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The X/Ka-band (8.4/32 GHz) Celestial Reference Frame became one of three components of the ICRF-3 in 2018. In the five years since, the X/Ka data set has increased by about 75% as well as adding the much needed north-south geometry from Japan to Australia. The latest solutions have median formal precisions of 45 μas in α cosδ and 65 μas in δ. The large spherical harmonic distortions seen in the ICRF3-XKa are greatly improved with the Z-dipole term reduced from 314 μas to a nearly statistically insignificant -85 +- 44 μas and with the quadrupole 2,0 magnetic term reduced to 158 +- 16 μas. We note that the X/Ka frame is derived from a limited geometry of only five observing sitesof which the two DSN baselines dominate with over 80% of the total data thus creating a susceptibility of this frame to geometric distortions. The prospects for future improvements are bright and we expect the distortions to be reduced as more data from the ESA Malargüe and JAXA Misasa stations are added., Copyright © 2023, All Rights Reserved. This research was carried out in part at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NM0018D0004)., {"references":["Charlot, et al, Astronomical Journal, 139, 5, pp. 1713-1770, May 2010","Charlot et al, Astronomy & Astrophysics, 644, id.A159, 28 pp., 15 Dec. 2020","Pushkarev, A. B. ; Kovalev, Y. Y., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 544, id.A34, 52 pp., Aug. 2012","Gaia Collaboration, Klioner, S. A, et al., Astronomy & Astrophysics, 667, November 2022"]}

Background and Objectives: Iron deficiency and anemia characterize patients on chronic hemodialysis (HD). Available intravenous iron agents, such as ferric gluconate (FG) and ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), vary in dosing regimens and safety profiles. The aim of the present study was to analyze the modification of the iron status, the correction of anemia, and the economic implications after the shift from FG to FCM therapy in chronic HD patients. We evaluated, during the study, the variations in iron metabolism, assessing ferritin and transferrin saturation, erythropoietin-stimulating agent (ESA) doses and the number of administrations, the effects on anemic status, and consequent costs. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was performed with a follow-up period of 24 months, enrolling forty-two HD patients. The enrolment phase started in January 2015, when patients were treated with iv FG, and continued until December 2015, when FG was discontinued, and, after a wash-out period, the same patients were treated with FCM. Results: The iron switch reduced the administered dose of ESA by 1610.500 UI (31% of reduction; p < 0.001) during the entire study period and reduced the erythropoietin resistance index (ERI) (10.1 ± 0.4 vs. 14.8 ± 0.5; p < 0.0001). The FCM group had the highest percentage of patients who did not require ESA treatment during the study period. The FCM patients were characterized by higher levels of iron (p = 0.04), ferritin (p < 0.001), and TSAT levels (p < 0.001) compared to the FG patients. The annual cost during FG infusion was estimated at EUR 105,390.2, while one year of treatment with FCM had a total cost of EUR 84,180.7 (a difference of EUR 21,209.51 (20%), saving EUR 42.1 per patient/month (p < 0.0001). Conclusions: FCM was a more effective treatment option than FG, reducing ESA dose requirements, increasing Hb levels, and improving iron status. The reduced ESA doses and the decreased number of patients needing ESA were the main factors for reducing overall costs.

Angelo Vermeulen is a space biologist, computational designer, and artist. He served as Crew Commander of one of NASA's HI-SEAS Mars simulations and made it to the final 6% of the ESA Astronaut Selection in 2022. Vermeulen has a profound interest in complex system science and is fascinated by principles of self-organization, emergence, and evolution. During his presentation, he showcased a selection of his transdisciplinary projects, which he created with partners and communities all over the world. This includes research on bioregenerative ecosystems in partnership with ESA. Vermeulen also shared insights into the unique design and engineering methodology that he developed during these collaborations. Presented at Riga Technical University, as part of the Vertically Integrated Project, on March 8, 2023., More info about the projects on www.seads.network

Akurasi prediksi modulus campuran beraspal (yang tergantung pada banyak hal antara lain temperatur atau WMAPT), standar load group, angka ekivalen (ESA4, ESA5, SAR5, SAR7, SAR12) penting dalam proses desain perkerasan lentur. Ke tiga hal tersebut dibahas dalam makalah ini. Modulus campuran beraspal yang diprediksi MDP terlalu besar daripada nilai modulus berdasarkan AI. Koefisien yang disarankan MDP untuk memprediksi modulus pada temperatur yang berbeda dari 41oC tidak dapat dikonfirmasikan sebagai koefisien yang benar, karena koefisien (kalaupun ada) besarnya tidak konstan untuk semua kasus. Penentuan standard load group (sumbu tunggal roda tunggal, tandem, dan tripel) seharusnya mempunyai dampak kerusakan yang sama seperti sumbu standar. Namun berdasarkan hasil analisis ini tidak dapat mengkonfirmasi bahwa penentuan standar load group tersebut merupakan hal yang benar. Dampak kerusakan standar load group berkisar antara 0.21 sd 11.48 kerusakan sumbu standar – padahal seharusnya (jika benar) adalah 1.0. Penggunaan ESA4, ESA5 pada MDP berbeda dari penggunaannya pada Austroads. Selain itu ada SAR7 dan SAR12 yang perlu digunakan dalam proses desain – yang tidak dikenal dalam MDP. Berdasarkan hasil analisis ini, maka ketiga hal tersebut dalam MDP perlu ditelaah lebih lanjut. Akumulasi kekeliruan dari setiap hal tersebut dapat menyebabkan kesalahan yang fatal dalam desain.

