Orbits of Six Late-type Active-Chromosphere Binaries

We present spectroscopic orbits for the active stars HD 82159 (GS Leo), HD 89959, BD +39 2587 (a visual companion to HD 112733), HD 138157 (OX Ser), HD 143705, and HD 160934. This paper is a sequel to one published in this journal in 2006, with similar avowed intention, by Galvez et al.. They showed only graphs, and gave no data, and no orbital elements apart from the periods (only two of which were correct) and in some cases the eccentricities. Here we provide full information and reliable orbital elements for all the stars apart from HD 160934, which has not completed a cycle since it was first observed for radial velocity.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Kinetic study of crystallisation of sol-gel derived calcia-alumina binary compounds

In-situ High Temperature X-ray Diffraction (HTXRD) and Differential Scanning Calorimetric (DSC) studies were performed on a sol-gel derived binary compound of a calcia-alumina (C12A7) system consisting of calcium oxide (CaO) and aluminium oxide (Al2O3) in a ratio of 12:7 for in situ investigation into the phase transformations under progressively increasing thermal activation from roomerature to 1200 °C. The crystallisation of amorphous samples formulated at roomerature on magnesium oxide (MgO) single crystal (100) substrates was found to be complete on heat treatment at 1100 °C for 3 h. This observation was further supported by independent Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Raman Spectroscopies. Values of 348 kJ/mol and 375 kJ/mol were estimated from Kissinger plots for activation energies of crystallisation of CaO and Al2O3 constituents, respectively

Testosterone responses to competition in men are related to facial masculinity

Relationships between androgens and the size of sexually dimorphic male traits have been demonstrated in several non-human species. It is often assumed that a similar relationship exists for human male faces, but clear evidence of an association between circulating testosterone levels and the size of masculine facial traits in adulthood is absent. Here we demonstrate that, after experimentally determined success in a competitive task, men with more a masculine facial structure show higher levels of circulating testosterone than men with less masculine faces. In participants randomly allocated to a 'winning' condition, testosterone was elevated relative to pre-task levels at 5 and 20 min post-task. In a control group of participants allocated to a 'losing' condition there were no significant differences between pre- and post-task testosterone. An index of facial masculinity based on the measurement of sexually dimorphic facial traits was not associated with pre-task (baseline) testosterone levels, but was associated with testosterone levels 5 and 20 min after success in the competitive task. These findings indicate that a man's facial structure may afford important information about the functioning of his endocrine system

Accountability in patenting of federally funded research

Bayh-Dole allows academic grantees to patent federally-funded research for purposes of promoting the commercialization of this research. To ensure commercialization goals are achieved, the Act requires grantees to report to funding agencies not only the existence of federally-funded patents but also utilization efforts they and their licensees/assignees are making. Although reporting is a cornerstone of accountability under Bayh-Dole, information about grantee compliance with reporting requirements is incomplete and dated. In fact, the last significant study of the question dates back to the late 1990s and analyzes only 633 patents. Since that time, concerns have emerged that federally-funded university patents are being asserted improperly against independent commercializers or even assigned to so-called “patent trolls.” This article provides fresh evidence indicating substantial under-reporting of the existence of federal funding in over 30,000 academic biomedical patents issued between 1980 to 2007. The article finds substantial under-reporting of federal funding even in the case of patents on FDA-approved drugs, which should presumably receive significant attention from universities. Grantees’ failure to report federal funding suggests similar, or even more significant, noncompliance with requirements to report utilization information. However, compliance with reporting requirements on utilization cannot be assessed because of secrecy associated with relevant government databases. Accordingly, the article makes a fresh argument that the Commerce Department, which has the requisite regulatory authority, work with funding agencies, to improve transparency. Greater transparency would not only motivate grantees to improve reporting but would also allow assessment of whether grantee patent management is actually achieving Bayh-Dole\u27s utilization goals

Ambience-associated variation in serum biomarkers of oxidative stress in donkeys of arid tracts in India

An investigation was carried out in donkeys to discover serum biomarkers of oxidative stress during moderate and extremely hot conditions. Serum biomarkers included vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, glutathione, catalase, superoxide dismutase, monoamine oxidase, glutathione reductase, xanthine oxidase, oxidase and peroxidase. These findings were compared with those obtained during the moderate conditions that served as a control. Serum vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E and glutathione activity decreased significantly during hot conditions, while serum catalase, superoxide dismutase, monoamine oxidase, glutathione reductase, xanthine oxidase, oxidase and peroxidase activities all increased significantly. It was concluded that hot ambient stress induced marked changes in the levels of biomarkers in the serum of donkeys, indicating oxidative stress

Condition-based maintenance of multi-component systems with degradation state-rate interactions

This paper presents an approach to optimise condition-based maintenance (CBM) of multi-component systems where the state of certain components could affect the rate of degradation of other components, i.e., state-rate degradation interactions. We present a real example of an industrial cold box in a petrochemical plant, where data collected on fouling of its tubes show that the extent of fouling of one tube affects the rate of fouling of other tubes due to overloading. A regression model is used to characterise the state-rate degradation interactions for this example. Further, we optimise the condition-based maintenance policy for this system using simulated annealing. The outcomes of the case study demonstrate that modelling degradation interactions between components in the system can have significant positive impact on CBM policy of the system. The paper therefore tackles a problem that has not been addressed in the literature, paving way for further developments in this important area of research with practical applications.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ress.2015.11.01

