We are showing a significant enhancement in the temporal contrast by reducing the coherent noise of the 10 PW laser system at the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics facility. The temporal contrast was improved by four orders of magnitude at 10 picoseconds and by more than one order of magnitude at 50 picoseconds before the main peak. This improvement of the picosecond contrast is critical for the experiments using thin solid targets.

Traditional approaches for evaluating the impact of scientific research – mainly scholarship (i.e., publications, presentations) and grant funding – fail to capture the full extent of contributions that come from larger scientific initiatives. The Translational Science Benefits Model (TSBM) was developed to support more comprehensive evaluations of scientific endeavors, especially research designed to translate scientific discoveries into innovations in clinical or public health practice and policy-level changes. Here, we present the domains of the TSBM, including how it was expanded by researchers within the Implementation Science Centers in Cancer Control (ISC3) program supported by the National Cancer Institute. Next, we describe five studies supported by the Penn ISC3, each focused on testing implementation strategies informed by behavioral economics to reduce key practice gaps in the context of cancer care and identify how each study yields broader impacts consistent with TSBM domains. These indicators include Capacity Building, Methods Development (within the Implementation Field) and Rapid Cycle Approaches, implementing Software Technologies, and improving Health Care Delivery and Health Care Accessibility. The examples highlighted here can help guide other similar scientific initiatives to conceive and measure broader scientific impact to fully articulate the translation and effects of their work at the population level.

In spoken conversations, speakers and their addressees constantly seek and provide different forms of audiovisual feedback, also known as backchannels, which include nodding, vocalizations and facial expressions. It has previously been shown that addressees backchannel at specific points during an interaction, namely after a speaker provided a cue to elicit feedback from the addressee. However, addressees may differ in the frequency and type of feedback that they provide, and likewise, speakers may vary the type of cues they generate to signal the backchannel opportunity points (BOPs). Research on the extent to which backchanneling is idiosyncratic is scant. In this article, we quantify and analyze the variability in feedback behavior of 14 addressees who all interacted with the same speaker stimulus. We conducted this research by means of a previously developed experimental paradigm that generates spontaneous interactions in a controlled manner. Our results show that (1) backchanneling behavior varies between listeners (some addressees are more active than others) and (2) backchanneling behavior varies between BOPs (some points trigger more responses than others). We discuss the relevance of these results for models of human–human and human–machine interactions.

What are the electoral consequences of urban riots? We argue that riots highlight the economic and social problems suffered by those who participate, inducing potential electoral allies to mobilize. These allies can then punish local incumbents at the ballot box. We test this hypothesis with fine-grained geographic data that capture how exposure to the 2011 London riots changed vote choices in the subsequent 2012 mayoral election. We find that physical proximity to both riot locations and the homes of rioters raised turnout and reduced the vote for the incumbent Conservative mayor. These results are partly driven by a change in the turnout and vote choices of white residents. This provides support for the view that riots can help shift votes against incumbents who oppose the implied policy goals of rioters.

Determination of sample size (the number of replications) is a key step in the design of an observational study or randomized experiment. Statistical procedures for this purpose are readily available. Their treatment in textbooks is often somewhat marginal, however, and frequently the focus is on just one particular method of inference (significance test, confidence interval). Here, we provide a unified review of approaches and explain their close interrelationships, emphasizing that all approaches rely on the standard error of the quantity of interest, most often a pairwise difference of two means. The focus is on methods that are easy to compute, even without a computer. Our main recommendation based on standard errors is summarized as what we call the 1-2-3 rule for a difference of two treatment means.

Antarctic krill are the dominant metazoan in the Southern Ocean in terms of biomass; however, their wide and patchy distribution means that estimates of their biomass are still uncertain. Most currently employed methods do not sample the upper surface layers, yet historical records indicate that large surface swarms can change the water colour. Ocean colour satellites are able to measure the surface ocean synoptically and should theoretically provide a means for detecting and measuring surface krill swarms. Before we can assess the feasibility of remote detection, more must be known about the reflectance spectra of krill. Here, we measure the reflectance spectral signature of Antarctic krill collected in situ from the Scotia Sea and compare it to that of in situ water. Using a spectroradiometer, we measure a strong absorption feature between 500 and 550 nm, which corresponds to the pigment astaxanthin, and high reflectance in the 600–700 nm range due to the krill's red colouration. We find that the spectra of seawater containing krill is significantly different from seawater only. We conclude that it is tractable to detect high-density swarms of krill remotely using platforms such as optical satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles, and further steps to carry out ground-truthing campaigns are now warranted.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus was first identified in Wuhan, China, in late December 2019, and it quickly spread to many countries. By March 2020, the virus had triggered a global pandemic (World Health Organization, 2020). In response to this crisis, governments have implemented unprecedented public health measures. The success of these policies will largely depend on the public's willingness to comply with new rules. A key factor in citizens’ willingness to comply is their understanding of the data that motivate government action. In this study, we examine how different ways of presenting these data visually can affect citizen's perceptions, attitudes and support for public policy.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest natural twinning rate in the world. Unfortunately, due to lack of adequate care during pregnancy, labor and postnatally, twin mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa also remains very high. Thus, it has been estimated that one in five twins dies during the childhood years. In spite of this, surprisingly few twin studies have been conducted in the region, making additional epidemiological data much needed. In 2009, we established one of the first twin registries in Sub-Saharan Africa at the Bandim Health Project in Guinea-Bissau. The registry had two main objectives. First, we wanted to describe the twinning rate and mortality patterns among newborn twins, including mortality risk factors and hospitalization patterns. Such studies can help the local clinicians improve twin health by identifying the most vulnerable children. Second, and in light of the rapidly increasing diabetes rates in Africa, we wanted to use the registry to particularly focus on metabolic disorders. Twins are often born with low birth weight, which according to the ‘thrifty phenotype hypothesis’ could predispose them to metabolic disorders later in life. Yet, no such ‘fetal programming’ data have previously been available from African twins despite the fact that nutritional patterns and influences from other factors (e.g., infections) could be markedly different here compared to high-income settings. In this article, we summarize the findings and current status of the Guinea-Bissau twin registry.

Biologic asymmetry is present in all bilaterally symmetric organisms as a result of normal developmental instability. However, fossilized organisms, which have undergone distortion due to burial, may have additional asymmetry as a result of taphonomic processes. To investigate this issue, we evaluated the magnitude of shape variation resulting from taphonomy on vertebrate bone using a novel application of fluctuating asymmetry. We quantified the amount of total variance attributed to asymmetry in a taphonomically distorted fossil taxon and compared it with that of three extant taxa. The fossil taxon had an average of 27% higher asymmetry than the extant taxa. In spite of the high amount of taphonomic input, the major axes of shape variation were not greatly altered by removal of the asymmetric component of shape variation. This presents the possibility that either underlying biologic trends drive the principal directions of shape change irrespective of asymmetric taphonomic distortion or that the symmetric taphonomic component is large enough that removing only the asymmetric component is inadequate to restore fossil shape. Our study is the first to present quantitative data on the relative magnitude of taphonomic shape change and presents a new method to further explore how taphonomic processes impact our interpretation of the fossil record.

The Astroinformatics Program is funded by the Chilean Economy Ministry’s (FIE Grant FIE-2016-V022, CORFO Grant 16IFI6626) with the mission to identify and initiate investments to foster Chilean Digital Economy, using Astronomy data-centric tools (known as astroinformatics). Over 2017 we worked with communities across sectors identifying opportunities to achieve the program mission, the Data Observatory vision emerged from that work and will guide design activities throughout 2018.