384 research outputs found
Magnetic behaviour of non-interacting colloidal iron oxide nanoparticles in physiological solutions
Magnetic properties of colloidal nanoparticles (NPs) depend on various
parameters, such as size, size distribution, interparticle distance, shape,
condition of synthesis and stabilizing surfactants. Nowadays, those magnetic
nanoparticles (MNPs) are preferably produced in hydrophobic organic solvents,
while biomedical applications need hydrophilic properties. Thus, a major
challenge is the hydrophilization of the particles, while avoiding
destabilization and aggregation. Here we present magnetic characteristics of
non-interacting, highly crystalline iron oxide NPs in physiological solutions
that are coated with modified polyacrylic acid. The magnetic analysis
comprised both static and dynamic magnetic behaviour of 4 nm NPs. The NPs have
been further characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and
energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX)
131I thyroid activity and committed dose assessment among family members of patients treated with radioactive iodine
The main goal of the present study was estimation of an internal contamination of 131I among family members of patients treated with radioactive iodine. Thyroid activity measurements of 131I in examined volunteers were performed using a whole-body spectrometer at the institute of nuclear physics, Polish academy of sciences. During this research, 20 relatives of patients treated with 131I were examined: eight women and 12 men with an age in the range from 3 to 72 years. In the case of nine individuals, the activity of 131I in the thyroid was below the detection limit, but among the remaining 11 individuals, the activity varied from (9 ± 3) Bq up to (1140 ± 295) Bq. Subsequently, based on the measurements of thyroid 131I activities, the corresponding doses were assessed. The highest estimated effective dose reached 218 μSv, while the thyroid equivalent dose was 2.4 mSv. In addition, the experimental data obtained were statistically analysed together with the results of surveys of the individuals participating in the study by means of correspondence analysis and nonparametric tests: Mann–Whitney, gamma, χ2 and Yule Phi coefficient. These analyses revealed relationships between 131I activities in the thyroids of the examined individuals and their housing conditions as well as consumption of meals prepared by the patients
First Space-based Microlens Parallax Measurement of an Isolated Star: Spitzer Observations of OGLE-2014-BLG-0939
We present the first space-based microlens parallax measurement of an
isolated star. From the striking differences in the lightcurve as seen from
Earth and from Spitzer (~1 AU to the West), we infer a projected velocity
v_helio,projected ~ 250 km/s, which strongly favors a lens in the Galactic Disk
with mass M=0.23 +- 0.07 M_sun and distance D_L=3.1 +- 0.4 kpc. An ensemble of
such measurements drawn from our ongoing program could be used to measure the
single-lens mass function including dark objects, and also is necessary for
measuring the Galactic distribution of planets since the ensemble reflects the
underlying Galactic distribution of microlenses. We study the application of
the many ideas to break the four-fold degeneracy first predicted by Refsdal 50
years ago. We find that this degeneracy is clearly broken, but by two
unanticipated mechanisms.Comment: 26 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Ap
Spitzer IRAC Photometry for Time Series in Crowded Fields
We develop a new photometry algorithm that is optimized for time
series in crowded fields and that is particularly adapted to faint and/or
heavily blended targets. We apply this to the 170 targets from the 2015
microlensing campaign and present the results of three variants of
this algorithm in an online catalog. We present detailed accounts of the
application of this algorithm to two difficult cases, one very faint and the
other very crowded. Several of 's instrumental characteristics that
drive the specific features of this algorithm are shared by and
, implying that these features may prove to be a useful starting point
for algorithms designed for microlensing campaigns by these other missions.Comment: accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement,
online catalog available at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/Spitzer2015
Gravitational Microlensing Events from the First Year of the Northern Galactic Plane Survey by the Zwicky Transient Facility
The Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) (Bellm et al. 2019; Graham et al. 2019; Masci et al. 2019) is currently surveying the entire northern sky, including dense Galactic plane fields. Here, we present preliminary results of the search for gravitational microlensing events in the ZTF data collected from the beginning of the survey (2018 March 20) through 2019 June 30
A Venus-Mass Planet Orbiting a Brown Dwarf: Missing Link between Planets and Moons
The co-planarity of solar-system planets led Kant to suggest that they formed
from an accretion disk, and the discovery of hundreds of such disks around
young stars as well as hundreds of co-planar planetary systems by the Kepler
satellite demonstrate that this formation mechanism is extremely widespread.
Many moons in the solar system, such as the Galilean moons of Jupiter, also
formed out of the accretion disks that coalesced into the giant planets. We
report here the discovery of an intermediate system OGLE-2013-BLG-0723LB/Bb
composed of a Venus-mass planet orbiting a brown dwarf, which may be viewed
either as a scaled down version of a planet plus star or as a scaled up version
of a moon plus planet orbiting a star. The latter analogy can be further
extended since they orbit in the potential of a larger, stellar body. For
ice-rock companions formed in the outer parts of accretion disks, like Uranus
and Callisto, the scaled masses and separations of the three types of systems
are similar, leading us to suggest that formation processes of companions
within accretion disks around stars, brown dwarfs, and planets are similar.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 2 table
OGLE-2015-BLG-0051/KMT-2015-BLG-0048Lb: a Giant Planet Orbiting a Low-mass Bulge Star Discovered by High-cadence Microlensing Surveys
We report the discovery of an extrasolar planet detected from the combined
data of a microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0051/KMT-2015-BLG-0048 acquired by
two microlensing surveys. Despite that the short planetary signal occurred in
the very early Bulge season during which the lensing event could be seen for
just about an hour, the signal was continuously and densely covered. From the
Bayesian analysis using models of the mass function, matter and velocity
distributions combined with the information of the angular Einstein radius, it
is found that the host of the planet is located in the Galactic bulge. The
planet has a mass and it is orbiting a
low-mass M-dwarf host with a projected separation AU.
The discovery of the planet demonstrates the capability of the current
high-cadence microlensing lensing surveys in detecting and characterizing
planets.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Multiply charged ions from iodine laser-produced plasma of medium- and high-Z targets
Maximum charge states of ions registered in the far expansion zone from laser-produced plasma of Al, Co, Ni, Cu, Ta, W, Pt, Au, Pb, and Bi are presented. The Thomson parabola spectrometer was used to display a general view of the ion species of an expanding plasma while detailed ion charge-energy spectra were determined by the cylindrical electrostatic ion energy analyzer. The current densities of highly charged ion groups above 20 mA/cm2 were measured by use of an ion collector at a distance of 1 m from the target. The photodissociation iodine laser system PERUN (λ = 1.315 μm, power density up to 1015 W cm−2) was employed as a drive
- …