Norway’s main impetus for developing national military satellite-based capability was the 1977 introduction of the EEZ, through which Norway became responsible for vast maritime areas in the High North. These capabilities also underpinned Norway’s intelligence mission that entailed monitoring Russian military activity, especially the Kola Bay-based Russian strategic forces in the vicinity of Norway. Norway developed niche technologies for military use predominantly based on civilian satellites, and ESA became an essential instrument as it enabled Norway to develop indigenous satellite-based services for the Norwegian Armed Forces. Norway in turn used this capability to reinforce its military relations with the United States and key allies within the NATO framework. Following the pivotal military space strategic review in 2014/2015, the Norwegian Armed Forces developed a function-oriented management structure and incorporated space as a new military domain. National security implications of space were finally incorporated into Norwegian space policy, and Norway has since developed a wide range of national space capabilities, all of which support the nation’s defence and security objectives. This thesis examines how Norwegian military space activity fits into the nation’s overall defence and security policy and argues this activity and the associated national capability development has emerged as a strategic asset in Norwegian alliance policy. This activity reflects upon relations between national policymakers and practitioners, and has contributed to obscure the notion of civil-military separation in Norway. The activity also demonstrates the existence of two unofficial space doctrines in Norway. One focuses on intelligence and the other on force enhancement. The 2020 appointment of the Norwegian Intelligence Service as Norway’s military space authority demonstrates the value of space for intelligence activities supersedes other uses of the domain. Lastly, the study has identified a notable discrepancy between Norwegian military space activity and how space is addressed in national military doctrine.

This study focused on the design of the band-reject filter on the frequency of the Galileo satellite by providing bandwidth at the cut-off frequency equal to the bandwidth of the Galileo-E5a. The selecting of response characteristic is Butterworth's maximally flat, amplitude-frequency response of the band-reject filter. This poster shows the combination of the LPF and HPF to perform a band-reject filter. Therefore, there are two combinations also in designing for the band-reject filter. This combination aims to influence the performance of the band-reject filter. Band rejects filter design using the frequency of the Galileo-E5a with bandwidth is 25 MHz.using a Butterworth filter which is presented in this poster. The circuit is composed 3rd.order.Moreover, the combination between LPF and HPF is designed to act as a band-reject filter. As a result, we can filter the frequency of Galileo-E5a by using the band-reject filter.

As a result of the proliferation of cloud services in recent years, several service providers now offer services that are functionally identical but have different levels of service, known as Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics. Therefore, offering a cloud assistance arrangement with optimum QoS estimates that fulfilling a customer’s expectations becomes a complicated and demanding task. Several different metaheuristics are presented as potential solutions to this problem. However, most of them are unable to strike a healthy balance between exploring new territory and capitalizing on existing resources. A novel approach is suggested to balance exploration and exploitation via the use of Genetic Algorithms (GA) and the Eagle Strategy algorithm. Cloud computing provides clients with capabilities that are enabled by information technology by using services that are available on demand. To circumvent difficulties such as a delayed convergence rate or an early convergence, this technique allows for the establishment of a healthy equilibrium between exploratory and exploitative activities. The result of the experiment shows that the Eagle Strategy algorithm (ESA) and GA are better than other conventional algorithms at making a globally QoS-based Cloud Service Selection System faster.

In the recent decades, the importance of software on space missions has notably increased, reflecting the need to integrate advanced on-board functionalities. With multicore processors being lately introduced to host critical high-performance applications, the complexity to validate software has significantly raised with respect to single core architectures. While there has been a big step forward in avionics after the publication of the CAST-32A paper, the ECSS-E-ST-40C software engineering standard used by the European Space Agency (ESA) is still not providing validation support for multicore processors. Hence, it is expected that standardising guidelines to develop software on such platforms will become a recurring topic in the industry to match the demands of future space exploration missions.

