3,244 research outputs found
Uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy in
is a paramagnetic metal and since its low temperature
resistivity is described by with , it
is also considered a non-Fermi liquid (NFL) metal. We have performed extensive
magnetoresistance and Hall effect measurements of untwinned epitaxial films of
. These measurements reveal that exhibits
uniaxial magnetocrystalline anisotropy. In addition, the low-temperature NFL
behavior is most effectively suppressed when a magnetic field is applied along
the easy axis, suggesting that critical spin fluctuations, possibly due to
proximity of a quantum critical phase transition, are related to the NFL
behavior.Comment: 7 figure
New supersymmetric AdS4 type II vacua
Building on our recent results on dynamic SU(3)xSU(3) structures we present a
set of sufficient conditions for supersymmetric AdS4xM6 backgrounds of type
IIA/IIB supergravity. These conditions ensure that the background solves,
besides the supersymmetry equations, all the equations of motion of type II
supergravity. The conditions state that the internal manifold is locally a
codimension-one foliation such that the five dimensional leaves admit a
Sasaki-Einstein structure. In type IIA the supersymmetry is N=2, and the total
six-dimensional internal space is locally an S^2 bundle over a four-dimensional
Kaehler-Einstein base; in IIB the internal space is the direct product of a
circle and a five-dimensional squashed Sasaki-Einstein manifold. Given any
five-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein manifold we construct the corresponding
families of type IIA/IIB vacua. The precise profiles of all the fields are
determined at the solution and depend on whether one is in IIA or in IIB. In
particular the background does not contain any sources, all fluxes (including
the Romans mass in IIA) are generally non-zero, and the dilaton and warp factor
are non-constant.Comment: 19 pages; clarifications added, version to appear in JHE
Forestry on the Island of Taiwan, ROC - The State of the Art
The forests of Taiwan vary from lush subtropical vegetation to subalpine coniferous associations. Topography is exceedingly rugged, and stands border on the verge of silvicultural inoperability. In the 1950s and 1960s, the wood products industry in the Republic of China was of paramount importance; the production of high-quality sawtimber from old-growth cypress (Cupressaceae) stands provided the financial capital that built one of the most prosperous national economies in the modern world. In the 1980s, forestry in Taiwan is a curious blend of old methods and new technologies, as modern silvicultural practices are used to reforest cutover cypress stands, to harvest and reproduce remaining old-growth stands, and to expand the silvicultural importance of other forest types on the island. Many applied research efforts would be promising in application to the forests of Taiwan, such as long-term studies of silvicultural practices on water quality, methodology of natural regeneration applied to cypress and Taiwania cryptomerioides (Taxodiaceae), uneven-aged regulation applied to bamboo, Phyllostachys pubescens (Bambusaceae), growth and yield in coniferous plantations, effectiveness of modern herbicides in controlling competition in young plantations, and application of contemporary economic assessments in the evaluation of silvicultural alternatives
Spectroscopic characterisation of the stellar content of ultra diffuse galaxies
Understanding the peculiar properties of Ultra Diffuse Galaxies (UDGs) via
spectroscopic analysis is a challenging task requiring very deep observations
and exquisite data reduction. In this work we perform one of the most complete
characterisations of the stellar component of UDGs to date using deep optical
spectroscopic data from OSIRIS at GTC. We measure radial and rotation
velocities, star formation histories (SFH) and mean population parameters, such
as ages and metallicities, for a sample of five UDG candidates in the Coma
cluster. From the radial velocities, we confirm the Coma membership of these
galaxies. We find that their rotation properties, if detected at all, are
compatible with dwarf-like galaxies. The SFHs of the UDG are dominated by old
(~ 7 Gyr), metal-poor ([M/H] ~ -1.1) and alpha-enhanced ([Mg/Fe] ~ 0.4)
populations followed by a smooth or episodic decline which halted ~ 2 Gyr ago,
possibly a sign of cluster-induced quenching. We find no obvious correlation
between individual SFH shapes and any UDG morphological properties. The
recovered stellar properties for UDGs are similar to those found for DDO44, a
local UDG analogue resolved into stars. We conclude that the UDGs in our sample
are extended dwarfs whose properties are likely the outcome of both internal
processes, such as bursty SFHs and/or high-spin haloes, as well as
environmental effects within the Coma cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Gender Bias: An Analysis of the Distribution of Institutional Aid
This study is based on the premise that equity in the distribution of institutional student aid is related to a student\u27s academic ability and need. Thus, to establish evidence of gender bias, this study examined the influence of gender on students\u27 institutional aid awards while controlling for these two factors, as well as other related student and institutional characteristics. This study found no direct evidence of gender bias when examining the relationship between student characteristics and institutional aid. However, when examining institutional characteristics, indirect implications suggested that gender was related to the relationship between academic ability as measured by SAT/ ACT and institutional aid
Recovering star formation histories: Integrated-light analyses vs stellar colour-magnitude diagrams
Accurate star formation histories (SFHs) of galaxies are fundamental for
understanding the build-up of their stellar content. However, the most accurate
SFHs - those obtained from colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of resolved stars
reaching the oldest main sequence turnoffs (oMSTO) - are presently limited to a
few systems in the Local Group. It is therefore crucial to determine the
reliability and range of applicability of SFHs derived from integrated light
spectroscopy, as this affects our understanding of unresolved galaxies from low
to high redshift.
