On the contribution of ULXs to stellar feedback: an intermediate mass black hole candidate and the population of ULXs in the low-metallicity starburst galaxy ESO 338-4

X-ray radiation from accreting compact objects is an important part of stellar feedback. The metal-poor galaxy ESO 338-4 has experienced vigorous starburst during the last 40 Myr and contains some of the most massive super star clusters in the nearby Universe. Given its starburst age and its star-formation rate, ESO 338-4 is one of the most efficient nearby manufactures of neutron stars and black holes, hence providing an excellent laboratory for feedback studies. We compared X-ray images and spectra obtained by XMM-Newton and Chandra telescopes with integral field spectroscopic VLT MUSE observations in the optical to constrain the nature of strong X-ray emitters. X-ray observations uncover three ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs) in ESO 338-4. The brightest among them, ESO 338~X-1, has X-ray luminosity in excess of 10^{40} erg/s. We speculate that ESO 338-4 is powered by accretion on an intermediate-mass (~300Msun) black hole. We show that X-ray radiation from ULXs and hot superbubbles strongly contributes to HeII ionization and general stellar feedback in this template starburst galaxy.Comment: A&A, in pres

Microwave assisted synthesis and antimicrobial activity of 2-quinoxalinone-3-hydrazone derivatives

A simple and efficient method has been developed for the synthesis of various 2-quinoxalinone-3-hydrazone derivatives using microwave irradiation technique. The series of 2-quinoxalinone-3-hydrazone derivatives synthesized, were structurally confirmed by analytical and spectral data and evaluated for their antimicrobial activities. The results showed that this skeletal framework exhibited marked potency as antimicrobial agents. The most active antibacterial agent was 3-{2-[1-(6-chloro-2-oxo-2H-chromen-3-yl)ethylidene]hydrazinyl}quinoxalin-2(1H)-one, 7 while 3-[2-(propan-2-ylidene)hydrazinyl]quinoxalin-2(1H)-one, 2 appeared to be the most active antifungal agent

Cereal non-starch polysaccharides in pig diets

This thesis is based on three different studies comprising the weaning and the growing period, aiming at monitoring the influence of cereal non-starch polysaccharides (NSP) and dietary enzyme supplementation on gastro-intestinal processes in pigs. The diets were based on cereals and cereal by-products, and composed to contain different amounts of total as well as soluble NSP. Results from these studies have shown that with increased NSP content, the reduction in digestibility of organic matter (OM) was twice as high in the small intestine than in the total tract, both in newly weaned piglets and growing pigs. An increased proportion of insoluble NSP decreased the digestibility of OM and fibre components in the small intestine of the newly weaned piglets and in the total tract of growing pigs. The gut environment, as described by content and proportions of organic acids (OA) and pH, as well as total microbial populations and coliform diversity, was altered by NSP content and solubility, whereas enzyme supplementation influenced the distribution of OA in the small intestine. PVTC-cannulation did not influence the coliform flora, and results obtained from PVTC-cannulated pigs were concluded to reflect true intestinal conditions. In conclusion, these results indicate that the dietary content of total and soluble NSP influence gastro-intestinal processes such as digestion site, gut environment and microbial populations in different ways in newly weaned piglets and in growing pigs. Therefore, NSP constitute an important tool with possibilities to influence gut health in pigs, and may therefore offer prospects to optimise the feed for pigs of different age

`Electronic Publishing' -- Practice and Experience

Electronic Publishing -- Origination, Dissemination and Design (EP-odd) is an academic journal which publishes refereed papers in the subject area of electronic publishing. The authors of the present paper are, respectively, editor-in-chief, system software consultant and senior production manager for the journal. EP-odd's policy is that editors, authors, referees and production staff will work closely together using electronic mail. Authors are also encouraged to originate their papers using one of the approved text-processing packages together with the appropriate set of macros which enforce the layout style for the journal. This same software will then be used by the publisher in the production phase. Our experiences with these strategies are presented, and two recently developed suites of software are described: one of these makes the macro sets available over electronic mail and the other automates the flow of papers through the refereeing process. The decision to produce EP-odd in this way means that the publisher has to adopt production procedures which differ markedly from those employed for a conventional journal