The analytical chemistry community is attempting to incorporate green chemistry concepts in the development of analytical techniques to redefine analytical methods and dramatically modify the philosophy of analytical technique development. Each greenness assessment method has its own benefits and drawbacks, as well as its own procedures. The results of each greenness assessment method produce numerous deductions regarding the selection of a greenest chromatographic method on which the determination of a greenness assessment tool depends. The current study examined the greenness behavior of 26 reported chromatographic methods in the literature for the evaluation of the medicine empagliflozin using three evaluation methods: the national environmental methods index (NEMI), the eco-scale assessment (ESA), and the green analytical procedure index (GAPI). This comparative study discussed the value of using more than one greenness evaluation methods while evaluating. The findings showed that the NEMI was a less informative and misleading tool. However, the ESA provided reliable numerical assessments out of 100. Despite the GAPI being a complex assessment compared to the others, it provided a fully descriptive three-colored pictogram and a precise assessment. The findings recommended applying more than one greenness assessment tool to evaluate the greenness of methods prior to planning laboratory-based analytical methods to ensure an environment friendly process.

İnsan yaşamını önceleyen sistemlerin yaygınlaşması toplumlara bütüncül fayda sağlamaktadır. Solunum yoluyla bulaşıcı hastalıklardan sakınmak için ağız-burun maskesi takmanın Covid-19 pandemisi ile zorunlu hâle geldiği gibi yapı inşaatında çalışan işçilerin inşaat alanında kafa kaskı takması zorunludur. İnşat alanlarında çalışan işçilerin kaskını takıp takmadığının kontrolünü göz ile yapmak yorucu ve hataya açıktır. Yapay zekâ tabanlı bilgisayar teknolojilerinin geliştiği bu çağda hayatımızı her anlamda kolaylaştıran sistemlerin varlığı ümit vaat etmektedir. Bu çalışmada görüntü verisinin anlamlandığı evrişimli sinir ağı (ESA) tabanlı derin öğrenme ile kask takma kontrolünün otomatik yapılması önerilmiştir ve YOLO V4, V5 ve Faster R-CNN modellerine uygulanan transfer öğrenme tekniği ile kısıtlı veri seti probleminin üstesinden gelinmiştir. Deneylerde transfer öğrenme uygulanmayan eğitimlere de yer verilerek yöntemin etkinliği incelenmiştir. Sonuçta transfer öğrenmeli YOLO V5 modelinin %98 f1 skor ile 6 farklı model eğitimi arasında en başarılı olduğu gözlemlenmiştir., The widespread use of systems that prioritize human life provides holistic benefits to societies. In order to avoid respiratory contagious diseases, wearing a mouth-nose mask has become mandatory with the Covid-19 pandemic, and workers working in building construction are required to wear a head helmet at the construction site. It is tiring and error-prone to visually check whether the workers working on the construction sites are wearing their helmets. In this age, where artificial intelligence-based computer technologies are developed, the existence of systems that make our lives easier in every sense is promising. In this study, it is proposed to make helmet wearing control automatic with convolutional neural network (CNN) based deep learning in which the image data is meaningful. The limited data set problem was overcome with the transfer learning technique applied to the YOLO V4, V5 and Faster R-CNN models. The effectiveness of the method was examined by including the trainings in which transfer learning was not applied in the experiments. As a result, it was observed that the YOLO V5 model with transfer learning was the most successful among 6 different model trainings with an f1 score of 98%.

A corpus of documents related to over 600 Habitat Conservation Plans created under the US Endangered Species Act.

Data and documents related to ESA-listed species found on units of the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Evaluating the status of ESA recovery actions from FWS and NMFS data

Code (primarily R) for analyzing the recovery plan overview data

A brief memo of critical habitat exclusions under section 4(b)(2) of the ESA.

Brief analysis from 2017 of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service "take" authorizations under the ESA.

Analysis of ESA critical habitat land cover changes

This project organizes data and analyses that document, aggregate, map, and describe designated recovery units for species listed on the US Endangered Species List.

Core data required for an overview of the missingness, age, and timeliness of ESA recovery plans

Some species listed under the US Endangered Species Act can be considered recovered even when their abundance declines after listing. Here we archive the data and analyses from our project asking what reasons are given by federal agencies to support the decision to allow a decline.

Comment letter on EPA's guidance on risk assessment of pesticides affecting ESA-listed species.

Data for a project on how federal wildlife agencies can better track the status of species listed under the Endangered Species Act.

Overview of ESA five-year review completeness and timeliness

A (draft) web application to explore species at risk of endangerment or extinction

An overview of the completeness, timeliness, and age of ESA recovery plans

First-pass estimates of the cost to recover species listed under the ESA.

Recently, there has been a significant increase in number of land cover maps available to researchers and they are now more commonly used. The broad variety requires some system for determining the differences between maps and for estimating their applicability for specific research purposes. We focused on comparing land cover maps from the point of view of how the land cover categories used characterize potentially suitable habitats for species. This comparison includes only freely available global land cover projects with resolutions from 1 km to 10 m. The criteria chosen were temporal and spatial resolution, number of classes and map precision. To demonstrate the differences, two areas of different sizes were always chosen. Our results reveal that maps can significantly vary in their estimates of different types of land cover, even at the same spatial resolution. Results also revealed that one type of vegetation in this area is poorly recorded in all land cover maps. Copernicus CGLS-LC100 and ESA CCI-LC maps appear to be the most suitable for evaluating potentially suitable habitats.