To evaluate the reliability of current full spectral fitting techniques in
deriving SFHs from integrated light spectroscopy by comparing SFHs from
integrated spectra to those obtained from deep CMDs of resolved stars.
We have obtained a high signal--to--noise (S/N 36.3 per \AA)
integrated spectrum of a field in the bar of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
using EFOSC2 at the 3.6 meter telescope at La Silla Observatory. For this same
field, resolved stellar data reaching the oMSTO are available. We have compared
the star formation rate (SFR) as a function of time and the age-metallicity
relation (AMR) obtained from the integrated spectrum using {\tt STECKMAP}, and
the CMD using the IAC-star/MinnIAC/IAC-pop set of routines. For the sake of
completeness we also use and discuss other synthesis codes ({\tt STARLIGHT} and
{\tt ULySS}) to derive the SFR and AMR from the integrated LMC spectrum.
We find very good agreement (average differences 4.1 ) between the
SFR(t) and the AMR obtained using {\tt STECKMAP} on the integrated light
spectrum, and the CMD analysis. {\tt STECKMAP} minimizes the impact of the
age-metallicity degeneracy and has the advantage of preferring smooth solutions
to recover complex SFHs by means of a penalized . [abridged]Comment: 23 pages, 24 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A (6 Sep 2015
Influence of Age on Warfarin Dose, Anticoagulation Control, and Risk of Hemorrhage
Objective
We assessed the influence of age on warfarin dose, percentage time in target range (PTTR), and risk of major hemorrhage.
Design
Warfarin users recruited into a large prospective inception cohort study were categorized into three age groups: young (younger than 50 yrs), middle aged (50–70 yrs), and elderly (older than 70 yrs). The influence of age on warfarin dose and PTTR was assessed using regression analysis; risk of major hemorrhage was assessed using proportional hazards analysis. Models were adjusted for demographic, clinical, and genetic factors.
Setting
Two outpatient anticoagulation clinics.
Participants
A total of 1498 anticoagulated patients.
Outcomes
Warfarin dose (mg/day), PTTR, major hemorrhage.
Results
Of the 1498 patients, 22.8% were young, 44.1% were middle aged, and 33.1% were elderly. After accounting for clinical and genetic factors, compared with young warfarin users, warfarin dose requirements were 10.6% lower among the middle aged and an additional 10.6% lower for the elderly. Compared with young patients, middle-aged and elderly patients spent more time in target international normalized ratio (INR) range (p<0.0001), despite having fewer INR assessments (p<0.0001). Compared with young warfarin users, absolute risk of hemorrhage was marginally higher among the middle aged (p=0.08) and significantly higher among the elderly (p=0.016). Compared with young warfarin users, after adjustment, the relative risk of hemorrhage increased by 31% for each age category (p=0.026).
Conclusions
In a real-world setting, despite achieving better anticoagulation control, elderly patients had a higher risk of major hemorrhagic events. As the population ages and the candidacy for oral anticoagulation increases, strategies that mitigate the elevated risk of hemorrhage need to be identified
From simplicial Chern-Simons theory to the shadow invariant II
This is the second of a series of papers in which we introduce and study a
rigorous "simplicial" realization of the non-Abelian Chern-Simons path integral
for manifolds M of the form M = Sigma x S1 and arbitrary simply-connected
compact structure groups G. More precisely, we introduce, for general links L
in M, a rigorous simplicial version WLO_{rig}(L) of the corresponding Wilson
loop observable WLO(L) in the so-called "torus gauge" by Blau and Thompson
(Nucl. Phys. B408(2):345-390, 1993). For a simple class of links L we then
evaluate WLO_{rig}(L) explicitly in a non-perturbative way, finding agreement
with Turaev's shadow invariant |L|.Comment: 53 pages, 1 figure. Some minor changes and corrections have been mad
The sensitivity of harassment to orbit: Mass loss from early-type dwarfs in galaxy clusters
We conduct a comprehensive numerical study of the orbital dependence of harassment on early-type dwarfs consisting of 168 different orbits within a realistic, Virgo-like cluster, varying in eccentricity and pericentre distance. We find harassment is only effective at stripping stars or truncating their stellar discs for orbits that enter deep into the cluster core. Comparing to the orbital distribution in cosmological simulations, we find that the majority of the orbits (more than three quarters) result in no stellar mass loss. We also study the effects on the radial profiles of the globular cluster systems of early-type dwarfs. We find these are significantly altered only if harassment is very strong. This suggests that perhaps most early-type dwarfs in clusters such as Virgo have not suffered any tidal stripping of stars or globular clusters due to harassment, as these components are safely embedded deep within their dark matter halo. We demonstrate that this result is actually consistent with an earlier study of harassment of dwarf galaxies, despite the apparent contradiction. Those few dwarf models that do suffer stellar stripping are found out to the virial radius of the cluster at redshift = 0, which mixes them in with less strongly harassed galaxies. However when placed on phase-space diagrams, strongly harassed galaxies are found offset to lower velocities compared to weakly harassed galaxies. This remains true in a cosmological simulation, even when haloes have a wide range of masses and concentrations. Thus phase-space diagrams may be a useful tool for determining the relative likelihood that galaxies have been strongly or weakly harassed
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