepLeGATo,Galapagos-2,Morfometryka,ProFitandSourceXtractor++, on a sample of about 1.5 million simulated galaxies (350 000 above 5σ) resembling reduced observations with theEuclidVIS and NIR instruments. The simulations include analytic Sérsic profiles with one and two components, as well as more realistic galaxies generated with neural networks. We find that, despite some code-specific differences, all methods tend to achieve reliable structural measurements (&lt; 10% scatter on ideal Sérsic simulations) down to an apparent magnitude of aboutIE = 23 in one component andIE = 21 in two components, which correspond to a signal-to-noise ratio of approximately 1 and 5, respectively. We also show that when tested on non-analytic profiles, the results are typically degraded by a factor of 3, driven by systematics. We conclude that the officialEuclidData Releases will deliver robust structural parameters for at least 400 million galaxies in the Euclid Wide Survey by the end of the mission. We find that a key factor for explaining the different behaviour of the codes at the faint end is the set of adopted priors for the various structural parameters.

Towards A Mother-Language Based Multi-Lingual Education in Jharkhand

Jharkhand is a highly multi-lingual Indian state, which is home to at least 33 indigenous communities, who speak around 20 mother languages. The new state used to experience the highest dropout of children at primary level in India. The author set up a research centre on children’s languages, M-TALL Akhra. The mother-language based centre focused on research and innovation in language and education. It conducted a state wide linguistic survey, which revealed that 96 percent children in the state spoke in indigenous languages, which are very different from the school’s Hindi language. Children failed to understand the language of textbooks, teachers and examination. Hence, they left school. M-TALL Akhra developed bilingual picture dictionaries in 9 indigenous languages for children in early grades. Then ‘Bhasha Puliya’ (language bridge) with content for pre-school education was developed. The piloting enabled around 80% children to acquire desired school readiness. It led to expansion of the programme to 7,200 pre-school education centres. Finally, it was upscaled across the board with improvised contents. Then M-TALL Akhra developed culture sensitive primary textbooks in 16 indigenous languages in five scripts. These textbooks, published in 7 languages since 2016, are used by indigenous children in around a thousand schools. A second linguistic survey was conducted recently by M-TALL Akhra for the state to design a foundational literacy numeracy (FLN) roadmap for children as desired under the National Education Policy, 2022.

Prevalence and ecological factors affecting the distribution of plant-parasitic nematodes in Prunus groves in Spain

A wide survey was conducted to study plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) associated with Prunus groves in Spain. This research aimed to determine the prevalence and distribution of PPNs in Prunus groves, as well as the influence of explanatory variables describing soil, climate and agricultural management in structuring the variation of PPNs community composition. A total of 218 sampling sites were surveyed and 84 PPN species belonging to 32 genera were identified based of an integrative taxonomic approach. PPN species considered as potential limiting factors in Prunus production, such as Meloidogyne arenaria, M. incognita, M. javanica, Pratylenchus penetrans and P. vulnus, were identified in this survey. Seven soil physico-chemical (C, Mg, N, Na, OM, P, pH and clay, loamy sand and sandy loam texture classes), four climate (Bio04, Bio05, Bio13 and Bio14) and four agricultural management variables (grove-use history less than 10 years, irrigation, apricot seedling rootstock, and Montclar rootstock) were identified as the most influential variables driving spatial patterns of PPNs communities. In particular, younger plantations showed higher values for species richness and diversity indices than groves cultivated for more than 20 years with Prunus spp. Our study increases the knowledge of the distribution and prevalence of PPNs associated with Prunus rhizosphere, as well as on the influence of explanatory variables driving the spatial structure PPNs communities, which has important implications for the successful design of sustainable management strategies in the future in this agricultural system.

Seyfert-1 galaxies in WINGS and Omega-WINGS

Type-1 nuclear activity is rare in low-redshift clusters of galaxies. An analysis of the WIde field Nearby Galaxy Cluster Survey (WINGS) and of its extension Omega-WINGS revealed only three Seyfert 1 galaxies that are cluster members. We present a focused analysis of their emission line properties according to the interpretation scheme known as the Eigenvector 1/main sequence of quasars. Nuclear activity of the cluster members appears to be modest in the context of low-z type-1 AGN; however, one of the three Seyfert galaxies (WINGS J201158.35–570512.1) is a candidate super-Eddington source. Some general implications on non-thermal activity in clusters are suggested by the low prevalence of Seyfert 1s in the survey, and by the prevalence ratio between type-2 and type-1 AGN, apparently much higher in the cluster environment than in the field.

A Study on the Impact of Media on Gender Neutrality and Domestic Violence and the Legal Awareness

This paper is an attempt to understand the status and perception of domestic violence with regards to the steep increase in the number of complaints received by the National Commission for Women (NCW) from 2019 which was the head start of lockdown. Latest report shows a drastic increase in the number of domestic violence in general especially during complete lockdown. This paper attempts to uncover the perception of people on the idea of what is domestic violence and gender equality and the legal awareness on the same. In India, with its diverse population, the lack of awareness, social pressure, indifference in ideas, and insufficient knowledge about gender equality–attitude–related to help-seeking lead to underreporting and negligence of domestic violence, which can propagate the cycle during the on-going crisis. This paper also substantiates the role of media exposure on awareness in the attitude of people towards identifying gender based domestic violence, and the literacy on legal consciousness through qualitative and quantitative methods such as a wide array survey and structured interviews.