Natural convection heat transfer from vertical 9 × 9 rod bundle in liquid sodium was numerically analyzed to optimize the thermal-hydraulic design for the bundle geometry with equilateral square and triangle arrays (ESA and ETA). Unsteady laminar three-dimensional fundamental equations of natural convection heat transfer caused by step heat flux were solved numerically until the solution reached a steady state. The PHOENICS code was used to calculate the temperature dependence of the relevant thermo-physical properties. For this work, a 9 × 9 test rod with a diameter (D = 7.6mm), heated length (L = 200mm), L, d (= 26.32) was used. The surface heat flux (q) of each cylinder was equally applied. It ranged from 2 × 10(5) to 7 × 10(6)W/m(2). The modified Rayleigh number, (Raf,L)ij and (Raf,L)Nx×Ny,S/D, ranged from 6.430 × 10(5) to 4.309 × 10(7) at the liquid temperature of 673.15K. The value of S/D, the ratio of the diameter of the flow channel to the diameter of the rod in the bundle geometry of the vertical 9 × 9 rod bundle, ranged from 1.82 to 5 for the bundle geometry with ESA. The spatial distributions of the average Nusselt numbers, (Nuav)ij and (Nuav,B)Nx×Ny,S/D, were revealed for the vertical single cylinder of the rod bundle and the vertical rod bundle. To determine the effect of array size, bundle geometry, S/D, (Raf,L)ij and (Raf,L)Nx×Ny,S/D on heat transfer, the average Nusselt numbers, (Nuav)ij and (Nuav,B)Nx×Ny,S/D, of bundle geometries with different values of S/D were calculated. The general correlations for natural convection heat transfer from a vertical Nx× Ny rod bundle with the ESA and ETA including the effects of array size, (Raf,L)Nx×Ny,S/D and S/D were derived. The correlations of vertical Nx× Ny rod bundles can describe the theoretical (Nuav,B)Nx×Ny,S/D values within −4.79% to 6.60% at S/D ranged from 1.82 to 6, and modified Rayleigh numbers ranged from 6.430 × 10(5) to 4.309 × 10(7).

This M.Sc. in Physics thesis may be of interest to all of those who want to: get started in the science of the future ESA Athena mission, with its science goals and its payload being described as of the first semester of 2022; be introduced to the use of thin film optical blocking filters in X-ray missions, both in the used materials, scientific reasons, and history; understand the basics of UV-Vis-IR transmittance modelling of thin film multilayer structures; see a detailed introduction to some optical models for metals and dielectric materials; and finally, see a first-hand experimental investigation and modelling of samples of nanometric filters made of aluminized polyimide. This work deals with the experimental investigation and modelling of the UV-Vis-IR transmission of multilayer thin film filters (MTFFs) designed for Athena, the large space mission selected in 2014 by the European Space Agency (ESA) to study the Cosmic Vision theme ‘Hot and Energetic Universe’. The mission is composed of a large effective area X-ray telescope and two focal plane detectors, the X-ray Integral Field Unit (X-IFU) and the Wide Field Imager (WFI). Both detectors need filters to block non-X-ray radiation while ensuring a high X-ray transmission. At the moment the mission is in the B1 definition phase; thus, along with all the satellite systems, the filters need to be properly studied by experimental tests to consolidate their preliminary design. In collaboration with UNIPA (Università degli Studi di Palermo) and INAF (Instituto Nazionale di AstroFisica), samples of the designed multi-layered thin film filters are analysed and modelled in the UV-Vis-IR radiation bands, to verify their shielding properties from electromagnetic radiation coming from the environment, from the astrophysical sources within the telescope field-of-view and, particularly for the X-IFU, IR emitted by warm surfaces inside the instrument cryostat. The main objective is to experimentally measure the transmission of the samples with FTIR-MIR (Fourier Transformed InfraRed spectroscopy) and UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy techniques, to characterise them and to develop a proper transmission model in the electromagnetic band of interest, for ultimately assessing the instruments’ compliance with the mission’s requirements. An optical n-k model was developed for the polyimide layers, and a discussion of the possible improvements is available in the concluding paragraphs., All of the references are available in the thesis on page 102. I will publish a second version in the future, reworking aspects that were highlighted in the concluding paragraphs., {"references":["M. Barbera, U. Lo Cicero, and L. Sciortino. Filters for x-ray detectors on space missions, 2022. Work submitted for publication. Preprint at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2207.06781.pdf"]}

