33,517 research outputs found
On the observability of bow shocks of Galactic runaway OB stars
Massive stars that have been ejected from their parent cluster and
supersonically sailing away through the interstellar medium (ISM) are
classified as exiled. They generate circumstellar bow shock nebulae that can be
observed. We present two-dimensional, axisymmetric hydrodynamical simulations
of a representative sample of stellar wind bow shocks from Galactic OB stars in
an ambient medium of densities ranging from n_ISM=0.01 up to 10.0/cm3.
Independently of their location in the Galaxy, we confirm that the infrared is
the most appropriated waveband to search for bow shocks from massive stars.
Their spectral energy distribution is the convenient tool to analyze them since
their emission does not depend on the temporary effects which could affect
unstable, thin-shelled bow shocks. Our numerical models of Galactic bow shocks
generated by high-mass (~40 Mo) runaway stars yield H fluxes which
could be observed by facilities such as the SuperCOSMOS H-Alpha Survey. The
brightest bow shock nebulae are produced in the denser regions of the ISM. We
predict that bow shocks in the field observed at Ha by means of
Rayleigh-sensitive facilities are formed around stars of initial mass larger
than about 20 Mo. Our models of bow shocks from OB stars have the emission
maximum in the wavelength range 3 <= lambda <= 50 micrometer which can be up to
several orders of magnitude brighter than the runaway stars themselves,
particularly for stars of initial mass larger than 20 Mo.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures. Accepted to MNRAS (2016
On the absence of homogeneous scalar unitary cellular automata
Failure to find homogeneous scalar unitary cellular automata (CA) in one
dimension led to consideration of only ``approximately unitary'' CA---which
motivated our recent proof of a No-go Lemma in one dimension. In this note we
extend the one dimensional result to prove the absence of nontrivial
homogeneous scalar unitary CA on Euclidean lattices in any dimension.Comment: 7 pages, plain TeX, 3 PostScript figures included with epsf.tex
(ignore the under/overfull \vbox error messages); minor changes (including
title wording) in response to referee suggestions, also updated references;
to appear in Phys. Lett.
Atomic Transport in Dense, Multi-Component Metallic Liquids
Pd43Ni10Cu27P0 has been investigated in its equilibrium liquid state with
incoherent, inelastic neutron scattering. As compared to simple liquids, liquid
PdNiCuP is characterized by a dense packing with a packing fraction above 0.5.
The intermediate scattering function exhibits a fast relaxation process that
precedes structural relaxation. Structural relaxation obeys a time-temperature
superposition that extends over a temperature range of 540K. The mode-coupling
theory of the liquid to glass transition (MCT) gives a consistent description
of the dynamics which governs the mass transport in liquid PdNiCuP alloys. MCT
scaling laws extrapolate to a critical temperature Tc at about 20% below the
liquidus temperature. Diffusivities derived from the mean relaxation times
compare well with Co diffusivities from recent tracer diffusion measurements
and diffsuivities calculated from viscosity via the Stokes-Einstein relation.
In contrast to simple metallic liquids, the atomic transport in dense, liquid
PdNiCuP is characterized by a drastical slowing down of dynamics on cooling, a
q^{-2} dependence of the mean relaxation times at intermediate q and a
vanishing isotope effect as a result of a highly collective transport
mechanism. At temperatures as high as 2Tc diffusion in liquid PdNiCuP is as
fast as in simple liquids at the melting point. However, the difference in the
underlying atomic transport mechanism indicates that the diffusion mechanism in
liquids is not controlled by the value of the diffusivity but rather by that of
the packing fraction
Brief Report: Visuo-spatial Guidance of Movement during Gesture Imitation and Mirror Drawing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders
Thirteen autistic and 14 typically developing children (controls) imitated hand/arm gestures and performed mirror drawing; both tasks assessed ability to reorganize the relationship between spatial goals and the motor commands needed to acquire them. During imitation, children with autism were less accurate than controls in replicating hand shape, hand orientation, and number of constituent limb movements. During shape tracing, children with autism performed accurately with direct visual feedback, but when viewing their hand in a mirror, some children with autism generated fewer errors than controls whereas others performed much worse. Large mirror drawing errors correlated with hand orientation and hand shape errors in imitation, suggesting that visuospatial information processing deficits may contribute importantly to functional motor coordination deficits in autism
Gravitational-Wave Astronomy with Inspiral Signals of Spinning Compact-Object Binaries
Inspiral signals from binary compact objects (black holes and neutron stars)
are primary targets of the ongoing searches by ground-based gravitational-wave
interferometers (LIGO, Virgo, GEO-600 and TAMA-300). We present
parameter-estimation simulations for inspirals of black-hole--neutron-star
binaries using Markov-chain Monte-Carlo methods. For the first time, we have
both estimated the parameters of a binary inspiral source with a spinning
component and determined the accuracy of the parameter estimation, for
simulated observations with ground-based gravitational-wave detectors. We
demonstrate that we can obtain the distance, sky position, and binary
orientation at a higher accuracy than previously suggested in the literature.
