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The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO) is a next-generation facility comprised of ground-based Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes (IACTs). The observatory, currently under construction, will include more than 70 telescopes at two locations: in the northern hemisphere, CTAO-North at the Observatorio del Roque de Los Muchachos (ORM), La Palma, Canary Islands, Spain, and in the southern hemisphere, CTAO-South at a site belonging to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Cerro Paranal, Chile. IACTs indirectly detect high-energy cosmic photons in an energy range from tens of GeV to several hundreds of TeV by measuring Cherenkov light emitted by atmospheric showers of secondary particles, produced through interactions between incident photons and nuclei of atmospheric gasses in the upper layers. The size of the CTAO will improve the detection sensitivity in the designed energy range by about an order of magnitude with respect to present experiments and aim at improved energy and angular resolution, as well as greatly reduced systematic uncertainties. The key to achieving improvements in accuracy on the absolute energy and flux scales is the precise monitoring of the atmospheric properties for the Cherenkov light, which can be obtained with a specifically designed LIDAR. The Barcelona Raman LIDAR (BRL) prototype is the official CTAO-North Pathfinder and was deployed at ORM for extensive tests between February 2021 and May 2022. We report the BRL’s prospects for the CTAO-North, emphasizing the technical implementation and the preliminary data taken during its deployment period.

The Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), currently under construction, is the next-generation very-high-energy gamma-ray observatory, providing the coverage for photons in the energy range 20GeV to 300TeV. CTAO will increase detection sensitivity in the 100 GeV to 10TeV range by a factor of 5 — 10 with respect to present experiments. CTAO retrieves the properties of very-high-energy gamma-rays by measuring Cherenkov light emitted by atmospheric showers of secondary particles that incident gamma rays produce in upper layers of the atmosphere. The key for reaching the required energy measurement accuracy is a precise knowledge of the atmospheric transmittance for Cherenkov light, which can be obtained using a dedicated Raman LIDAR. The device should operate at 355nm (near the maximum of Cherenkov light spectrum) and have the capability of taking data at specific azimuth and zenith angles up to distances of 30 km, so that atmospheric transmission along all possible air-shower directions can be determined. The Barcelona Raman LIDAR (BRL) is the official CTAO Pathfinder prototype, developed for atmospheric characterization of the Northern CTAO Site at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos (ORM) on the Canary island of La Palma. BRL was deployed at ORM for extensive on-field tests between February 2021 and May 2022. We report on the commissioning results, including the remote operation capabilities of the system and its contribution to the understanding of atmospheric phenomena during its deployment period. In particular, we report on the properties of the volcanic plume from the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on 22 September 2021.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe the different positions and roles that German research libraries may have in their funding organizations: center or periphery, making a change with respect to the overall strategy or having just a strategy of their own; having strong communication links to the top management or just to their users. Design/methodology/approach Since 2008, the Joint Science Conference (Gemeinsame Wissenschaftskonferenz (GWK)) in Germany deals with all questions of research funding, science and research policy strategies and the science system which jointly affect the Federal Government and the Länder. For the big four German national research societies (Max-Planck, Helmhold, Fraunhofer, Leibnitz), the GWK formulated a set of performance indicators that are used to compare the different societies in a monitoring report published every year. Interestingly, there are several aspects affecting the libraries and their services and products, but the performance of the libraries (approximately 200) is not clearly mentioned. Findings An exemplary matrix is developed that can be adapted by all research libraries to show to which extent the research library is able to support and influence the level of different performance indicators and thereby to contribute to the overall goal of the organization. A graduated traffic light system is used to highlight which contributions in which areas can be expected from the research library. Research limitations/implications Research libraries are usually quite different from each other and there are not many tools to compare their contributions and to show their performance to the management level. In this paper, a method to show the influence and impact in the German research context is used, which may not be applicable to other countries with other research structures. Practical implications The paper identifies the importance of playing an essential role in the fulfillment of the overall strategic goals of the funding organization, especially for research libraries as there are usually special metrics to compare the big scientific research organizations in Germany. Social implications It is shown that there are simple ways to derive strategic goals and key figures and translate them into a benchmark and even use existing reports and systems. Originality/value The value of research libraries has usually been seen as supporting the research process for the users in the best possible way. As more competition arises between different research institutions or societies, the role of the library with respect to the contribution to the stakeholder’s strategy opens up another perspective.

