XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1 AGN H0557-385

We present XMM-Newton observations of the Seyfert 1 AGN H0557-385. We have conducted a study into the warm absorber present in this source, and using high-resolution RGS data we find that the absorption can be characterised by two phases: a phase with log ionisation parameter xi of 0.50 (where xi is in units of ergs cm/s) and a column of 0.2e21 cm^-2, and a phase with log xi of 1.62 and a column of 1.3e22 cm^-2. An iron K alpha line is detected. Neutral absorption is also present in the source, and we discuss possible origins for this. On the assumption that the ionised absorbers originate as an outflow from the inner edge of the torus, we use a new method for finding the volume filling factor. Both phases of H0557-385 have small volume filling factors (< 1%). We also derive the volume filling factors for a sample of 23 AGN using this assumption and for the absorbers with log xi > 0.7 we find reasonable agreement with the filling factors obtained through the alternative method of equating the momentum flow of the absorbers to the momentum loss of the radiation field. By comparing the filling factors obtained by the two methods, we infer that some absorbers with log xi < 0.7 occur at significantly larger distances from the nucleus than the inner edge of the torus.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

A Reevaluation of Canine Dirofilariasis in Northwestern Ohio

Author Institution: Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State UniversityBlood samples from 160 native dogs in 3 northwestern counties of Ohio were examined for Dirofilaria immitis microfilariae during 1976; 6 samples (3.75%) were positive. A comparison was made with data collected in 1971 from the same counties and dogs in the same infection risk stratum. The level of prevalence of D. immitis has remained stable from 1971 (3.04%) through 1976 (3.75%) in these northwestern Ohio counties. Dipetalonema reconditum was not diagnosed in the present study, although a 3.8% prevalence was recorded in 1971

Fast Simulation of Facilitated Spin Models

We show how to apply the absorbing Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm of Novotny to simulate kinetically constrained models of glasses. We consider in detail one-spin facilitated models, such as the East model and its generalizations to arbitrary dimensions. We investigate how to maximise the efficiency of the algorithms, and show that simulation times can be improved on standard continuous time Monte Carlo by several orders of magnitude. We illustrate the method with equilibrium and aging results. These include a study of relaxation times in the East model for dimensions d=1 to d=13, which provides further evidence that the hierarchical relaxation in this model is present in all dimensions. We discuss how the method can be applied to other kinetically constrained models.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

The impact of constructive operating lease capitalisation on key accounting ratios

Current UK lease accounting regulation does not require operating leases to be capitalised in the accounts of lessees, although this is likely to change with the publication of FRS 5. This study conducts a prospective analysis of the effects of such a change. The potential magnitude of the impact of lease capitalisation upon individual users' decisions, market valuations, company cash flows, and managers' behaviour can be indicated by the effect on key accounting ratios, which are employed in decision-making and in financial contracts. The capitalised value of operating leases is estimated using a method similar to that suggested by Imhoff, Lipe and Wright (1991), adapted for the UK accounting and tax environment, and developed to incorporate company-specific assumptions. Results for 1994 for a random sample of 300 listed UK companies show that, on average, the unrecorded long-term liability represented 39% of reported long-term debt, while the unrecorded asset represented 6% of total assets. Capitalisation had a significant impact (at the 1% level) on six of the nine selected ratios (profit margin, return on assets, asset turnover, and three measures of gearing). Moreover, the Spearman rank correlation between each ratio before and after capitalisation revealed that the ranking of companies changed markedly for gearing measures in particular. There were significant inter-industry variations, with the services sector experiencing the greatest impact. An analysis of the impact of capitalisation over the five-year period from 1990 to 1994 showed that capitalisation had the greatest impact during the trough of the recession. Results were shown to be robust with respect to key assumptions of the capitalisation method. These findings contribute to the assessment of the economic consequences of a policy change requiring operating lease capitalisation. Significant changes in the magnitude of key accounting ratios and a major shift in company performance rankings suggest that interested parties' decisions and company cash flows are likely to be affected

The nature and origin of Seyfert warm absorbers

We collate the results of recent high resolution X-ray spectroscopic observations of 23 AGN, and use the resulting information to try to provide answers to some of the main open questions about warm absorbers: where do they originate, what effect do they have on their host galaxies, and what is their importance within the energetics and dynamics of the AGN system as a whole? We find that the warm absorbers of nearby Seyferts and certain QSOs are most likely to originate in outflows from the dusty torus, and that the kinetic luminosity of these outflows accounts for well under 1% of the bolometric luminosities of the AGN. Our analysis supports, however, the view that the relativistic outflows recently observed in two PG quasars have their origin in accretion disc winds, although the energetic importance of these outflows is similar to that of the Seyfert warm absorbers. We find that the observed soft X-ray absorbing ionisation phases fill less than 10% of the available volume. Finally, we show that the amount of matter processed through an AGN outflow system, over the lifetime of the AGN, is probably large enough to have a significant influence on the evolution of the host galaxy and of the AGN itself.Comment: v2: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, minor typos correcte