For an observation of an inspiral with sufficient spin and two or three
detectors we find an accuracy in the determination of the sky position of
typically a few tens of square degrees.Comment: v2: major conceptual changes, 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, submitted
to ApJ
Is genetic selection for skin nodule traits of ostriches feasible?
Preliminary genetic parameters for nodule traits of ostrich skins were estimated to examine whether genetic improvement of skin quality is feasible. Average nodule size and density per dmยฒ were determined on five localities on each of 439 ostrich skins. An animal model with random animal and skin permanent environmental effects was fitted for the traits considered. Fixed effects were locality on skin, age, year of hatch and gender. Locality significantly influenced nodule size and nodule density. Nodule size increased with an increase in slaughter age, while nodule density decreased. Estimates for heritability were low at 0.10 for both traits, but still differed significantly from zero. The genetic correlation between nodule density and average nodule size was very high at -0.72. The skin permanent environmental correlation was -0.33, the environmental correlation -0.17 and the phenotypic correlation was -0.28. More research into genetic variation within localities and correlations with other easily measurable traits is indicated for genetic improvement of ostrich leather quality.
South African Journal of Animal Science Supp 2 2004: 29-3
Genome-wide methylome analysis using MethylCap-seq uncovers 4 hypermethylated markers with high sensitivity for both adeno- and squamous-cell cervical carcinoma
Background: Cytology-based screening methods for cervical adenocarcinoma (ADC) and to a lesser extent squamous-cell carcinoma (SCC) suffer from low sensitivity. DNA hypermethylation analysis in cervical scrapings may improve detection of SCC, but few methylation markers have been described for ADC. We aimed to identify novel methylation markers for the early detection of both ADC and SCC.
Results: Genome-wide methylation profiling for 20 normal cervices, 6 ADC and 6 SCC using MethylCap-seq yielded 53 candidate regions hypermethylated in both ADC and SCC. Verification and independent validation of the 15 most significant regions revealed 5 markers with differential methylation between 17 normals and 13 cancers. Quantitative methylation-specific PCR on cervical cancer scrapings resulted in detection rates ranging between 80% and 92% while between 94% and 99% of control scrapings tested negative. Four markers (SLC6A5, SOX1, SOX14 and TBX20) detected ADC and SCC with similar sensitivity. In scrapings from women referred with an abnormal smear (n = 229), CIN3+ sensitivity was between 36% and 71%, while between 71% and 93% of adenocarcinoma in situ (AdCIS) were detected; and CIN0/1 specificity was between 88% and 98%. Compared to hrHPV, the combination SOX1/SOX14 showed a similar CIN3+ sensitivity (80% vs. 75%, respectively, P>0.2), while specificity improved (42% vs. 84%, respectively, P < 10(-5)).
Conclusion: SOX1 and SOX14 are methylation biomarkers applicable for screening of all cervical cancer types
Observability of Forming Planets and their Circumplanetary Disks I. -- Parameter Study for ALMA
We present mock observations of forming planets with ALMA. The possible
detections of circumplanetary disks (CPDs) were investigated around planets of
Saturn, 1, 3, 5, and 10 Jupiter-masses that are placed at 5.2 AU from their
star. The radiative, three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations were then
post-processed with RADMC3D and the ALMA Observation Simulator. We found that
even though the CPDs are too small to be resolved, they are hot due to the
accreting planet in the optically thick limit, therefore the best chance to
detect them with continuum observations in this case is at the shortest ALMA
wavelengths, such as Band 9 (440 microns). Similar fluxes were found in the
case of Saturn and Jupiter-mass planets, as for the 10
gas-giant, due to temperature weighted optical depth effects: when no deep gap
is carved, the planet region is blanketed by the optically thick circumstellar
disk leading to a less efficient cooling there. A test was made for a 52 AU
orbital separation, showed that optically thin CPDs are also detectable in band
7 but they need longer integration times (5hrs). Comparing the gap profiles
of the same simulation at various ALMA bands and the hydro simulation confirmed
that they change significantly, first because the gap is wider at longer
wavelengths due to decreasing optical depth; second, the beam convolution makes
the gap shallower and at least 25% narrower. Therefore, caution has to be made
when estimating planet masses based on ALMA continuum observations of gaps.Comment: Accepted for publication at MNRAS. Typos are corrected since previous
version. 11 pages, 5 tables, 4 figure
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