Classical novae are cataclysmic binary star systems in which the matter of a companion star is accreted on a white dwarf 1 , 2 . Accumulation of hydrogen in a layer eventually causes a thermonuclear explosion on the surface of the white dwarf 3 , brightening the white dwarf to ~10 5 solar luminosities and triggering ejection of the accumulated matter. Novae provide the extreme conditions required to accelerate particles, electrons or protons, to high energies. Here we present the detection of gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes from the 2021 outburst of RS Ophiuchi, a recurrent nova with a red giant companion, which allowed us to accurately characterize the emission from a nova in the 60 GeV to 250 GeV energy range. The theoretical interpretation of the combined Fermi LAT and MAGIC data suggests that protons are accelerated to hundreds of gigaelectronvolts in the nova shock. Such protons should create bubbles of enhanced cosmic ray density, of the order of 10 pc, from the recurrent novae. Detection of the 2021 outburst of the nova RS Oph in very-high-energy gamma rays by the MAGIC telescopes is reported. Investigation of the gamma-ray emission provides evidence for acceleration of protons within the nova shock, which then propagate outwards to create bubbles of enhanced cosmic ray density.

Background According to recent studies conducted at Emergency Departments (ED) a large number of adverse events (AE) are due to drug-related problems (DRP). For this reason some hospitals are incorporating clinical pharmacists into the ED team. Purpose To analyse data on pharmaceutical interventions (PI) conducted in the ED. To evaluate the correlation between interventions and patient risk factors. Materials and methods Prospective interventional trial of 4 months conducted in ED patients awaiting admission. The activities carried out by the pharmacist were: drug reconciliation, pharmacotherapy reviews, answer questions and provide drug information to medical staff. The variables recorded were: sex, age, pharmacological treatment including high-risk drugs (anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents, antiepileptics, oral antidiabetic, digoxin, insulin, morphine), Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) and PI. Results 336 patients were included (average age 76). 52.0% (175) were men. 79.8% (268) had a home prescription with ≥5 drugs. PI (827; 10.5 interventions/day), were performed on 85.7% of the patients. 61.0% of the interventions (506) were to correct mistakes of omission. The pharmacological group that engendered more PI was the antihypertensives (18.1%). 79.7% of the patients receiving <2 high risk drugs needed PI, whereas 90.5% of patients with ≥2 received PI (p = 0.014). Interventions were made in 79.3% of the patients with CCI <2, whereas in the patients with CCI ≥ 2 85.9% needed PI (p < 0.01). Conclusions The presence of a clinical pharmacist in the multidisciplinary ED team has been shown to improve patient care, correcting reconciliation mistakes. Patients with CCI ≥ 2 and habitual treatment ≥2 high risk drug are likely to suffer DRP and most likely require PI. The correlation between risk factors studied and PI, allows the pharmaceutical monitoring to focus on these patients. No conflict of interest.

Tree stems from wetland, floodplain and upland forests can produce and emit methane (CH₄). Tree CH₄ stem emissions have high spatial and temporal variability, but there is no consensus on the biophysical mechanisms that drive stem CH₄ production and emissions. Here, we summarize up to 30 opportunities and challenges for stem CH₄ emissions research, which, when addressed, will improve estimates of the magnitudes, patterns and drivers of CH₄ emissions and trace their potential origin.We identified the need: (1) for both long-term, high-frequency measurements of stem CH₄ emissions to understand the fine-scale processes, alongside rapid large-scale measurements designed to understand the variability across individuals, species and ecosystems; (2) to identify microorganisms and biogeochemical pathways associated with CH₄ production; and (3) to develop a mechanistic model including passive and active transport of CH₄ from the soil–tree–atmosphere continuum. Addressing these challenges will help to constrain the magnitudes and patterns of CH₄ emissions, and allow for the integration of pathways and mechanisms of CH₄ production and emissions into process-based models. These advances will facilitate the upscaling of stem CH₄ emissions to the ecosystem level and quantify the role of stem CH₄ emissions for the local to global CH₄ budget.