C IV BAL disappearance in a large SDSS QSO sample

Broad absorption lines (BALs) in the spectra of quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) originate from outflowing winds along our line of sight; winds are thought to originate from the inner regions of the QSO accretion disk, close to the central supermassive black hole (SMBH). Winds likely play a role in galaxy evolution and aid the accretion mechanism onto the SMBH. BAL equivalent widths can change on typical timescales from months to years; such variability is generally attributed to changes in the covering factor and/or in the ionization level of the gas. We investigate BAL variability, focusing on BAL disappearance. We analyze multi-epoch spectra of more than 1500 QSOs -the largest sample ever used for such a study- observed by different programs from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-I/II/III (SDSS), and search for disappearing C IV BALs. The spectra rest-frame time baseline ranges from 0.28 to 4.9 yr; the source redshifts range from 1.68 to 4.27. We detect 73 disappearing BALs in the spectra of 67 sources. This corresponds to 3.9% of disappearing BALs, and 5.1% of our BAL QSOs exhibit at least one disappearing BAL. We estimate the average lifetime of a BAL along our line of sight (~ 80-100 yr), which appears consistent with the accretion disk orbital time at distances where winds are thought to originate. We inspect properties of the disappearing BALs and compare them to the properties of our main sample. We also investigate the existence of a correlation in the variability of multiple troughs in the same spectrum, and find it persistent at large velocity offsets between BAL pairs, suggesting that a mechanism extending on a global scale is necessary to explain the phenomenon. We select a more reliable sample of disappearing BALs following Filiz Ak et al. (2012), where a subset of our sample was analyzed, and compare the findings from the two works, obtaining generally consistent results.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Boundedness of Pseudodifferential Operators on Banach Function Spaces

We show that if the Hardy-Littlewood maximal operator is bounded on a separable Banach function space $X(\mathbb{R}^n)$ and on its associate space $X'(\mathbb{R}^n)$, then a pseudodifferential operator $\operatorname{Op}(a)$ is bounded on $X(\mathbb{R}^n)$ whenever the symbol $a$ belongs to the H\"ormander class $S_{\rho,\delta}^{n(\rho-1)}$ with $0<\rho\le 1$, $0\le\delta<1$ or to the the Miyachi class $S_{\rho,\delta}^{n(\rho-1)}(\varkappa,n)$ with $0\le\delta\le\rho\le 1$, $0\le\delta0$. This result is applied to the case of variable Lebesgue spaces $L^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb{R}^n)$.Comment: To appear in a special volume of Operator Theory: Advances and Applications dedicated to Ant\'onio Ferreira dos Santo

Optimal edge termination for high oxide reliability aiming 10kV SiC n-IGBTs

The edge termination design strongly affects the ability of a power device to support the desired voltage and its reliable operation. In this paper we present three appropriate termination designs for 10kV n-IGBTs which achieve the desired blocking requirement without the need for deep and expensive implantations. Thus, they improve the ability to fabricate, minimise the cost and reduce the lattice damage due to the high implantation energy. The edge terminations presented are optimised both for achieving the widest immunity to dopant activation and to minimise the electric field at the oxide. Thus, they ensure the long-term reliability of the device. This work has shown that the optimum design for blocking voltage and widest dose window does not necessarily give the best design for reliability. Further, it has been shown that Hybrid Junction Termination Extension structure with Space Modulated Floating Field Rings can give the best result of very high termination efficiency, as high as 99%, the widest doping variation immunity and the lowest electric field in the oxide

Variability of Low-ionization Broad Absorption Line Quasars Based on Multi-epoch Spectra from The Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present absorption variability results for 134 bona fide \mgii\ broad absorption line (BAL) quasars at 0.46~$\lesssim z \lesssim$~2.3 covering days to $\sim$ 10 yr in the rest frame. We use multiple-epoch spectra from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, which has delivered the largest such BAL-variability sample ever studied. \mgii-BAL identifications and related measurements are compiled and presented in a catalog. We find a remarkable time-dependent asymmetry in EW variation from the sample, such that weakening troughs outnumber strengthening troughs, the first report of such a phenomenon in BAL variability. Our investigations of the sample further reveal that (i) the frequency of BAL variability is significantly lower (typically by a factor of 2) than that from high-ionization BALQSO samples; (ii) \mgii\ BAL absorbers tend to have relatively high optical depths and small covering factors along our line of sight; (iii) there is no significant EW-variability correlation between \mgii\ troughs at different velocities in the same quasar; and (iv) the EW-variability correlation between \mgii\ and \aliii\ BALs is significantly stronger than that between \mgii\ and \civ\ BALs at the same velocities. These observational results can be explained by a combined transverse-motion/ionization-change scenario, where transverse motions likely dominate the strengthening BALs while ionization changes and/or other mechanisms dominate the weakening BALs.Comment: 24 pages, accepted for publication in ApJ