Dennis Edward Hyde, Letícia Pereira Alves, Daniel Rodrigues Costa Mello
et al.
This article presents the National Parks Astrotourism Potential Index (IASTRO), an innovative tool to evaluate and compare the potential for astro tourism in the 75 Brazilian national parks. IASTRO combines three crucial parameters: night sky quality, open sky probability, and tourism infrastructure, which encompasses the presence of guides and the availability of different experiences of overnight stays. The detailed methodology for data collection and IASTRO calculation is described, including the weighting of parameters, with night sky quality receiving greater weight for its fundamental importance for celestial observation. The results reveal a diverse distribution of IASTRO among the parks, highlighting those located in the Cerrado and Caatinga biomes, which present more favorable night sky and climatological conditions. The in-depth discussion explores the relationship between IASTRO and other factors, such as the number of visitors and the characteristics of the biomes, revealing an untapped potential for astro tourism in many national parks. The study also highlights the importance of tourism infrastructure and simulates how improvements in this aspect can boost astro tourism potential in various parks. The final considerations emphasize IASTRO as a valuable tool for protected area management and for the formulation of public policies, promoting the preservation of the starry sky and the development of astro tourism in a sustainable way. The article concludes that Brazil has enormous potential to become a world-class astro tourism destination, with its national parks offering exceptional conditions for celestial observation and connection with nature. This pioneering study contributes to the field of ecotourism by providing a comprehensive and innovative index to assess the astro tourism potential in national parks. IASTRO can be used by park managers, researchers, tourists, astronomy enthusiasts and policy makers to identify and prioritize parks with greater potential for this activity, assisting in the planning of actions and investments that promote the development of astro tourism in Brazil. In summary, the article presents an innovative index to assess the astro tourism potential in Brazilian national parks, highlighting the importance of night sky quality, open sky probability, and tourism infrastructure. The study reveals an untapped potential for astro tourism in many parks and highlights the importance of investments in tourism infrastructure to boost this activity. IASTRO is presented as a valuable tool for protected area management and for the formulation of public policies, aiming at the sustainable development of astro tourism in Brazil.
Merve Kuman, Laura J. Gardner, Lewis R. Blackburn
et al.
Zirconolite is a candidate ceramic wasteform under consideration for the immobilisation of the UK civil PuO2 inventory. In the present work, a baseline dual-substituted zirconolite with the target composition (Ca0.783Gd0.017Ce0.2)(Zr0.883Gd0.017Ce0.1)(Ti1.6Al0.4)O7 was fabricated by hot isostatic pressing (HIPing). In order to optimise the microstructure properties and improve the obtained yield of the zirconolite phase, a range of planetary ball milling parameters were investigated prior to consolidation by HIP. This included milling the batched oxide precursors at 400 rpm for up to 120 min, the pre-milling of CeO2 (PuO2 surrogate) to reduce the particle size and using a CeO2 source with finer particle size (<5 µm). The HIPed zirconolite product consisted of both zirconolite-2M and zirconolite-3T polytypes in varying proportions; however, an additional perovskite phase was obtained in varying quantities as a secondary phase. Ce L3-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy was utilised to determine the Ce oxidation state. In this study, the ideal milling parameter for the fabrication of zirconolite waste forms was defined as 60 min at 400 rpm.
In this contribution pyrazole is identified as an excellent anchor group that forms high quality films under pH controlled conditions, allowing the modulation of the electrical properties with a more efficient electronic coupling in basic conditions.
Apresentamos aqui uma breve e não-técnica introdução à teoria da relatividade geral, começando pelo conceito de espaço-tempo, passando pelo princípio de equivalência, e chegando nos testes clássicos que consagraram a teoria como uma das mais bonitas e bem-sucedidas da física.
Proton beam therapy (PBT) is a novel method for treating malignant disease with radiotherapy. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the state of the science of PBT and arrive at a recommendation for the use of PBT. The emerging technology committee of the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) routinely evaluates new modalities in radiotherapy and assesses the published evidence to determine recommendations for the society as a whole. In 2007, a Proton Task Force was assembled to evaluate the state of the art of PBT. This report reflects evidence collected up to November 2009. Data was reviewed for PBT in central nervous system tumors, gastrointestinal malignancies, lung, head and neck, prostate, and pediatric tumors. Current data do not provide sufficient evidence to recommend PBT in lung cancer, head and neck cancer, GI malignancies, and pediatric non-CNS malignancies. In hepatocellular carcinoma and prostate cancer and there is evidence for the efficacy of PBT but no suggestion that it is superior to photon based approaches. In pediatric CNS malignancies PBT appears superior to photon approaches but more data is needed. In large ocular melanomas and chordomas, we believe that there is evidence for a benefit of PBT over photon approaches. PBT is an important new technology in radiotherapy. Current evidence provides a limited indication for PBT. More robust prospective clinical trials are needed to determine the appropriate clinical setting for PBT.
The intra-cluster medium of several galaxy clusters hosts large-scale regions of diffuse synchrotron radio emission, known as radio halos and relics, which demonstrate the presence of magnetic fields and relativistic electrons in clusters. These relativistic electrons should also emit X-rays through inverse-Compton scattering off of cosmic microwave background photons. The detection of such a non-thermal X-ray component, together with the radio measurement, would permit to clearly separate the magnetic field from the relativistic electron distribution as the inverse-Compton emission is independent from the magnetic field in the cluster. However, non-thermal X-rays have not been conclusively detected from any cluster of galaxies so far. In this paper, for the first time, we model the synchrotron and inverse-Compton emission of all clusters hosting radio halos and relics for which the spectral index can be determined. We provide constraints on the volume-average magnetic field by comparing with current X-ray measurements. We then estimate the maximum volume-average magnetic field that will allow the detection of inverse-Compton hard X-rays by the ASTRO-H satellite. We found that several clusters are good targets for ASTRO-H to detect their inverse-Compton emission, in particular that corresponding to radio relics, and propose a list of promising targets for which ASTRO-H can test $\ge1$~$\mu$G magnetic fields. We conclude that future hard X-ray observations by the already-operating NuSTAR and the soon-to-be-launched ASTRO-H definitely have the potential to shed light on the long-sought non-thermal hard-X-ray emission in clusters of galaxies.