Gelişen teknoloji ile birlikte sosyal medya, forum siteleri ve bloklar yaygın bir şekilde kullanılmaya başlanmıştır. İnsanlar artık bu mecraları çok yaygın bir şekilde kullanmakta olup duygu ve düşüncelerini bu ortamlarda paylaşmaktadırlar. Bundan dolayı doğal dil işleme uygulamaları her geçen gün daha popüler bir konu haline gelmeye başlamıştır. Doğal dil işlemedeki en popüler konulardan birisi duygu analizidir. Duygu analizinde belirli kriterlere göre incelemeler yapılarak öznel bilgilerin çıkarılması sağlanmaktadır. Yapılan bu çalışmada duygu analizi yapmak için IMDB veri seti kullanılmıştır. IMDB veri seti, film yorumlarından oluşan bu konudaki en büyük veri setlerinden biridir. Bu veri seti kullanıcıların filmler hakkında ki yorumlarını içermektedir. Çalışmada, öncelikle veri önişleme adımı gerçekleştirilmiştir. Daha sonra hazırlanan veri seti klasik makine öğrenmesi sınıflandırıcılarında ve önerilen Evrişimsel Sinir Ağı ( ESA) tabanlı modelde sınıflandırılmıştır. Önerilen ESA tabanlı model IMDB veri setindeki metinleri analiz etme işleminde klasik makine öğrenmesi sınıflandırıcılarından daha başarılı olmuştur ve önerilen derin model %85.57 oranında bir doğruluk değeri elde etmiştir., With the developing technology, social media, forum sites and blocks have been widely used. People are now using these channels very widely and they share their feelings and thoughts in these environments. Therefore, natural language processing applications have started to become a more popular topic with each passing day. One of the most popular topics in natural language processing is sentiment analysis. In sentiment analysis, subjective information is extracted by making examinations according to certain criteria. In this study, the IMDB data set was used to perform sentiment analysis. The IMDB dataset is one of the largest datasets on this subject, consisting of movie reviews. This dataset contains users' comments about movies. In the study, firstly, the data preprocessing step was carried out. Then, the prepared data set was classified in classical machine learning classifiers and the proposed ESA-based model. The proposed ESA-based model was more successful than the classical machine learning classifiers in analyzing the texts in the IMDB dataset, and the proposed deep model achieved an accuracy of 85.57%.

This case study appears in: Mays C, Laborie L, Griset P (eds) (2022) Inventing a shared science diplomacy for Europe: Interdisciplinary case studies to think with history. Zenodo. 10.5281/zenodo.6590097 The development of European space activities has blossomed since the 1960s, with an incremental blending of national, regional and international processes of cooperation and competition in space affairs. Formulating a unified European space policy has meant conjugating national interests, shared objectives and divergent priorities. Achieving effective cooperation at regional level can be the outcome of a diplomatic process of influence to gain required capability that could not be reached at solely national level. This is particularly critical in the area of human spaceflight. The story of how the French project of the Hermes spaceplane was Europeanized offers good insight into how stakeholders in Europe have approached science diplomacy in an extremely competitive field, where technological, scientific and political interests may radically diverge among partners., de Floris, Anne (2022) National interests, shared objectives and divergent priorities: Interplaying scales in European space policy. In Mays C, Laborie L, Griset P (eds) Inventing a shared science diplomacy for Europe: Interdisciplinary case studies to think with history. Zenodo. doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.6582724

In the framework of the ESA EO AFRICA initiative, the EO AFRICA R&D Facility in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the African Union Commission (AUC), launched at the end of 2021 a call for research proposals to support African-European collaborative efforts to develop innovative, open-source EO algorithms and applications adapted to African solutions for African challenges. Proposals in the themes of water scarcity and food security were expected to create EO algorithms and workflows by leveraging cutting-edge cloud-based data access and computing infrastructure. A budget up to 25,000 EUR for research activities during a period of 12 months, free access to cloud-based Virtual Research Environments through the Innovation Lab of the Facility, dedicated user and technical support, access to the EO AFRICA Space Academy events, and integration into the EO AFRICA Network for international scientific collaboration, were the benefits offered to the research projects. 62 proposals were received from research teams lead by African-European tandems from 23 African and 16 European countries. After a comprehensive evaluation process, which involved review of each proposal by at least two domain experts for 40 different criteria and scoring in 6 different categories, 26 proposals from 14 African and 9 European countries were qualified for the second round of evaluation by the Selection Committee. This included all proposals "highly recommended" by the reviewers with a minimum overall score of 75/100. Considering aspects such as scientific excellence, innovative use of digital tools, impact for fostering the use of EO data and services in Africa, and geographic representation of Africa, the Committee in collaboration with ESA and AUC awarded 15 research projects for funding from 12 African and 9 European countries. This document aims to provide a short summary of the scientific background, objectives, study area, research plan, and team members of the funded research projects.z