ALMA confirmation of an obscured hyperluminous radio-loud AGN at z = 6.853 associated with a dusty starburst in the 1.5 deg2 COSMOS field

ABSTRACT We present band 6 ALMA observations of a heavily obscured radio-loud (L1.4 GHz = 1025.4 W Hz−1) active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidate at zphot = 6.83 ± 0.06 found in the 1.5 deg2 COSMOS field. The ALMA data reveal detections of exceptionally strong [C ii]158 $\mu$m (z[C ii] = 6.8532) and underlying dust continuum emission from this object (COS-87259), where the [C ii] line luminosity, line width, and 158 $\mu$m continuum luminosity are comparable to those seen from z ∼ 7 sub-mm galaxies and quasar hosts. The 158 $\mu$m continuum detection suggests a total infrared luminosity of $9\times 10^{12}\, \mathrm{ L}_\odot$ with corresponding very large obscured star formation rate (1300 M⊙ yr−1) and dust mass ($2\times 10^9\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$). The strong break seen between the VIRCam and IRAC photometry perhaps suggests that COS-87259 is an extremely massive reionization-era galaxy with $M_\ast \approx 1.7\times 10^{11}\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$. Moreover, the MIPS, PACS, and SPIRE detections imply that this object harbours an AGN that is heavily obscured ($\tau _{_{\mathrm{9.7\,\mu m}}}=2.3$) with a bolometric luminosity of approximately $5\times 10^{13}\, \mathrm{ L}_\odot$. Such a very high AGN luminosity suggests that this object is powered by an ≈1.6 × 10$^9\, \mathrm{ M}_\odot$ black hole if accreting near the Eddington limit, and is effectively a highly obscured version of an extremely ultraviolet (UV)-luminous (M1450 ≈ −27.3) z ∼ 7 quasar. Notably, these z ∼ 7 quasars are an exceedingly rare population (∼0.001 deg−2), while COS-87259 was identified over a relatively small field. Future very wide area surveys with e.g. Roman and Euclid have the potential to identify many more extremely red yet UV-bright z ≳ 7 objects similar to COS-87259, providing richer insight into the occurrence of intense obscured star formation and supermassive black hole growth among this population.

Prevalence of discontinuation of contraceptives due to failure among women aged 14 to 49 years in Uganda: a nation wide cross-sectional survey

BackgroundSustained motivation is essential for effective use of contraceptive methods by women in low- and middle-income countries as many women are likely to abandon contraceptives, especially when they continually experience episodes of failure. We aimed to determine the prevalence of discontinuation of contraceptives due to failure and its associated factors among Ugandan women aged 14–49 years.MethodsA cross sectional study was conducted using the UDHS 2016 data. Multi stage stratified sampling was used to select participants. All eligible women aged 15 to 49 years at the time of the survey were enrolled. Bivariable and Multivariable logistic regression analysis were used to determine the factors associated with contraceptive failure. All analysis were done using Stata version 13. Contraceptive failure (getting pregnant while on contraceptives) within five years preceding the survey was the dependent variable.ResultsA total of 9061 women were included in the study. The overall prevalence of contraceptive failure was 5.6% [n = 506, 95% CI: 5.1–6.1] and was higher (6.2%) among women aged 20–29 years or had completed secondary education (6.1%). Having informed choice on contraceptives [aOR = 0.59, 95% CI: 0.49 – 0.72] and older age [aOR = 0.46, 95% CI: 0.24–0.89] were associated with lower odds of contraceptive failure.ConclusionThe burden of contraceptive failure among women of reproductive age in Uganda is substantial and significantly varied by women's age, level of education, exposure to the internet, mass media, and informed choice. These findings highlight the need for improved counseling services and contraceptive quality to help women and couples use methods correctly and consistently.

The Art of Measuring Physical Parameters in Galaxies: A Critical Assessment of Spectral Energy Distribution Fitting Techniques

The study of galaxy evolution hinges on our ability to interpret multiwavelength galaxy observations in terms of their physical properties. To do this, we rely on spectral energy distribution (SED) models, which allow us to infer physical parameters from spectrophotometric data. In recent years, thanks to wide and deep multiwave band galaxy surveys, the volume of high-quality data have significantly increased. Alongside the increased data, algorithms performing SED fitting have improved, including better modeling prescriptions, newer templates, and more extensive sampling in wavelength space. We present a comprehensive analysis of different SED-fitting codes including their methods and output with the aim of measuring the uncertainties caused by the modeling assumptions. We apply 14 of the most commonly used SED-fitting codes on samples from the CANDELS photometric catalogs at z ∼ 1 and z ∼ 3. We find agreement on the stellar mass, while we observe some discrepancies in the star formation rate (SFR) and dust-attenuation results. To explore the differences and biases among the codes, we explore the impact of the various modeling assumptions as they are set in the codes (e.g., star formation histories, nebular, dust and active galactic nucleus models) on the derived stellar masses, SFRs, and A V values. We then assess the difference among the codes on the SFR–stellar mass relation and we measure the contribution to the uncertainties by the modeling choices (i.e., the modeling uncertainties) in stellar mass (∼0.1 dex), SFR (∼0.3 dex), and dust attenuation (∼0.3 mag). Finally, we present some resources summarizing best practices in SED fitting.