Infrared Observations of novae in the SOFIA era

Classical novae inject chemically enriched gas and dust into the local inter-stellar medium (ISM). Abundances in the ejecta can be deduced from infrared (IR) forbidden line emission. IR spectroscopy can determine the mineralogy of grains that grow in nova ejecta. We anticipate the impact that NASA's new Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) will have on future IR studies of novae.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Physics of Evolved Stars 2015 - A conference dedicated to the memory of Olivier Chesneau

The circumstellar dust of "Born-Again" stars

We describe the evolution of the carbon dust shells around Very Late Thermal Pulse (VLTP) objects as seen at infrared wavelengths. This includes a 20-year overview of the evolution of the dust around Sakurai's object (to which Olivier made a seminal contribution) and FG Sge. VLTPs may occur during the endpoint of as many as 25% of solar mass stars, and may therefore provide a glimpse of the possible fate of the Sun.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of "Physics of Evolved Stars 2015 - A conference dedicated to the memory of Olivier Chesneau

Climate change and the selective signature of the Late Ordovician mass extinction

Selectivity patterns provide insights into the causes of ancient extinction events. The Late Ordovician mass extinction was related to Gondwanan glaciation; however, it is still unclear whether elevated extinction rates were attributable to record failure, habitat loss, or climatic cooling. We examined Middle Ordovician-Early Silurian North American fossil occurrences within a spatiotemporally explicit stratigraphic framework that allowed us to quantify rock record effects on a per-taxon basis and assay the interplay of macrostratigraphic and macroecological variables in determining extinction risk. Genera that had large proportions of their observed geographic ranges affected by stratigraphic truncation or environmental shifts at the end of the Katian stage were particularly hard hit. The duration of the subsequent sampling gaps had little effect on extinction risk, suggesting that this extinction pulse cannot be entirely attributed to rock record failure; rather, it was caused, in part, by habitat loss. Extinction risk at this time was also strongly influenced by the maximum paleolatitude at which a genus had previously been sampled, a macroecological trait linked to thermal tolerance. A model trained on the relationship between 16 explanatory variables and extinction patterns during the early Katian interval substantially underestimates the extinction of exclusively tropical taxa during the late Katian interval. These results indicate that glacioeustatic sea-level fall and tropical ocean cooling played important roles in the first pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction in Laurentia

Thrombotic variables and risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism in women aged 45-64 years - Relationships to hormone replacement therapy

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to increase the relative risk of idiopathic venous thromboembolism (VTE) about threefold in several observational studies and one randomised controlled trial. Whether or not this relative risk is higher in women with underlying thrombophilia phenotypes, such as activated protein C (APC) resistance, is unknown. We therefore restudied the participants in a case-control study of the relationship between the use of HRT and the occurrence of idiopathic VTE in women aged 45-64 years. After protocol exclusions, 66 of the cases in the original study and 163 of the controls were studied. Twenty haematological variables relevant to risk of VTE were analysed, including thrombotic states defined from the literature. The relative risk of VTE showed significant associations with APC resistance (OR 4.06; 95% CI 1.62, 10.21); low antithrombin (3.33; 1.15, 9.65) or protein C (2.93; 1.06, 8.14); and high coagulation factor IX (2.34: 1.26, 1.35), or fibrin D-dimer (3.84; 1.99, 7.32). HRT use increased the risk of VTE in women without any of these thrombotic static; (OR 4.09; 95% CI 1.26, 13.30). A similar effect of HRT use on the relative risk of VTE was also found in women with prothrombotic states. Thus for example, the combination of HRT use and APC resistance increased the risk of VTE about 13-fold compared with women of similar age without either APC resistance or HRT use (OR 13.27; 95%, CI 4.30, 40.97). We conclude that the combination of HRT use and thrombophilias (especially if multiple) increases the relative risk of VTE substantially; hence women known to have thrombophilias (especially if multiple) should be counselled about this increased risk prior to prescription of HRT. However. HRT increases the risk of VTE about fourfold even in women without any thrombotic abnormalities: possible causes are discussed

First Meeting of the joint IOC-ICES Study Group on Nutrient Standards (SGONS)