In the framework of the ESA EO AFRICA initiative, the EO AFRICA R&D Facility in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the African Union Commission (AUC), launched at the end of 2021 a call for research proposals to support African-European collaborative efforts to develop innovative, open-source EO algorithms and applications adapted to African solutions for African challenges. Proposals in the themes of water scarcity and food security were expected to create EO algorithms and workflows by leveraging cutting-edge cloud-based data access and computing infrastructure. A budget up to 25,000 EUR for research activities during a period of 12 months, free access to cloud-based Virtual Research Environments through the Innovation Lab of the Facility, dedicated user and technical support, access to the EO AFRICA Space Academy events, and integration into the EO AFRICA Network for international scientific collaboration, were the benefits offered to the research projects. 62 proposals were received from research teams lead by African-European tandems from 23 African and 16 European countries. After a comprehensive evaluation process, which involved review of each proposal by at least two domain experts for 40 different criteria and scoring in 6 different categories, 26 proposals from 14 African and 9 European countries were qualified for the second round of evaluation by the Selection Committee. This included all proposals "highly recommended" by the reviewers with a minimum overall score of 75/100. Considering aspects such as scientific excellence, innovative use of digital tools, impact for fostering the use of EO data and services in Africa, and geographic representation of Africa, the Committee in collaboration with ESA and AUC awarded 15 research projects for funding from 12 African and 9 European countries. This document aims to provide a short summary of the scientific background, objectives, study area, research plan, and team members of the funded research projects.z, EO AFRICA R&D Facility is funded by the ESA, Contract No. 4000133905/21/I-EF.

ESA Academy is the European Space Agency’s overarching educational programme for university students. It takes them through a learning path that complements their academic education by offering a tailored transfer of space knowledge and interaction with space professionals. As a result, students can enhance their skills, boost their motivation and ambitions, and become acquainted with the standard professional practices in the space sector. This happens through the two pillars of ESA Academy, the Training and Learning Programme and the Hands-on Programmes. The latter enables university students to gain first-hand, end-to-end experience of space-related projects. One of the latest additions to the portfolio of opportunities for university students is “Orbit Your Thesis!”. It offers bachelor, master, and PhD students the opportunity to design, build, test, and operate their experiment onboard the International Space Station. The experiment operates within the ICE Cubes Facility in ESA’s Columbus module, where it can operate for up to four months in microgravity. Throughout the programme students develop essential scientific, academic, and professional skills that will help them build their future careers. These skills include project management, risk identification and mitigation, problem-solving, and working within a diverse workplace. Participating teams will experience first-hand the project management process for space missions and participate in multiple reviews of their experiment and design throughout the programme. Participating students are supported and guided through the process by engineers and scientists from ESA, Space Applications Services, and members of the European Low Gravity Research Association. The programme schedule follows a similar path to many space-faring projects. The design, development, testing, launch preparation and operations are structured in a series of project phases and technical reviews. Participating teams are guided towards the subsequent milestones to pass the necessary safety reviews and achieve launch readiness. The first team that successfully sent up their ICE Cube is OSCAR-QUBE, a multidisciplinary team from the University of Hasselt in Belgium. Their experiment is the first diamond-based quantum magnetometer that ever operated in space. Thanks to the unique characteristics of their sensor, they have been mapping the Earth’s magnetic field from inside the Columbus module aboard the ISS without the need to be housed on the exterior. This paper will describe the various phases and technical aspects of the programme in more detail

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is optimised for making infrared observations in order to study the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary systems and is designed to look further back in space and time than the Hubble Space Telescope. It is a massive international project, decades in the making, involving NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The UK has a key role in leading a multi-national group that provides one of the four instruments on JWST with the lead scientist (Principal Investigator) based at the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh and the Project Manager (John Thatcher) based in what is now Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage. This presentation provides an overview of how JWST came to be, why it looks the way it does and a preview of what is to come when it begins science operations following its successful launch on Christmas Day 2021., Hamburg Aerospace Lecture Series --- Collection of Presentations --- http://www.AeroLectures.de

Background Limited data are available on the epidemiology and clinical management of anaemia in patients with non-dialysis-dependent chronic kidney disease (NDD-CKD). Methods This retrospective observational study was based on records from databases of five Local Health Units across Italy. Adults with reported NDD-CKD stage 3a–5 between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2016 were identified. Annual prevalence and incidence of anaemia (age- and sex-standardised) and clinical management (erythropoiesis-stimulating agents [ESAs], intravenous [IV] iron, and blood transfusions) were evaluated. Eligibility for ESAs was defined by ≥ 2 records of Hb Results Overall, 101,143 individuals with NDD-CKD (3a–5) recorded between 2014 and 2016 were identified, of whom 40,020 (39.6%) were anaemic. Prevalence of anaemia was 33.8% in 2016 and incidence of anaemia was stable (11.4–12.4%) from 2014 to 2016. Prevalence and incidence of anaemia increased with CKD stage. Among eligible patients, 12.8% with Hb Conclusions Anaemia is a significant issue in patients with NDD-CKD. Low rates of ESA treatment indicate a potential treatment gap and suggest that anaemia may not be adequately controlled in many patients. Graphical abstract