Biomass-burning organic-aerosol (OA) emissions are known to exhibit semi-volatile behavior that impacts OA loading during plume transport. Because such semi-volatile behavior depends in part on OA composition, improved speciation of intermediate and semi-volatile organic compounds (I/SVOCs) emitted during fires is needed to assess the competing effects of primary OA volatilization and secondary OA production. In this study, 18 laboratory fires were sampled in which a range of fuel types were burned. Emitted I/SVOCs were collected onto Teflon filters and solid-phase extraction (SPE) disks to qualitatively characterize particulate and gaseous I/SVOCs, respectively. Derivatized filter extracts were analyzed using comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC × GC-TOFMS). Quality control tests were performed using biomass-burning relevant standards and demonstrate the utility of SPE disks for untargeted analysis of air samples. The observed chromatographic profiles of I/SVOCs in coniferous fuel-derived smoke samples were well correlated with each other, but poorly correlated with other fuel types (e.g., herbaceous and chaparral fuels). Emissions of benzenediol isomers were also shown to be fuel dependent. The combined Teflon and SPE filter data captured differences in gas-particle partitioning of the benzenediol isomers, with hydroquinone having a significantly higher particle-phase fraction than catechol due to its lower volatility. Additionally, the speciated volatility distribution of I/SVOCs in smoke from a rotten-log fire was estimated to evaluate the composition of potentially volatilized primary OA, which was entirely attributed to oxygenated (or other heteroatomic) compounds. The isomer-dependent partitioning and the speciated volatility distributions both suggest the need for better understanding of gas-phase and heterogenous reaction pathways of biomass-burning-derived I/SVOCs in order to represent the atmospheric chemistry of smoke in models.

The mevalonate pathway plays a critical role in multiple cellular processes in both animals and plants. In plants, the products of this pathway impact growth and development, as well as the response to environmental stress. A forward genetic screen of Arabidopsis thaliana using Ca 2+ -imaging identified mevalonate kinase (MVK) as a critical component of plant purinergic signaling. MVK interacts directly with the plant extracellular ATP (eATP) receptor P2K1 and is phosphorylated by P2K1 in response to eATP. Mutation of P2K1-mediated phosphorylation sites in MVK eliminates the ATP-induced cytoplasmic calcium response, MVK enzymatic activity, and suppresses pathogen defense. The data demonstrate that the plasma membrane associated P2K1 directly impacts plant cellular metabolism by phosphorylation of MVK, a key enzyme in the mevalonate pathway. The results underline the importance of purinergic signaling in plants and the ability of eATP to influence the activity of a key metabolite pathway with global effects on plant metabolism. Products of the mevalonate pathway support plant development. Here the authors show that the extracellular ATP receptor P2K1 phosphorylates mevalonate kinase and this affects the mevalonate pathway.

At the molecular level, folivory activity on plants has mainly been related to the foliar concentrations of nitrogen (N) and/or particular metabolites. We studied the responses of different nutrients and the whole metabolome of Quercus ilex to seasonal changes and to moderate field experimental conditions of drought, and how this drought may affect folivory activity, using stoichiometric and metabolomic techniques. Foliar potassium (K) concentrations increased in summer and consequently led to higher foliar K : phosphorus (P) and lower carbon (C) : K and N : K ratios. Foliar N : P ratios were not lowest in spring as expected by the growth rate hypothesis. Trees exposed to moderate drought presented higher concentrations of total sugars and phenolics and these trees also experienced more severe folivory attack. The foliar increases in K, sugars and antioxidant concentrations in summer, the driest Mediterranean season, indicated enhanced osmoprotection under natural drought conditions. Trees under moderate drought also presented higher concentrations of sugars and phenolics; a plant response to avoid water loss. These shifts in metabolism produced an indirect relationship between increased drought and folivory activity.