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The Ariel mission will characterise the chemical and thermal properties of the atmospheres of about a thousand exoplanets transiting their host star(s). The observation of such a large sample of planets will allow to deepen our understanding of planetary and atmospheric formation at the early stages, providing a truly representative picture of the chemical nature of exoplanets, and relating this directly to the type and chemical environment of the host star. Hence, the accurate and precise determination of the host star fundamental properties is essential to Ariel for drawing a comprehensive picture of the underlying essence of these planetary systems. We present here a structured approach for the characterisation of Ariel stars that accounts for the concepts of homogeneity and coherence among a large set of stellar parameters. We present here the studies and benchmark analyses we have been performing to determine robust stellar fundamental parameters, elemental abundances, activity indices, and stellar ages. In particular, we present results for the homogeneous estimation of the activity indices S and log(RHK′) , and preliminary results for elemental abundances of Na, Al, Mg, Si, C, N. In addition, we analyse the variation of a planetary spectrum, obtained with Ariel, as a function of the uncertainty on the stellar effective temperature. Finally, we present our observational campaign for precisely and homogeneously characterising all Ariel stars in order to perform a meaningful choice of final targets before the mission launch. © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V., C.D. acknowledges financial support from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the “Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa” award to the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709), and the Group project Ref. PID2019-110689RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033; S.B., G.M. and D.T. acknowledge the support of the ARIEL ASI-INAF agreement n. 2018-22-HH.0; D.T. acknowledges the support of the Italian National Institute of Astrophysics (INAF) through the INAF Main Stream project “Ariel and the astrochemical link between circumstellar discs and planets” (CUP: C54I19000700005); D.B. acknowledges support by FCT through the research grants UIDB/04434/2020, UIDP/04434/2020 and PTDC/FIS-AST/30389/2017, and by FEDER - Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional through COMPETE2020 - Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (grant: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-030389). G.B. acknowledges support from CHEOPS ASI-INAF agreement n. 2019-29-HH.0; S.S. was supported by United Kingdom Space Agency (UKSA) grant: ST/S002456/1.; E.D.M., V.A. and S.G.S. acknowledge the support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through national funds and from FEDER through COMPETE2020 by the following grants: UID/FIS/04434/2019, UIDB/04434/2020 and UIDP/04434/2020; PTDC/FIS-AST/32113/2017 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-032113; PTDC/FIS-AST/28953/2017 and POCI- 01-0145-FEDER-028953; E.D.M., V.A., S.G.S. also acknowledge the support from FCT through Investigador FCT contracts IF/00849/2015/CP1273/CT0003, IF/00650/2015/CP1273/CT0001, IF/00028/2014/CP1215/CT0002; T.C. acknowledges support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 792848 (PULSATION). T.C. is supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) in the form of a work contract (CEECIND/00476/2018); G.M. was supported by the LabEx P2IO, the French ANR contract 05-BLANNT09-573739; P.K. acknowledges the support of INTER-TRANSFER grant LTT20015.

Ariel, the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, was adopted as the fourth medium-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision programme to be launched in 2029. During its 4-year mission, Ariel will study what exoplanets are made of, how they formed and how they evolve, by surveying a diverse sample of about 1000 extrasolar planets, simultaneously in visible and infrared wavelengths. It is the first mission dedicated to measuring the chemical composition and thermal structures of hundreds of transiting exoplanets, enabling planetary science far beyond the boundaries of the Solar System. The payload consists of an off-axis Cassegrain telescope (primary mirror 1100 mm x 730 mm ellipse) and two separate instruments (FGS and AIRS) covering simultaneously 0.5-7.8 micron spectral range. The satellite is best placed into an L2 orbit to maximise the thermal stability and the field of regard. The payload module is passively cooled via a series of V-Groove radiators; the detectors for the AIRS are the only items that require active cooling via an active Ne JT cooler. The Ariel payload is developed by a consortium of more than 50 institutes from 16 ESA countries, which include the UK, France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Spain, Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Portugal, Czech Republic, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, and a NASA contribution., Comment: Ariel Definition Study Report, 147 pages. Reviewed by ESA Science Advisory Structure in November 2020. Original document available at: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/documents/1783156/3267291/Ariel_RedBook_Nov2020.pdf/