White blood cells are the most important structure of the human immune system and are produced by the bone marrow in the blood and lymph tissues. These cells are the defense mechanisms that protect the human body against diseases and foreign organisms, and Leukopenia may be encountered when the rate in the blood decreases. Intensive effort is required to determine the ratio of these cells in the human body and to detect and treat the disease. In this study, it is aimed to improve the white blood cell classification performance by using deep learning models. Convolutional neural network models are used to perform the classification process more efficiently. Densenet201, ResNet50, and Alexnet were combined to distinguish between the white blood cell variants, eosinophils, lymphocytes, monocytes, and neutrophils. Three different machine learning classifiers, namely K-Nearest Neighborhood, Support Vector Machine and Naïve Bayes, were used to classify the obtained feature maps. By applying CLAHE and Gaussian filters to Kaggle dataset images trained with Deep Learning (DL), these images were reclassified with three CNN networks. It has been revealed that the results obtained after applying these filters are higher than the classification results obtained with the original data., Beyaz kan hücreleri, insanların bağışıklık sisteminin en önemli yapısı olup, kan ve lenf dokularında kemik iliği tarafından üretilmektedir. Bu hücreler insan vücudunu hastalık ve yabancı organizmalara karşı koruyan savunma mekanizmalarıdır ve kandaki oranı düştüğünde Lökopeni ile karşılaşılabilir. Bu hücrelerin insan vücudundaki oranının belirlenmesi ve hastalığın tespit ve tedavisi için yoğun emek harcaması gerekmektedir. Bu çalışmada, derin öğrenme modellerini kullanarak beyaz kan hücreleri sınıflandırma performansının iyileştirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Sınıflandırma işlemini daha verimli gerçekleştirmek için evrişimli sinir ağı modelleri kullanılmıştır. Beyaz kan hücresi çeşitleri olan eozinofil, lenfosit, monosit ve nötrofil arasında ayrım yapmak için Densenet201, ResNet50 ve Alexnet birleştirilmiştir. Elde edilen özellik haritalarının sınıflandırılması için K-En yakın komşuluk, Destek Vektör Makinesi ve Naïve Bayes olmak üzere üç farklı makine öğrenmesi sınıflandırıcısı kullanılmıştır. Derin Öğrenme (DÖ) ile eğitilen Kaggle veri kümesi görüntülerine CLAHE ve Gauss filtreleri uygulanarak bu görüntüler üç ESA ağı ile yeniden sınıflandırılmıştır. Bu filtreler uygulandıktan sonra elde edilen sonuçların, orijinal verilerle elde edilen sınıflandırma sonuçlardan daha yüksek olduğu ortaya konmuştur.

Individuals living with chronic physical health conditions are more likely to be out-of-work than other groups. Often framed as a ‘response’ to these statistics, many countries have introduced policy instruments for promoting the employment of individuals with chronic conditions. This qualitative study sought to explore the impact of welfare reforms on UK individuals. Employing a phenomenological approach, semi-structured interviews were conducted with five participants living with chronic conditions. Three themes were generated using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis: ‘intersubjective sense making of the condition’; ‘battles for control’ and ‘the fluidity and strengthening of identity’. Implications for further, holistic, policy reform are explored.

BackgroundOptimal management of chronic kidney disease (CKD) anaemia remains controversial and few studies have evaluated real-world management of anaemia in advanced CKD in the context of guideline recommendations.MethodsWe performed an observational study from the Swedish Renal Registry evaluating the epidemiology and treatment patterns of anaemia across Stages 3b–5 in non-dialysis (ND) and dialysis-dependent (DD) CKD patients during 2015. Logistic regression and Cox models explored the associations between anaemia treatments, inflammation, erythropoietin resistance index (ERI) and subsequent 1-year risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs).ResultsData from 14 415 (ND, 11 370; DD, 3045) patients were included. Anaemia occurred in 60% of ND and 93% of DD patients. DD patients used more erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs; 82% versus 24%) and iron (62% versus 21%) than ND patients. All weekly ESA doses were converted to a weight-adjusted weekly epoetin equivalent dose. The prescribed ESA doses were low to moderate [median 48.2 IU/kg/week (ND), 78.6 IU/kg/week (DD)]. Among ESA-treated patients, 6–21% had haemoglobin (Hb) >13 g/dL and 2–6% had Hb 5 mg/L) was highly prevalent and associated with ERI and higher ESA doses. Higher (>88 IU/kg/week) versus lower (ConclusionsAnaemia remains highly prevalent in advanced CKD. Patients with anaemia received moderate ESA doses with a relatively low prevalence of iron use. Higher doses of ESA were associated with inflammation and a higher risk of MACE.

