3,362 research outputs found
The effect of tumour necrosis factor-alpha and insulin on equine digital blood vessel function in vitro
All-Sky spectrally matched UBVRI-ZY and u'g'r'i'z' magnitudes for stars in the Tycho2 catalog
We present fitted UBVRI-ZY and u'g'r'i'z' magnitudes, spectral types and
distances for 2.4M stars, derived from synthetic photometry of a library
spectrum that best matches the Tycho2 BtVt, NOMAD Rn and 2MASS JHK_{2/S}
catalog magnitudes. We present similarly synthesized multi-filter magnitudes,
types and distances for 4.8M stars with 2MASS and SDSS photometry to g<16
within the Sloan survey region, for Landolt and Sloan primary standards, and
for Sloan Northern (PT) and Southern secondary standards.
The synthetic magnitude zeropoints for BtVt, UBVRI, ZvYv, JHK_{2/S},
JHK_{MKO}, Stromgren uvby, Sloan u'g'r'i'z' and ugriz are calibrated on 20
calspec spectrophotometric standards. The UBVRI and ugriz zeropoints have
dispersions of 1--3%, for standards covering a range of color from -0.3 < V-I <
4.6; those for other filters are in the range 2--5%.
The spectrally matched fits to Tycho2 stars provide estimated 1-sigma errors
per star of ~0.2, 0.15, 0.12, 0.10 and 0.08 mags respectively in either UBVRI
or u'g'r'i'z'; those for at least 70% of the SDSS survey region to g<16 have
estimated 1-sigma errors per star of ~0.2, 0.06, 0.04, 0.04, 0.05 in u'g'r'i'z'
or UBVRI.
The density of Tycho2 stars, averaging about 60 stars per square degree,
provides sufficient stars to enable automatic flux calibrations for most
digital images with fields of view of 0.5 degree or more. Using several such
standards per field, automatic flux calibration can be achieved to a few
percent in any filter, at any airmass, in most workable observing conditions,
to facilitate inter-comparison of data from different sites, telescopes and
instruments.Comment: 36 pages, 30 figures, 3 printed tables, several electronic tables,
accepted PASP Dec 201
The Orbital Period of the Optical/X-Ray Burster X1735-444 (V926 Sco)
We present extensive CCD photometry of the optical counterpart of X1735â444 which reveals the orbital period of the system. It is periodically variable with a period of 4.654 hr and a full amplitude of 0.15 mag. The mean modulation is quasi-sinusoidal; there are, however, also significant intrinsic deviations from the mean light curve
Calculating the Expected Value of Sample Information in Practice: Considerations from Three Case Studies
Investing efficiently in future research to improve policy decisions is an
important goal. Expected Value of Sample Information (EVSI) can be used to
select the specific design and sample size of a proposed study by assessing the
benefit of a range of different studies. Estimating EVSI with the standard
nested Monte Carlo algorithm has a notoriously high computational burden,
especially when using a complex decision model or when optimizing over study
sample sizes and designs. Therefore, a number of more efficient EVSI
approximation methods have been developed. However, these approximation methods
have not been compared and therefore their relative advantages and
disadvantages are not clear. A consortium of EVSI researchers, including the
developers of several approximation methods, compared four EVSI methods using
three previously published health economic models. The examples were chosen to
represent a range of real-world contexts, including situations with multiple
study outcomes, missing data, and data from an observational rather than a
randomized study. The computational speed and accuracy of each method were
compared, and the relative advantages and implementation challenges of the
methods were highlighted. In each example, the approximation methods took
minutes or hours to achieve reasonably accurate EVSI estimates, whereas the
traditional Monte Carlo method took weeks. Specific methods are particularly
suited to problems where we wish to compare multiple proposed sample sizes,
when the proposed sample size is large, or when the health economic model is
computationally expensive. All the evaluated methods gave estimates similar to
those given by traditional Monte Carlo, suggesting that EVSI can now be
efficiently computed with confidence in realistic examples.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure
Judgements of Solomon: anxieties and defences of social workers involved in care proceedings
Evidence from focus group discussions with social workers in child care and child protection was collected for a research project exploring decision-making in care proceedings and seeking a better understanding of the causes of delay in the process. Here this material is used to examine social workersâ feelings about their work and to explore the anxieties they expressed. Isabel Menziesâs work on containing anxiety in institutions is used to provide a conceptual framework for thinking about the ways in which individualsâ unconscious defences against anxiety may affect the structure, policies and practices of the organization in which they work. It is suggested that this dimension needs to be taken into account in understanding difficulties which arise in putting policy into practice