Discovering the molecular factors that shape the mating behaviour and the fertility of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae, the principal vector of human malaria, is regarded as critical to better understand its reproductive success as well as for identifying new leads for malaria control measures. In A. gambiae mating induces complex behavioural and physiological changes in the females, including refractoriness to subsequent mating and induction of egg-laying. In other insects including Drosophila a group of proteins named Accessory gland proteins (Acps), produced by males and transferred with sperm to the female reproductive tract, have been implicated in this post-mating response. Although Acps represent a set of promising candidates for unravelling the mating physiology, their role in inducing behavioural changes in mated A. gambiae females remains largely unknown. In this work, we demonstrate that a down-regulation of a large fraction of Acp genes via silencing of the Acp regulating transcription factor Hsf, abolishes the formation of mating plug in mated females and fails to induce refractoriness of mated female to subsequent inseminations. A significant fraction of females mated to Hsf silenced males (66%) failed to receive the mating plug though seminal fluid had been transferred as documented by the presence of spermatozoa in the female sperm storage organ. Furthermore, nearly all females (95%) mated to HSF-silenced males were re-inseminated when exposed to males carrying EGPF marked sperm. Our findings provide evidence showing that Acp genes regulated by the transcription factor HSF play a key role in the function of the male accessory glands.

Family background—kinship—can propagate careers. The evidence for academic nepotism is littered with complex associations and disputed causal inferences. Surname clustering, albeit with very careful consideration of surnames’ flows across regions and time periods, can be used to reflect family ties. We examined surname patterns in the health science literature, by country, across five decades. Over 21 million papers indexed in the MEDLINE/PubMed database were analyzed. We identified relevant country-specific kinship trends over time and found that authors who are part of a kin tend to occupy central positions in their collaborative networks. Just as kin build potent academic networks with their own resources, societies may do well to provide equivalent support for talented individuals with fewer resources, on the periphery of networks.

In Drosophila, the accessory gland proteins (Acps) secreted from the male accessory glands (MAGs) and transferred along with sperm into the female reproductive tract have been implicated in triggering postmating behavioral changes, including refractoriness to subsequent mating and propensity to egg laying. Recently, Acps have been found also in Anopheles, suggesting similar functions. Understanding the mechanisms underlying transcriptional regulation of Acps and their functional role in modulating Anopheles postmating behavior may lead to the identification of novel vector control strategies to reduce mosquito populations. We identified heat-shock factor (HSF) binding sites within the Acp promoters of male Anopheles gambiae and discovered three distinct Hsf isoforms; one being significantly up-regulated in the MAGs after mating. Through genome-wide transcription analysis of Hsf-silenced males, we observed significant down-regulation in 50% of the Acp genes if compared to control males treated with a construct directed against an unrelated bacterial sequence. Treated males retained normal life span and reproductive behavior compared to control males. However, mated wild-type females showed a ∼46% reduction of egg deposition rate and a ∼23% reduction of hatching rate (∼58% combined reduction of progeny). Our results highlight an unsuspected role of HSF in regulating Acp transcription in A. gambiae and provide evidence that Acp down-regulation in males leads a significant reduction of progeny, thus opening new avenues toward the development of novel vector control strategies.

OBJECTIVES: To foster the development of a privacy-protective, sustainable cross-border information system in the framework of a European public health project. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A targeted privacy impact assessment was implemented to identify the best architecture for a European information system for diabetes directly tapping into clinical registries. Four steps were used to provide input to software designers and developers: a structured literature search, analysis of data flow scenarios or options, creation of an ad hoc questionnaire and conduction of a Delphi procedure. RESULTS: The literature search identified a core set of relevant papers on privacy (n = 11). Technicians envisaged three candidate system architectures, with associated data flows, to source an information flow questionnaire that was submitted to the Delphi panel for the selection of the best architecture. A detailed scheme envisaging an "aggregation by group of patients" was finally chosen, based upon the exchange of finely tuned summary tables. CONCLUSIONS: Public health information systems should be carefully engineered only after a clear strategy for privacy protection has been planned, to avoid breaching current regulations and future concerns and to optimise the development of statistical routines. The BIRO (Best Information Through Regional Outcomes) project delivers a specific method of privacy impact assessment that can be conveniently used in similar situations across Europe.

The paper deals with the integration of a luminescent solar concentrator (LSC) realized with a yellow dye produced by ENI Donegani Institute and analyzed by Politecnico di Milano. The LSC component has the capability to produce electricity and substitute transparent surfaces into the building envelope using inclinations (e.g. vertical walls) and orientation (e.g. different from south) not optimal for standard photovoltaic system integration. The visual effects of the dyed LSC integration are analyzed to understand potentials and critical points of the use of such a component in the built environment. Systematic tests were conducted to evaluate the visual performance parameters related to the application of the yellow LSC component as fanlight in a partially glazed south facade of an office space, through experimental measures taken on a scaled physical model. The main effects can be ascribed to the increasing of the illuminance level and to the reduction of correlated color temperature whereas the color render index shows changes that in some cases have to be carefully assessed such as when color identification is the specific visual task.

