Assessment of radiative heating errors in Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array marine air temperature measurements

We assess the radiative heating error affecting marine air temperature (MAT) measurements in the Tropical Atmosphere Ocean array. The error in historical observations is found to be ubiquitous across the array, spatially variable and approximately stationary in time. The error induces spurious warming during daytime hours, but does not affect night-time temperatures. The range encompassing the real, unknown daily- and monthly-mean values is determined using daytime and night-time mean temperatures as upper and lower limits. The uncertainty in MAT is less than or equal to 0.5 °C and 0.2 °C for 95% of daily and monthly estimates, respectively. Uncertainties impact surface turbulent heat flux estimates, with potentially significant influences on the quantification of coupled ocean-atmosphere processes.

New limits on double-beta decay of $$^{190}$$Pt and $$^{198}$$Pt

A search for double-beta decay of $$^{190}$$ 190 Pt and $$^{198}$$ 198 Pt with emission of $$\gamma $$ γ -ray quanta was realized at the HADES underground laboratory with a 148 g platinum sample measured by two ultralow-background HPGe detectors over 8946 h. The isotopic composition of the platinum sample has been measured with high precision using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. New lower limits for the half-lives of $$^{190}$$ 190 Pt relative to different channels and modes of the decays were set on the level of $$\lim T_{1/2}\sim 10^{14}$$ lim T 1 / 2 ∼ 10 14 –$$10^{16}$$ 10 16 year. A possible exact resonant $$0\nu KN$$ 0 ν K N transition to the 1,2 1326.9 keV level of $$^{190}$$ 190 Os is limited for the first time as $$T_{1/2} \ge 2.5 \times 10^{16}$$ T 1 / 2 ≥ 2.5 × 10 16 year. A new lower limit on the double-beta decay of $$^{198}$$ 198 Pt to the first excited level of $$^{198}$$ 198 Hg was set as $$T_{1/2} \ge 3.2\times 10^{19}$$ T 1 / 2 ≥ 3.2 × 10 19 year, one order of magnitude higher than the limit obtained in the previous experiment.

The Reliability and Test-Retest Stability of the Treatment Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) in the Oncology Field: A Pilot Study

Background: Patients' satisfaction is an indicator of technical, instrumental, environmental, and interpersonal aspects of care. It shows how much the health service “as a whole organization” meets the patients’ psychosocial expectations and if the health professionals combine their technical competence with relational skills. The Treatment Perception Questionnaire (TPQ) is a brief instrument developed in the United Kingdom for research with substance abuse disorder populations. The present study aimed at evaluating the reliability and test-retest stability of the TPQ Italian translation in a sample of patients with solid and blood cancers. Methods: The TPQ was administered to 263 people with solid and blood cancers. Test-retest reliability was evaluated in a subgroup of 116 participants who completed the TPQ again after 3 months. Results: The reliability of TPQ was good. Cronbach’s alpha: 0.83 (95%CI: 0.79-0.86), 0.66 (0.59-0.72), 0.71 (0.65-0.769), respectively, in the total test, and in subscales on “staff perception”, and “program perception”. Test-retest reliability was 0.82 (0.77-0.87). The mean difference between the first and the second assessment was 1.0 (SD = 7.1; 95% CI -0.35 to 2.33). By plotting the differences and the means of the two assessments, 5/116 cases (4.3%) were outside the upper and lower limits of agreement. Conclusions: This study points out good reliability and test-retest stability of the TPQ in the oncology field. The TPQ can be used to assess variation over time about satisfaction with care in patients with oncological diseases, favoring the identification of unmet patients’ needs about the quality of the service.

Analisis Standar Belanja (ASB) Pada Pemerintah Kabupaten Padang Pariaman

In general, regional financial management goes through the following stages: budget preparation, activity implementation and financial accountability or financial report preparation. Based on the above, Permendagri No. 21 of 2011 concerning Guidelines for Regional Financial Management, states the need for Standard Expenditure Analysis (ASB) as a main research tool in conducting performance-based budgeting. Expenditure Standard Analysis (ASB) is an assessment of the fairness of the costs and workloads used to carry out an activity at each Regional Apparatus Organization (OPD). This study aims to determine the reasonableness of spending in carrying out an activity so as to minimize unclear expenses that cause budget inefficiency. This research was conducted at the Regional Government of Padang Pariaman Regency, West Sumatra. The stages of preparing this Standard Expenditure Analysis (ASB) are to input data and group similar data, determine the Cost Driver, create regression equations, determine the average, upper and lower limits, and analyze the fairness of costs and workloads of the ASB model. has been compiled. The preparation of a Standard Expenditure Analysis (ASB) at the District Government of Padang Pariaman which is discussed in this is for the types of training activities for personnel and training for the community.

Analysis of the Physicochemical Characteristics of Distillery Wastewater at Habib Sugar Mills, Nawabshah

The aim of this study is to perceive the level of significant physicochemical characteristics of Distillery Wastewater (DWW) at Habib Sugar Mills, Nawabshah, Pakistan. Five locations in the mill namely spent wash, digester tank, distillery, primary treatment, and secondary treatment were selected for analysis of pH, Total Dissolved Solids (TDS), Total Suspended Solids (TSS), and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) of the samples. The samples were taken on a weekly basis for four succeeding months, from January 2021 to April 2021 and the experiments were carried out in the laboratory by adopting standard procedures. The results revealed that the pH of the samples from spent wash was the lowest, whereas secondary treatment samples had the highest. On the contrary, the highest concentrations of TDS, TSS, and COD were found in the samples taken from the spent wash and the lowest from the secondary treatment. The pH values were found abruptly increasing in the digester tank due to the addition of calcium carbonate in the stream of wastewater after the spent wash. The COD concentration was found to rapidly decrease, from more than 106000mg/l in the spent wash to around 35000mg/l in the digester tank samples, and then to gradually decrease up to the final point of disposal. Overall, TDS, TSS, and COD values were higher during April, January, and February and lower during March. The level of pH was extremely low in the spent wash and did not meet the lower limits of standards and the other examined parameters exceeded the upper limits of WHO standards.