Spitzer Space Telescope spectral observations of AGB stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy
We have observed five carbon-rich AGB stars in the Fornax dwarf spheroidal
(dSph) galaxy, using the Infrared Spectrometer on board the Spitzer Space
Telescope. The stars were selected from a near-infrared survey of Fornax and
include the three reddest stars, with presumably the highest mass-loss rates,
in that galaxy. Such carbon stars probably belong to the intermediate-age
population (2-8 Gyr old and metallicity of [Fe/H] -1) of Fornax. The primary
aim of this paper is to investigate mass-loss rate, as a function of luminosity
and metallicity, by comparing AGB stars in several galaxies with different
metallicities. The spectra of three stars are fitted with a radiative transfer
model. We find that mass-loss rates of these three stars are 4-7x10^-6 Msun
yr-1. The other two stars have mass-loss rates below 1.3x10^-6 Msun yr-1. We
find no evidence that these rates depend on metallicity, although we do suggest
that the gas-to-dust ratio could be higher than at solar metallicity, in the
range 240 to 800. The C2H2 bands are stronger at lower metallicity because of
the higher C/O ratio. In contrast, the SiC fraction is reduced at low
metallicity, due to low silicon abundance. The total mass-loss rate from all
known carbon-rich AGB stars into the interstellar medium of this galaxy is of
the order of 2x10^-5 Msun yr-1. This is much lower than that of the dwarf
irregular galaxy WLM, which has a similar visual luminosity and metallicity.
The difference is attributed to the younger stellar population of WLM. The
suppressed gas-return rate to the ISM accentuates the difference between the
relatively gas-rich dwarf irregular and the gas-poor dwarf spheroidal galaxies.
Our study will be useful to constrain gas and dust recycling processes in low
metallicity galaxies.Comment: MNRAS accepte
OT 060420: A Seemingly Optical Transient Recorded by All-Sky Cameras
We report on a ~5th magnitude flash detected for approximately 10 minutes by
two CONCAM all-sky cameras located in Cerro Pachon - Chile and La Palma -
Spain. A third all-sky camera, located in Cerro Paranal - Chile did not detect
the flash, and therefore the authors of this paper suggest that the flash was a
series of cosmic-ray hits, meteors, or satellite glints. Another proposed
hypothesis is that the flash was an astronomical transient with variable
luminosity. In this paper we discuss bright optical transient detection using
fish-eye all-sky monitors, analyze the apparently false-positive optical
transient, and propose possible causes to false optical transient detection in
all-sky cameras.Comment: 7 figures, 3 tables, accepted PAS
Limb-Darkening of a K Giant in the Galactic Bulge: PLANET Photometry of MACHO 97-BLG-28
We present the PLANET photometric dataset for the binary-lens microlensing
event MACHO 97-BLG-28 consisting of 696 I and V-band measurements, and analyze
it to determine the radial surface brightness profile of the Galactic bulge
source star. The microlensed source, demonstrated to be a K giant by our
independent spectroscopy, crossed the central isolated cusp of the lensing
binary, generating a sharp peak in the light curve that was well-resolved by
dense (3 - 30 minute) and continuous monitoring from PLANET sites in Chile,
South Africa, and Australia. Our modeling of these data has produced stellar
profiles for the source star in the I and V bands that are in excellent
agreement with those predicted by stellar atmospheric models for K giants. The
limb-darkening coefficients presented here are the first derived from
microlensing, among the first for normal giants by any technique, and the first
for any star as distant as the Galactic bulge. Modeling indicates that the
lensing binary has a mass ratio q = 0.23 and an (instantaneous) separation in
units of the angular Einstein ring radius of d = 0.69 . For a lens in the
Galactic bulge, this corresponds to a typical stellar binary with a projected
separation between 1 and 2 AU. If the lens lies closer, the separation is
smaller, and one or both of the lens objects is in the brown dwarf regime.
Assuming that the source is a bulge K2 giant at 8 kpc, the relative lens-source
proper motion is mu = 19.4 +/- 2.6 km/s /kpc, consistent with a disk or bulge
lens. If the non-lensed blended light is due to a single star, it is likely to
be a young white dwarf in the bulge, consistent with the blended light coming
from the lens itself.Comment: 32 Pages, including 1 table and 9 postscript figures. (Revised
version has slightly modified text, corrected typo, and 1 new figure.)
Accepted for publication in 1999 Astrophysical Journal; data are now
available at http://www.astro.rug.nl/~plane
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