Reanalysis of LIGO black-hole coalescences with alternative prior assumptions

We present a critical reanalysis of the black-hole binary coalescences detected during LIGO's first observing run under different Bayesian prior assumptions. We summarize the main findings of Vitale et al. (2017) and show additional marginalized posterior distributions for some of the binaries' intrinsic parameters.Comment: Proceedings of IAU Symposium 338: Gravitational Wave Astrophysics (Baton Rouge, LA, October 2017

Wherever I Can Lay My Head: Homeless Youth on Homelessness

Research about the issue of homelessness largely has focused on understanding the characteristics and addressing the needs of homeless adults and families in our communities. Much less research has been conducted to document the characteristics and needs of homeless youth. In recent years, a number of studies have come out in Illinois that address the situation of homeless adults and families as well as youth. Yet there remains a lack of data documenting the perspective of homeless youth concerning their own needs. Providing services that youth report they need can serve as a gateway to other needed services. In the summer of 2003, the Chicago Department of Health sponsored a symposium on the needs of LGBTQ homeless youth. Discussions during this meeting made it clear that assessing the needs of homeless youth would require looking beyond those who were living in shelters, and that the needs of subgroups within the homeless youth population were likely to vary considerably. In response to this need for more information about homeless youths' needs, the City's Department of Children and Youth Services (CYS) partnered with the Night Ministry, an agency with a history of addressing the needs of marginalized youth, to commission the Center for Impact Research (CIR) to conduct a study of the needs of homeless youth in the City of Chicago. The purpose of this study was to learn what the youth themselves identify as their needs, and to understand the differences in these needs among a variety of subgroups-those experiencing their first episode of homelessness, those cycling in and out of homelessness, and those experiencing chronic homelessness. Both the non -profit service providers and the City hope that identifying and meeting these needs not only will act as a gateway to other needed services, but also will expedite resolution of problems that result in homelessness and lead to the establishment of permanent, stable, and safe living situations. With guidance from the Homeless Youth Task Group of the Chicago Continuum of Care 3 and an advisory group composed of government policy makers and program personnel and non-profit agency directors,4 CIR conducted a survey of homeless youth in Chicago between the ages of 14 and 21 during April and May 2004. Twelve youth, nine of whom were homeless, were recruited and trained to interview homeless youth for the project. They conducted 400 interviews with homeless youth throughout Chicago -- at bus stops, fairs and festivals, on trains, streets, and basketball courts, in parks, shelters, schools, homes, drop -in centers, churches, and restaurants. In addition to conducting the survey, CIR interviewed homeless youth service providers, advocates, and public policy personnel working at public and private agencies. These interviews provide further information about the needs of homeless youth and the resources currently available to them, as well as ways that the various systems serving homeless youth might be improved

The X-ray Position and Optical Counterpart of the Accretion-Powered Millisecond Pulsar XTE J1814-338

We report the precise optical and X-ray localization of the 3.2 ms accretion-powered X-ray pulsar XTE J1814-338 with data from the Chandra X-Ray Observatory as well as optical observations conducted during the 2003 June discovery outburst. Optical imaging of the field during the outburst of this soft X-ray transient reveals an R = 18 star at the X-ray position. This star is absent (R > 20) from an archival 1989 image of the field and brightened during the 2003 outburst, and we therefore identify it as the optical counterpart of XTE J1814-338. The best source position derived from optical astrometry is R.A. = 18h13m39.s04, Dec.= -33d46m22.3s (J2000). The featureless X-ray spectrum of the pulsar in outburst is best fit by an absorbed power-law (with photon index = 1.41 +- 0.06) plus blackbody (with kT = 0.95 +- 0.13 keV) model, where the blackbody component contributes approximately 10% of the source flux. The optical broad-band spectrum shows evidence for an excess of infrared emission with respect to an X-ray heated accretion disk model, suggesting a significant contribution from the secondary or from a synchrotron-emitting region. A follow-up observation performed when XTE J1814-338 was in quiescence reveals no counterpart to a limiting magnitude of R = 23.3. This suggests that the secondary is an M3 V or later-type star, and therefore very unlikely to be responsible for the soft excess, making synchroton emission a more reasonable candidate.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 6 pages; 3 figure