A meeting of the joint IOC-ICES Study Group on Nutrient Standards (SGONS) was held in Paris, France on 23-24 March 2010. It focused on the ongoing activities of the SGONS and plans for extended international collaborations to establish global comparability of the nutrient data from the world’s ocean. Thirty two scientists and experts from 11 countries and 2 delegates from IOC attended the meeting. The discussions followed the Terms of References of SGONS established in July 2009. Development of the reference materials for nutrients in seawater (RMNS) were also discussed in collaboration with the producers. The background and history of SGONS and an international nutrients scale system INSS and the progress with the production of RMNS materials and their current availability were reported. The production of RMNS and the latest status of the RMNS production facility, current status on the certification of RMNS for nitrate, nitrite, phosphate and silicate at the National Metrology Institute of Japan were also reported. The revised nutrients analysis manual which is being undertaken by the SGONS hopefully would be completed by 1 August 2010, and it will be published on line at the Go-Ship website. Results obtained with RMNS solutions used on the P6 reoccupation cruise in 2009-2010 by SIO (Scripps Institute of Oceanography, USA) showed that considerable improvement could be made in the internal comparability of the data by referencing it to the RMNS results and related good comparability with the previous P6 cruise in 2003 by JAMSTEC when RMNS were also used. The meeting strongly endorsed the idea of a ship board workshop in 2013/14 during which major groups would carry out a full inter-comparison of all procedures including analytical methods on board a research ship. The global stability test of RMNS by ten core laboratories of SGONS which started in 2009 will continue for more two years. It also was agreed to set up an international steering committee to plan the next inter-laboratory comparison study which will extend the study to about 70 laboratories working globally on deep sea hydrography. This will happen in early 2011. Future arrangements were considered for the collection of more batches of seawater for the preparation of RMNS waters suitable for use in all major water masses, and a list of candidate cruises in 2010/2011 was prepared. The related point of the extension of the use of RMNS for work in shelf sea water was also discussed, this followed on from discussions at the ICES Marine Chemistry Working Group (MCWG) meeting in 2010. The ICES MCWG considered that the use of suitable RMNS solutions would be valuable for improving the inter comparability of shelf sea data and be a valuable complement to work with the existing QUASIMEME proficiency testing scheme

System and Method for Detecting Cracks and their Location

A system and method are provided for detecting cracks and their location in a structure. A circuit coupled to a structure has capacitive strain sensors coupled sequentially and in parallel to one another. When excited by a variable magnetic field, the circuit has a resonant frequency that is different for unstrained and strained states. In terms of strained states, the resonant frequency is indicative of a region of the circuit that is experiencing strain induced by strain in a region of the structure in proximity to the region of the circuit. An inductor is electrically coupled to one end of each circuit. A magnetic field response recorder wirelessly transmits the variable magnetic field to the inductor and senses the resonant frequency of the circuit so-excited by the variable magnetic field

HRTEM study of a new non-stoichiometric BaTiO(3-δ) structure

BaTiO3-based multilayer ceramic capacitors (MLCCs) with Ni internal electrodes are co-fired in reducing atmospheres to avoid oxidation of the electrode. Although dielectric materials are doped by acceptor, donor and amphoteric dopants to minimize the oxygen vacancy content, there is still a large concentration of oxygen vacancies that are accommodated in the BaTiO3 active layers. In general, ABO3 perovskites demonstrates a strong ability to accommodate the oxygen vacancies and maintain a regular pseudo-cubic structure. Oxygen deficient barium titanate can be transformed to a hexagonal polymorph (h-BT) at high temperatures1,2. In this paper, we report the new modulated and long range ordered structures of non-stoichiometric BaTiO3-δ that are observed in the electrically degraded Ni-BaTiO3 MLCCs at low temperature

LabelSens: enabling real-time sensor data labelling at the point of collection using an artificial intelligence-based approach

In recent years, machine learning has developed rapidly, enabling the development of applications with high levels of recognition accuracy relating to the use of speech and images. However, other types of data to which these models can be applied have not yet been explored as thoroughly. Labelling is an indispensable stage of data pre-processing that can be particularly challenging, especially when applied to single or multi-model real-time sensor data collection approaches. Currently, real-time sensor data labelling is an unwieldy process, with a limited range of tools available and poor performance characteristics, which can lead to the performance of the machine learning models being compromised. In this paper, we introduce new techniques for labelling at the point of collection coupled with a pilot study and a systematic performance comparison of two popular types of deep neural networks running on five custom built devices and a comparative mobile app (68.5-89% accuracy within-device GRU model, 92.8% highest LSTM model accuracy). These devices are designed to enable real-time labelling with various buttons, slide potentiometer and force sensors. This exploratory work illustrates several key features that inform the design of data collection tools that can help researchers select and apply appropriate labelling techniques to their work. We also identify common bottlenecks in each architecture and provide field tested guidelines to assist in building adaptive, high-performance edge solutions