Metabonomic Investigation of Liver Profiles of Nonpolar Metabolites Obtained from Alcohol-Dosed Rats and Mice Using High Mass Accuracy MSn Analysis

Alcoholism is a complex disorder that, in man, appears to be genetically influenced, although the underlying genes and molecular pathways are not completely known. Here the intragastric alcohol feeding model in rodents was used together with high mass accuracy LC/MS(n) analysis to assess the metabonomic changes in nonpolar metabolite profiles for livers from control and alcohol treated rats and mice. Ion signals with a peak area variance of less than 30% (based on repeat analysis of a pooled quality control sample analysed throughout the batch) were submitted to multivariate statistical analysis (using principal components analysis, PCA). PCA revealed robust differences between profiles from control and alcohol-treated animals from both species. The major metabolites seen to differ between control and alcohol-treated animals were identified using high accuracy MS(n) data and verified using external search engines (http://www.lipidmaps.org; http://www.hmdb.ca; http://www.genome.jp/kegg/) and authentic standards. The main metabolite classes to show major changes in the alcoholic liver-derived samples were fatty acyls, fatty acid ethyl esters, glycerolipids and phosphatidylethanol homologues. Significant metabolites that were up-regulated by alcohol treatment in both rat and mouse livers included fatty acyls, metabolites such as octadecatrienoic acid and eicosapentaenoic acid, a number of fatty acid ethyl esters such as ethyl arachidonate, ethyl docosahexaenoic acid, ethyl linoleate and ethyl oleate and phosphatidylethanol (PEth) homologues (predominantly PEth 18:0/18:2 and PEth 16:0/18:2; PEth homologues are currently considered as potential biomarkers for harmful and prolonged alcohol consumption in man). A number of glycerophospholipids resulted in both up-regulation (m/z 903.7436 [M+H](+) corresponding to a triglyceride) and down-regulation (m/z 667.5296 [M+H](+) corresponding to a diglyceride). Metabolite profiles were broadly similar in both mouse and rat models. However, there were a number of significant differences in the alcohol-treated group particularly in the marked down-regulation of retinol and free cholesterol in the mouse compared to the rat. Unique markers for alcohol treatment included ethyl docosahexaenoic acid. Metabolites were identified with high confidence using predominantly negative ion MS(n) data for the fatty acyl components to match to www.lipidmaps.org MS and MS/MS databases; interpreting positive ion data needed to take into account possible adduct ions which may confound the identification of other lipid classes. The observed changes in lipid profiles were consistent with alcohol induced liver injury in humans

Baby Pigs Have a Sweet Tooth!

Early gains are the cheapest. And you can get faster early gains by feeding a good pig starter. In this article, the others tell how pig starters can be made more palatable and also what should go into a good pig starter

Rapid Quantification of Molecular Diversity for Selective Database Acquisition

There is an increasing need to expand the structural diversity of the molecules investigated in lead-discovery programs. One way in which this can be achieved is by acquiring external datasets that will enhance an existing database. This paper describes a rapid procedure for the selection of external datasets using a measure of structural diversity that is calculated from sums of pairwise intermolecular structural similarities

OMAE2009-79793 MEASUREMENT OF THE EFFECT OF POWER ABSORPTION IN THE LEE OF A WAVE ENERGY CONVERTER

ABSTRACT Monitoring the effect of floating wave energy converter (WEC) devices on the surrounding wave field will be an important tool for monitoring impacts on the local wave climate and coastlines. Measurement will be hampered by the natural variability of ocean waves and the complex response of WEC devices, causing temporal and spatial variability in the effects. Measurements taken during wave tank tests at MARINTEK are used to analyse the effectiveness of point wave measurements at resolving the influence of an array of WEC on the local wave conditions. The variability of waves is measured in front and in the lee of a device, using spectral analysis to identify changes to the incident wave field due to the operating WEC. The power capture and radiation damping are analysed in order to predict the measured changes. Differences in the wave field across the device are clearly observable in the frequency domain. However, they do not unanimously show a reduction in wave energy in the lee of a device and are not well predicted by measured power capture