In order to improve the algorithm efficiency in point matching and reduce the error of displacement field in deformation calculation, an Improved Digital Volume Correlation (IDVC) method is proposed. Aimed at the problem that the accuracy of initial displacement estimation of DVC has a great influence on the convergence calculation accuracy by the sub-voxel measurement algorithm, the coordinates of the estimated points in deformation are quickly matched by the Explosion Search Algorithm (ESA), with the displacement vectors obtained. Then, the non-physical fluctuation of displacement field and the wrong strain concentration are suppressed in regularization. Finally, the deformation information obtained by correlation search is substituted into the iterative least squares algorithm to attain the sub-voxel precision displacement. The results of the simulation experiment and concrete uni-axial compression experiment show that the computational efficiency by the proposed method is 20.44% higher than that by the traditional DVC method, and that the accuracy level of displacement field measurement reaches 0.001 voxels.

As part of the design of a new particle accelerator at CERN, a research is conducted to study the challenges and opportunities of multi-stage turbocompressor machines operating with light gases and more specifically with a mixture of helium and neon. First, a 1D stage performance prediction model is implemented and coupled with a genetic algorithm in order to generate an impeller database. Then, a stacking method is developed considering design philosophies and technological limitations observed in the industry. This model is coupled with a second loop of the same genetic algorithm, which provides multi-stage architectures optimised for either compactness, i.e. number of stages, or efficiency. For both objectives, an ideal number of stages can be determined which increases significantly as the operating gas becomes lighter. The impellers diversity within the database also plays an important role on the overall machine architecture. Finally, in alignment with potential technological improvements, the motor maximum rotational speed is varied to study the achievable reduction in the required number of stages.

ISA (Italian Spring Accelerometer) is a scientific payload of the Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) module of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission to planet Mercury and it is the first high-sensitivity accelerometer on-board an interplanetary spacecraft. It will be one of the key instruments to perform Radio Science Experiments during the orbital phase. The instrument is sensitive to any acceleration, greater than 10-8 ms-2Hz-1/2, perturbing the free fall of the spacecraft in the overall gravity field. The main goal of ISA is indeed to measure the so-called Non Gravitational Perturbations (NGP) allowing to reconstruct, a posteriori, the motion of the spacecraft on a geodesic of spacetime. During the first Mercury flyby, performed in October 2021, the spacecraft approached the target planet reaching an altitude above its surface of only 200 km. Thanks to this very low altitude and to the ISA on-board position in cruise configuration, far away from the center of mass of the overall composite spacecraft, the accelerometer has been able to clearly detect the gravity gradient accelerations. Indeed, this is the first direct measurement of the gravity gradient acceleration induced on a spacecraft by the gravity field of a celestial object different from the Earth. Near the closest approach to the planet, the spacecraft entered in eclipse, losing the effect of the solar radiation pressure acting on its surfaces exposed to the Sun. As a consequence, a sudden change of the acceleration was clearly detected by the accelerometer; the measured signal has a magnitude aligned with the expectations, computed considering optical coefficients and spacecraft attitude. In June 2022, BepiColombo will carry out a second flyby that will be very similar, in terms of altitude, attitude and B-plane coordinates, to the first one, representing an almost unique opportunity to compare two similar measurements.

International audience; This chapter examines the nature of the Boards of Appeal (BoAs) of EU financial agencies and the type of review they offer. It describes the different operation of the Joint Board of Appeal (JBoA) of the European Supervisory Authorities (ESA) and of the Appeal Panel (AP) of the Single Resolution Board (SRB).. The chapter analyses their decisions, which are binding and which follow appeal procedures that need to be exhausted before a procedure may be started before the EU Courts. It provides a comparative analysis of the JBoA and the AP, and assesses their suitability in providing effective and swift remedy to individuals.

The master thesis entitled Strategies of actors involved in space race aims to answer the question of what the strategies of selected space actors for the present and the near future are, and in what these goals can we predict cooperation or competition. Furthermore, the work examines in which directions the strategies of the actors are declining, what is the possible success rate and in which areas of space policy the actors should further develop. The work is structured into four chapters, which present the specific current and future goals of selected state space actors (USA, ESA, Russia, China, India, Japan) and commercial space actors. The strategic goals are analysed and compared from primary available official sources and put into practice within the list of main areas of interest and specific space missions. The main issues of space activities influencing current and future space policy are also defined here.

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Наблюденията на Земята се превърнаха в незаменим източник на информация с приложение в много сфери на социално-икономическото развитие на обществото и за опазване на околната среда. Докладът представя кратък преглед на постиженията от изпълнение на научноизследователски и образователни проекти в България през последните три десетилетия с използване на наблюдения на Земята.