We present a new system, VISFAN, for the visual analysis of financial activity networks. It supports the analyst with effective tools to discover financial crimes, like money laundering and frauds. If compared with other existing systems and methodologies for the analysis of criminal networks, VISFAN presents the following main novelties: (i) It combines bottom-up and top-down interaction paradigms for the visual exploration of complex networks; (ii) It makes it possible to mix automatic and manual clustering; (iii) It allows the analyst to interactively customize the dimensions of each cluster region and to apply different geometric constraints on the layout. VISFAN also implements several tools for social network analysis other than clustering. For example, it computes several indices to measure the centrality of each actor in the network.

Many different approaches have been proposed for the challenging problem of visually analyzing large networks. Clustering is one of the most promising. In this paper we propose a new goal for clustering that is especially tailored to hybrid-visualization tools. Namely, that of producing both intra-cluster graphs and inter-cluster graph that are suitable for highly-readable visualizations within different representation conventions. We formalize this concept in the (X,Y)-clustering framework, where Y is the class that defines the desired topological properties of intra-cluster graphs and X is the class that defines the desired topological properties of the inter-cluster graph. By exploiting this approach hybrid-visualization tools can effectively combine different node-link and matrix-based representations, allowing the users to interactively explore the graph by expansion/contraction of clusters without loosing their mental map. As a proof of concept, we describe the system VHYXY (Visual Hybrid (X,Y)-clustering) that integrates our techniques and we present the results of case studies to the visual analysis of co-authorship networks.

We pose a new visualization challenge, asking Graph Drawing algorithms to cope with the requirements of Streaming applications. In this model a source produces a graph one edge at a time. When an edge is produced, it is immediately drawn and its placement cannot be altered. The drawing has an image persistence, that controls the lifetime of edges. If the persistence is k, an edge remains in the drawing for the time spent by the source to generate k edges, and then it fades away. In this model we study the area requirement of planar straight-line grid drawings of trees and we assess the output quality of the presented algorithms by computing the competitive ratio with respect to the best known offline algorithms.

Motivated by applications of social network analysis and of Web- search clustering engines, we describe an algorithm and a system for the display and the visual analysis of two graphs G 1 and G 2 such that each G i is defined on a different data set with its own primary relationships and there are secondary relationships between the vertices of G 1 and those of G 2 . Our main goal is to compute a drawing of G 1 and G 2 that makes clearly visible the relations between the two graphs by avoiding their crossings, and that also takes into account some other important aesthetic requirements like number of bends, area, and aspect ratio. Application examples and experiments on the system performances are also presented.

The paper describes WhatsOnWeb+, a search clustering engine that allows users to browse and analyze the results of a query by means of enhanced graph visualization techniques. WhatsOnWeb+ integrates a wide array of visual interfaces, animation and interaction functionalities, and clustering technologies. The effectiveness of the different visual interfaces and of the different clustering algorithms implemented in the system has been measured by means of an extensive experimental analysis. The described system represents a significant evolution of a previous clustering engine for the Web.

The full understanding of the mechanisms underlying transcriptional regulatory networks requires unravelling of complex causal relationships. Genome high-throughput technologies produce a huge amount of information pertaining gene expression and regulation; however, the complexity of the available data is often overwhelming and tools are needed to extract and organize the relevant information. This work starts from the assumption that the observation of co-occurrent events (in particular co-localization, co-expression and co-regulation) may provide a powerful starting point to begin unravelling transcriptional regulatory networks. Co-expressed genes often imply shared functional pathways; co-expressed and functionally related genes are often co-localized, too; moreover, co-expressed and co-localized genes are also potential targets for co-regulation; finally, co-regulation seems more frequent for genes mapped to proximal chromosome regions. Despite the recognized importance of analysing co-occurrent events, no bioinformatics solution allowing the simultaneous analysis of co-expression, co-localization and co-regulation is currently available. Our work resulted in developing and valuating CluGene, a software providing tools to analyze multiple types of co-occurrences within a single interactive environment allowing the interactive investigation of combined co-expression, co-localization and co-regulation of genes. The use of CluGene will enhance the power of testing hypothesis and experimental approaches aimed at unravelling transcriptional regulatory networks. The software is freely available at http://bioinfolab.unipg.it/.

n this paper we study the problem of computing homothetic triangle contact representations of planar graphs. Since not all planar graphs admit such a representation, we concentrate on meaningful subfamilies of planar graphs and prove that: (i) every two-terminal series-parallel digraph has a homothetic triangle contact representation, which can be computed in linear time; (ii) every partial planar 3-tree admits a homothetic triangle contact representation.