Standardizing Dainotti-correlated gamma-ray bursts, and using them with standardized Amati-correlated gamma-ray bursts to constrain cosmological model parameters

We show that each of the three Dainotti-correlated gamma-ray burst (GRB) data sets recently compiled by Wang et al. and Hu et al., that together probe the redshift range 0.35 ≤ z ≤ 5.91, obey cosmological-model-independent Dainotti correlations and so are standardizable. We use these GRB data in conjunction with the best currently-available Amati-correlated GRB data, that probe 0.3399 ≤ z ≤ 8.2, to constrain cosmological model parameters. The resulting cosmological constraints are weak, providing lower limits on the non-relativistic matter density parameter, mildly favoring non-zero spatial curvature, and largely consistent with currently accelerated cosmological expansion as well as with constraints determined from better-established data.

Observational Limits on the Early-time Dust Mass in SN 1987A

In recent years, dust masses of a few tenths of a solar mass have been found in the expanding ejecta of a number of core-collapse supernovae. How dust forms in such quantities remains poorly understood; theories of dust formation predict lower total masses and much faster formation rates than observations imply. One suggestion to reconcile observations and theory was made by Dwek et al., who proposed that the dust forms very rapidly, and because of its optical depth, is not initially observationally detectable, only being gradually revealed as the ejecta expand. Observational dust masses at early times would then only be lower limits. Using a large grid of radiative transfer models covering dust masses from 10−4 to 1 M ⊙ to calculate both the spectral energy distribution and the emission line profiles from clumpy dust shells, we show that this cannot be the case. Some clump distributions allow dust masses of ∼0.01 M ⊙ to be concealed in clumps and still predict an SED consistent with the observations. However, these geometries predict emission line profiles that are inconsistent with the observations. Similarly, clump geometries that reproduce the observed emission line profiles with dust masses >0.01 M ⊙ do not reproduce the SED. However, models with ∼10−3 M ⊙ of amorphous carbon can reproduce both the SED and the emission line profiles. We conclude that no large masses of dust can be hidden from view in the ejecta of SN 1987A at early epochs, and that the majority of dust must thus have formed at epochs >1000 days.

Maximum baryon masses for static neutron stars in f(R) gravity

We investigate the upper mass limit predictions of the baryonic mass for static neutron stars in the context of f(R) gravity. We use the most popular f(R) gravity model, namely the R2gravity, and calculate the maximum baryon mass of static neutron stars adopting several realistic equations of state and one ideal equation of state, namely that of causal limit. Our motivation is based on the fact that neutron stars with baryon masses larger than the maximum mass for static neutron star configurations inevitably collapse to black holes. Thus with our analysis, we want further to enlighten the predictions for the maximum baryon masses of static neutron stars in R2gravity, which, in turn, further strengthens our understanding of the mysterious mass-gap region. As we show, the baryon masses of most of the equations of states studied in this paper, lie in the lower limits of the mass-gap region M ∼ 2.5 − 5M⊙, but intriguingly enough, the highest value of the maximum baryon masses we found is of the order of M ∼ 3M⊙. This upper mass limit also appears as a maximum static neutron star gravitational mass limit in other contexts. Combining the two results which refer to baryon and gravitational masses, we point out that the gravitational mass of static neutron stars cannot be larger than three solar masses, while based on maximum baryon masses results of the present work, we can conspicuously state that it is highly likely the lower mass limits of astrophysical black holes in the range of M ∼ 2.5 − 3M⊙. This, in turn, implies that maximum neutron star masses in the context of R2gravity are likely to be in the lower limits of the range of M ∼ 2.4 − 3M⊙.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA is enriched by orders of magnitude in solid relative to liquid wastewater at publicly owned treatment works

Wastewater-based epidemiology has gained attention throughout the world for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater to supplement clinical testing. Methods have been developed using both the liquid and the solid fraction of wastewater, with some studies reporting higher concentrations in solids. To investigate this relationship further, we collaborated with six other laboratories to conduct a study across five publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) where both primary solids and raw wastewater influent samples were collected and quantified for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Solids and influent samples were processed by participating laboratories using their respective methods and retrospectively paired based on date of collection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations by mass (gene copies per gram) were higher in solids than in influent by approximately three orders of magnitude. Concentrations in matched solids and influent were positively and significantly correlated at all five POTWs. RNA concentrations in both solids and influent were correlated to COVID-19 incidence rates in the sewershed and thus representative of disease burden; the solids methods appeared to produce a comparable relationship between SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration measurements and incidence rates across all POTWs. Solids and influent methods showed comparable sensitivity, N gene detection frequency, and calculated empirical incidence rate lower limits. Analysis of solids has the advantage of using less sample volume to achieve similar sensitivity to influent methods.