A New Galaxy in the Local Group: the Antlia Dwarf Galaxy

We report the discovery of new member of the Local Group in the constellation of Antlia. Optically the system appears to be a typical dwarf spheroidal galaxy of type dE3.5 with no apparent young blue stars or unusual features. A color-magnitude diagram in I, V-I shows the tip of the red giant branch, giving a distance modulus of 25.3 +/- 0.2 (1.15 Mpc +/- 0.1) and a metallicity of -1.6 +/- 0.3. Although Antlia is in a relatively isolated part of the Local Group it is only 1.2 degrees away on the sky from the Local Group dwarf NGC3109, and may be an associated system.Comment: AJ in press, 15 pages, 7 figures, figure 2 in b/w for space saving, full postscript version available at http://www.ast.cam.ac.uk/~gkth/antlia-pp.htm

On the thermodynamics of stress rate in the evolution of back stress in viscoplasticity

A thermodynamic foundation using the concept of internal state variables is presented for the kinematic description of a viscoplastic material. Three different evolution equations for the back stress are considered. The first is that of classical, nonlinear, kinematic hardening. The other two include a contribution that is linear in stress rate. Choosing an appropriate change in variables can remove this stress rate dependence. As a result, one of these two models is shown to be equivalent to the classical, kinematic hardening model; while the other is a new model, one which seems to have favorable characteristics for representing ratchetting behavior. All three models are thermodynamically admissible

Palladium-bismuth intermetallic and surface-poisoned catalysts for the semi-hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol

The effects of poisoning of Pd catalysts with Bi and annealing in a polyol (ethylene glycol) were studied on the semi-hydrogenation of 2-methyl-3-butyn-2-ol (MBY). An increase in the Pd:Bi ratio from 7 to 1 in the Bi-poisoned catalysts decreased the hydrogenation activity due to blocking of active sites, but increased maximum alkene yield from 91.5% for the Pd catalyst to 94–96% for all Bi-poisoned Pd catalysts, by decreasing the adsorption energy of alkene molecules and suppressing the formation of β-hydride phase. Annealing of the catalysts induced the formation of intermetallic phases and decreased its activity due to sintering of the catalytic particles and low activity of intermetallic compounds. Langmuir–Hinshelwood kinetic modelling of the experimental data showed that poisoning of Pd with Bi changed the relative adsorption constants of organic species suggesting ligand effects at high Bi content

1995, Spatial and temporal variability of late Neogene equatorial Pacific carbonate

High-resolution, continuous records of GRAPE wet bulk density (a carbonate proxy) from Ocean Drilling Program Leg 138 provide one the opportunity for a detailed study of eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean carbonate sedimentation during the last 6 m.y. The transect of sites drilled spans both latitude and longitude in the eastern equatorial Pacific from 90° to 110°W and from 5°S to 10°N. Two modes of variability are resolved through the use of Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) analysis. In the presence of large tectonic and climatic boundary condition changes over the last 6 m.y., the dominant mode of spatial variability in carbonate sedimentation is remarkably constant. The first mode accounts for over 50% of the variance in the data, and is consistent with forcing by equatorial divergence. This mode characterizes both carbonate concentration and carbonate mass accumulation rate time series. Variability in the first mode is highly coherent with insolation, indicating a strong linear relationship between equatorial Pacific car bonate sedimentation and Milankovitch variability. Frequency domain analysis indicates that the coupling to equatorial divergence in carbonate sedimentation is strongest in the precession band (19-23 k.y.) and weakest though present at lower frequencies. The second mode of variability has a consistent spatial pattern of east-west asymmetry over the past 4 m.y. only; prior to 4 Ma, a different mode of spatial variability may have been present, possibly suggesting influence by closure of the Isthmus of Panama or other tectonic changes. The second mode of variability may indicate influence by CaCO3 dissolution. The second mode of variability is not highly coherent with insolation. Comparison of the modes of carbonate variability to a 4 m.y. record of benthic δ 1 8 indicates that although overall correlation between carbonate and δ 1 8 is low, both modes of variability in carbonate sedimentation are coherent with δ 1 8 changes at some frequencies. The first mode of carbonate variability is coherent with Sites 846/849 δ 1 8 at the dominant insolation periods, and the second mode is coherent at 100 k.y. during the last 2 m.y. The coherence between carbonate sedimentation and δ 1 8 in both EOF modes suggests that multiple uncorrelated modes of variability operated within the climate system during the late Neogene

Prevalent low-grade dysplasia: the strongest predictor of malignant progression in Barrett's columnar-lined oesophagus

No abstract

Fragmentation: the zonation method applied to fragmented human remains from archaeological and forensic contexts

Reproduced with permission of the publisher. Copyright © Oxbow Books and the Association for Environmental Archaeology 2004.Scattered and commingled human and animal remains are commonly encountered on archaeological sites, and this contextual relationship begs the question of whether human and animals were treated in a similar manner before burial. The recording system presented here provides a means by which to confront problems of equifinality - that is, when taphonomic alterations create apparently similar patterns and, therefore, confuse behavioural inferences drawn from them. This method hinges on a standardised representation of the zones on human skeletal elements that allow comparison with those described by Dobney and Rielly (1988) for animal remains. It is anticipated that the anatomical descriptions in combination with the zone drawings presented will aid others to apply the method generally across skeletal assemblages of any date. This system could also be used to aid the curation of museum collections and as a complement to forensic recovery

Fragmentation of the Body: Comestibles, Compost, or Customary Rite?

Reproduced with permission of the publisher. Copyright © Oxbow Books, Rebecca Gowland, Christopher Knüsel and the individual authors, 2006[FIRST PARAGRAPH] One of the most inimical ways to debase a people is to declare them cannibals - eaters of their own kind. The association between cannibalism and immorality, depravity, and base iniquity has contributed to the long-term interest in the behaviour. It has become a commonplace pejorative applied to exotic peoples, enemies, and strangers - sometimes and, more innocuously perhaps, to titillate fascination and, more sinisterly and more often, to dehumanise another group. Tuzin (1983, 62) characterises the Ilahita Arapesh's (of northeastern New Guinea) attitude towards the cannibalism of the downstream Sepik, "... as an amused, faintly condescending interest that is morally neutral in tone...'and that those who engage in such consumption are described as an 'another kind of man'. The apparent relativism of this statement, although lacking in obvious contempt or fear, provides the basis upon which difference could be accentuated to justify actions at another time or under different circumstances. The use of the term 'cannibalism' among both Europeans and non-Europeans (see Strathern 1982, Rumsey 1999) to make a people less than human - with real social and political consequences for those so-labeled - prompted Arens (1979) to deny that the behaviour had ever been practised. Others have argued that it did occur upon occasion in a number of circumstances and for a variety of reasons

Improving Algorithms to Compute All Elements of the Lattice Quark Propagator

We present a new exact algorithm for estimating all elements of the quark propagator. The advantage of the method is that the exact all-to-all propagator is reproduced in a large but finite number of inversions. The efficacy of the algorithm is tested in Monte Carlo simulations of Wilson quarks in quenched QCD. Applications that are difficult to probe with point propagators are discussed.Comment: Talks presented by AOC and KJJ at Lattice2004(machines), Fermilab, June 21-26, 2004. 6 pages, 6 figure